Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 5:10 PM
Subject: DC Water projects in Bloomingdale -- two clarifications
Subject: DC Water projects in Bloomingdale -- two clarifications
Over the last few weeks, I have been in conversations with neighbors about the various projects that DC Water has going or will have going in the neighborhood. And as with any situation where lots information is being passed around and shared in many meetings, some points get lost or muddled, kind of like what happens in that old game Operator. So it has happened with at least two points that I'd like to clarify with information I got directly from DC Water's primary project engineer, Carlton Ray.
(1) First Street Closures. Some neighbors came away from some of the block meetings with DC Water believing that changes that DC Water has made to the construction program will eliminate any closures of First Street. Although I wish DC Water had been able to change their plans that much, sadly, that is not true. Even with changes that reduce the length of closures, parts of First Street southbound will be closed from any where from two to eight months. Here is Carlton's longer response:
"In order to construct the facilities at the intersection of First and V Streets NW, DC Water is proposing to close southbound First Street NW for a period of approximately six to eight months. This is substantially less than what was originally proposed in the EA. Through traffic will be diverted to North Capitol Street via Michigan Avenue and Bryant Street NW for access to Rhode Island Avenue NW. Northbound traffic will be maintained along First Street NW at all times for access to the hospitals. There are two other locations that will have short duration closures of southbound First Street as well, which include the intersections of First and Adams Streets NW and First and Thomas Streets NW. These closures are anticipated to be short in duration – less than two months and are needed to improve the ground to connect the adits to the First Street Tunnel. The draft Traffic Study has been uploaded to DC Water’s website and discusses the major traffic impacts associated with the McMillan Storm water Storage and First Street Tunnel projects (http://www.dcwater.com/workzones/bloomingdale/First_Street_Traffic_Report_April_23_2013.pdf)."
(2) The length of time the McMillan cells will be used for storm water storage. In this case, some are saying that the McMillan cells currently being prepped for storm water storage will only be needed for a couple of years when the First Street tunnel is completed. However, the truth is that the McMillan storage cells will be needed until the Clean Rivers Project is completed. So they will be in use for storage until at least 2022. Again, here is the low down from DC Water: "Currently, the plan is to keep the two cells in service until 2022 when the Northeast Boundary tunnel is placed in operation. "
Those cells are needed because they will hold six of the twelve million gallons of water that DC Water is trying to keep out of the sewer system during intense rain events. The other six million will be stored in the First Street tunnel itself. With twelve million gallons of water diverted from the system, DC Water believes that the existing system can move the rest of the water without backing up. Although twelve million gallons of water may be only a fraction of the 10s of millions of gallons that might pass through the Bloomingdale sewers during a major intense cloudburst, they should be enough to avoid backing the sewer up. Just like in the summer, when a small number of workers are on vacation at any one time and traffic is noticeably lighter, getting those twelve million gallons "off the road" should be enough to avoid major tie ups at the large pipe juncture at Florida and Rhode Island Avenues NW, which then affects Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park. DC Water does not need to reduce the flow by 50 or 75% during rain storms. The key is to reduce flow enough to keep all remaining water flowing through the system and down to Blue Plains.
Thank you all for your patience during this difficult process. We are in for a real upheaval in the neighborhood while all these construction projects move forward. We'll all be better off when they are done, but the short term will not be easy. And please know that a small number of neighbors will be shouldering a disproportionate share of the construction burden and inconvenience. They have my sympathies.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know.
Have a great day,
John
(1) First Street Closures. Some neighbors came away from some of the block meetings with DC Water believing that changes that DC Water has made to the construction program will eliminate any closures of First Street. Although I wish DC Water had been able to change their plans that much, sadly, that is not true. Even with changes that reduce the length of closures, parts of First Street southbound will be closed from any where from two to eight months. Here is Carlton's longer response:
"In order to construct the facilities at the intersection of First and V Streets NW, DC Water is proposing to close southbound First Street NW for a period of approximately six to eight months. This is substantially less than what was originally proposed in the EA. Through traffic will be diverted to North Capitol Street via Michigan Avenue and Bryant Street NW for access to Rhode Island Avenue NW. Northbound traffic will be maintained along First Street NW at all times for access to the hospitals. There are two other locations that will have short duration closures of southbound First Street as well, which include the intersections of First and Adams Streets NW and First and Thomas Streets NW. These closures are anticipated to be short in duration – less than two months and are needed to improve the ground to connect the adits to the First Street Tunnel. The draft Traffic Study has been uploaded to DC Water’s website and discusses the major traffic impacts associated with the McMillan Storm water Storage and First Street Tunnel projects (http://www.dcwater.com/workzones/bloomingdale/First_Street_Traffic_Report_April_23_2013.pdf)."
(2) The length of time the McMillan cells will be used for storm water storage. In this case, some are saying that the McMillan cells currently being prepped for storm water storage will only be needed for a couple of years when the First Street tunnel is completed. However, the truth is that the McMillan storage cells will be needed until the Clean Rivers Project is completed. So they will be in use for storage until at least 2022. Again, here is the low down from DC Water: "Currently, the plan is to keep the two cells in service until 2022 when the Northeast Boundary tunnel is placed in operation. "
Those cells are needed because they will hold six of the twelve million gallons of water that DC Water is trying to keep out of the sewer system during intense rain events. The other six million will be stored in the First Street tunnel itself. With twelve million gallons of water diverted from the system, DC Water believes that the existing system can move the rest of the water without backing up. Although twelve million gallons of water may be only a fraction of the 10s of millions of gallons that might pass through the Bloomingdale sewers during a major intense cloudburst, they should be enough to avoid backing the sewer up. Just like in the summer, when a small number of workers are on vacation at any one time and traffic is noticeably lighter, getting those twelve million gallons "off the road" should be enough to avoid major tie ups at the large pipe juncture at Florida and Rhode Island Avenues NW, which then affects Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park. DC Water does not need to reduce the flow by 50 or 75% during rain storms. The key is to reduce flow enough to keep all remaining water flowing through the system and down to Blue Plains.
Thank you all for your patience during this difficult process. We are in for a real upheaval in the neighborhood while all these construction projects move forward. We'll all be better off when they are done, but the short term will not be easy. And please know that a small number of neighbors will be shouldering a disproportionate share of the construction burden and inconvenience. They have my sympathies.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know.
Have a great day,
John
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