Tuesday, February 9, 1999

On February 9, 1999, the Alexandria City Council voted to settle its lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration in which the City challenged the FHWA decision to approve a 12-lane replacement crossing for the Woodrow Wilson bridge and an expansion, to 12 lanes, of the Capital Beltway between Telegraph Road in Virginia and Maryland Route 210.

The following is the resolution adopted by the Council on February 9 which contains a summary of the terms of the settlement agreement between the Federal Highway Administration and the City.

WHEREAS, on January 30, 1998, the City of Alexandria filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 98-0251-SS (the "Lawsuit"), challenging the decision of the Federal Highway Administration ("FHWA"), contained in the FHWA's November 25, 1997, Record of Decision ("ROD"), which approved a project (i) to replace the Woodrow Wilson Memorial bridge with a new 12-lane bridge crossing, (ii) to expand to 12-lanes the Capital Beltway between Telegraph Road in Virginia and Maryland Route 210, and (iii) to substantially modify the Beltway interchanges at Telegraph Road, U.S. Route 1, Interstate 295 and Maryland Route 210;

WHEREAS, for some time, representatives of the City have been discussing a possible settlement of the Lawsuit with representatives of the United States Department of Transportation ("USDOT"), the Virginia Department of Transportation ("VDOT") and the Maryland State Highway Administration ("MSHA");

WHEREAS, these discussions have produced a series of terms, which are acceptable to USDOT, VDOT and MSHA, for the settlement of the Lawsuit (the "Terms");

WHEREAS, the Terms provide that, in the event a 12-lane Woodrow Wilson replacement project is undertaken, USDOT and VDOT will ensure that the following obligations are fulfilled:

(1) the construction of access ramps just to the west of the Route 1 interchange that will directly connect the Capital Beltway with Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, and thereby will provide traffic on the inner loop of the Capital Beltway with a direct access into the Eisenhower valley and traffic leaving the valley with a direct access to the Beltway's outer loop;

(2) the performance of a study that will analyze the impacts which would follow from the elimination of the Capital Beltway exit ramp to Church Street, and a decision on the elimination of this ramp that will be based on those impacts;

(3) the performance of the following activities in the event a decision is made to retain an exit ramp from the Capital Beltway to Church Street:

(a) the retention of the Church Street exit ramp in its present location (rather than the location significantly to the west, as called for in the ROD);

(b) the design and construction of traffic control measures that will prevent traffic using the Church Street exit ramp from entering the residential neighborhood to the north of Church Street;

(c) the design and construction of measures that will integrate the neighborhood to the north of Church Street with the replacement project's proposed urban deck, including, but not limited to, filling and re-grading the entire area between Church Street and the Capital Beltway, providing pedestrian access through this area directly to the urban deck for residents of the neighborhood, and providing substantial landscaping within this area;

(d) the design and construction of a fitting memorial to Freedmen's Cemetery in an appropriate location in the area between Church Street and the urban deck; and

(e) the provision of parking spaces for visitors to the cemetery memorial and for users of the urban deck in an appropriate location in the area between Church Street and the urban deck;

(4) the development of the surface of the urban deck, the construction of new approaches to the City along the George Washington Memorial Parkway south of the urban deck, and the complete redevelopment of Jones Point Park, all in accordance with specific design programs which have been developed, in part, by City staff;

(5) a reduction in the width of the two new bridge crossing spans, in the area between Royal Street and a point just to the west of Rosalie Island, to 212 feet (which together with a 12-foot bike/pedestrian facility will bring the width of the total crossing to 224 feet, excluding any gap between the spans);

(6) a prohibition against the construction of any permanent physical structures (including pavement, retaining walls and noise barriers) within the City, between Route 1 and the Potomac River, to the north of the current Capital Beltway, except in the area of the Church Street exit ramp and then only to the extent necessary (i) to comply with the obligation to retain the exit ramp in its current location or (ii) to provide an exit ramp for northbound Route 1 traffic;

(7) the making of every feasible effort to avoid the placement of any permanent physical structures on the property, just to the west of Route 1, on which the City's Lee recreation center is located;

(8) the making of every feasible effort to reduce the width of the Capital Beltway in the City west of Royal Street;

(9) the retention of three specific design features of the bridge replacement project:

(a) the feature that enables southbound Route 1 traffic to enter both the outer loop's express lanes and the outer loop's local lanes;

(b) the feature that begins the new bridge crossing's outer loop merge/auxiliary lane at the point where southbound Route 1 traffic enters the outer loop's local lanes; and

(c) the feature that enables traffic in the outer loop's express lanes, when nearing the Interstate 295 interchange, to exit to Maryland Route 210 south;

(10) the active support by the USDOT of proposed legislation that authorizes, and provides funding for, the Department to conduct a study of the feasibility of a new Potomac River crossing, located to the south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, and of the locations where such a crossing would appropriately be located;

WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that the Terms are highly beneficial to the City and its residents;

WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that the Terms, along with other factors, warrant the dismissal of the Lawsuit and the release by the City of other claims it may now have that arise from or relate to the November 25, 1997, Record of Decision and the replacement project;

WHEREAS, the City Council has determined, based on the Terms and for other reasons, that it is in the best interests of the City and its residents that the Lawsuit be settled, and that an agreement which incorporates the Terms, and which is otherwise acceptable to the mayor and the city attorney, be executed by the City;

WHEREAS, the City Council believes that the severe traffic congestion problems now being experienced in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and those that are projected for future years, are best addressed not simply by the construction of new highways and the expansion of existing roads, but by the meaningful implementation of congestion mitigation programs such as the provision of express bus and rail transit services along heavily traveled corridors, including across the Woodrow Wilson bridge.

1. That the Lawsuit shall be settled on the basis of the Terms;

2. That an agreement containing the Terms and other provisions acceptable to the mayor and the city attorney, including provisions providing an effective mechanism for the City to enforce the Terms, shall be developed by the city attorney;

3. That the mayor be, and hereby is, authorized to execute, on behalf of the City of Alexandria, the agreement referenced in section 2;

4. That the city attorney be, and hereby is, authorized to execute, on behalf of the City of Alexandria, any documents that are necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of the executed agreement;

5. That the City Council urges USDOT, VDOT and MSHA to support, in every feasible way, the provision of express buses, rail transit and other congestion mitigation measures along both the current and the replacement Woodrow Wilson bridge crossing, in order to significantly reduce the number of motor vehicles utilizing the crossing; and

6. That this resolution shall become effective upon its adoption by the City Council.

ADOPTED: February 9, 1999

__________________________

KERRY J. DONLEY MAYOR

ATTEST:

______________________

Beverly I. Jett, CMC

City Clerk