Stadium's Neighbors Fear Fan Inundation

Residents Say Officials Are Not Sharing Parking, Traffic Plans

Nationals stadium construction is visible from O Street. Those who live near the ballpark are concerned about game-day traffic and parking. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

Opening Day is less than four months away, and residents near the Nationals' new ballpark are finding themselves less excited about hot dogs and first pitches than they are anxious about clogged streets and a crush of fans in their neighborhoods.

Congestion is already a problem south of Capitol Hill on the streets near the $611 million ballpark in Southeast Washington. City officials and Nationals executives have been working on plans for new traffic patterns and parking for about 5,000 cars expected at most games.

But neighborhood activists said few details about those plans have been made public. And what they have heard has made them more concerned as they watch the mammoth stadium rise above the skyline.

"Our area is going to be inundated," said Julia Olson, a Ward 6 advisory neighborhood commissioner. "They've been really closemouthed on this one."

Late last month, city officials and team representatives met with community leaders for the first time since July, when a proposed traffic plan was unveiled. The meeting left neighbors with plenty of unanswered questions.

"Opening Day is coming up," said Andy Litsky, another Ward 6 advisory neighborhood commissioner. "My concern is that this will be dragged out to the very last moment."

Parking and congestion have been concerns for residents, fans, city officials and Nationals executives since the ballpark's location was finalized two years ago. There is no easy route for bringing a large volume of cars into the neighborhood. Getting fans to and from the stadium as smoothly as possible without antagonizing neighbors is seen as critical to the ballpark's success.

"I don't know how they're really going to make it work," said Bill Phillips, vice president of the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals. "I don't know if there are any good answers that are going to make everybody happy. I do think the first five to 10 games are going to be awful."

Litsky predicted "controlled chaos."

Parking restrictions are proposed for neighborhood streets similar to the rules in place around RFK Stadium during baseball games and other events.

Although street parking would be limited to residents, Litsky said he is worried that fans will go hunting on side streets anyway.

"People are what people are," he said. "They'll always assume they can find a spot, and that just isn't going to happen."