One of the District’s longest-running neighborhood disputes continued last night when city transportation officials held a public meeting to present an environmental study on reopening Klingle Road in Northwest.
About 50 people gathered in the National Zoo’s visitors center to hear the results of the study, drafted by the Federal Highway Administration and the D.C. Department of Transportation.
The 19-page study, which examines keeping the road closed or rebuilding it in one of several configurations, included information on traffic and storm-water management and on how a new road would affect threatened and endangered species.
City transportation officials prefer rebuilding the road along its original alignment, with two 10-foot-wide lanes on a 22-foot-wide road.
“Our intention is to go ahead and build the road, but we are going to need the cooperation of the Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service,” said Kenneth Laden, an associate director with the city’s transportation department. “It’s basically the way we’re leaning at this point.”
Other options included building the road for one-way traffic, not building it or building it with a recreation path, which would require National Park Service approval.
Jim Dougherty, a District resident and Sierra Club member, was among those last night who disagreed with rebuilding the road.
“The City Council has just sort of knuckled under to political pressure,” said Mr. Dougherty, who was wearing a “Save Klingle Valley” badge. “It’s an incredibly expensive boondoggle to build a road that’s not going to get anyone anywhere.”
Residents have until Sept. 15 to submit their comments about the study.
The road, an east-west route through Rock Creek Park, once handled nearly 3,800 vehicles a day. However, it was closed in 1991 after flooding clogged its draining system.
In 2003, the D.C. Council voted to spend $5.7 million to repave the road and reopen the section between Cortland Place and Porter Street Northwest, just north of the zoo.
The council’s decision has done little to resolve the disagreements among residents on both sides of the park.
Most residents on the east side want the road refurbished, saying it would significantly reduce crosstown-commuting times.
Most on the west side, backed by the Sierra Club and Mayor Anthony A. Williams, want the road turned into a recreational path, at a cost of about $1 million. The road is surrounded by 2,000 acres of federal parkland.
The 14-year debate has been marred by accusations of racism and elitism on both sides. Some east-side residents have accused west-siders of wanting the road closed to prevent poorer residents from moving into the area — a charge that the road-closure advocates have denied.
Officials estimated that rebuilding the road will cost $6 million to $10 million, with the federal government providing about 80 percent of the funding. They hope to begin construction in the fall of 2007.
“It would be a waste of money not to do it, because we’d be turning away millions of federal dollars,” said City Council member Adrian Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat. “It bypasses lots of traffic lights and three or four neighborhoods.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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