For nearly a decade, the District has flirted with the idea of building a gondola system to carry people through the skies between Rosslyn and Georgetown in less than five minutes. That concept, once left for dead, is again gaining attention.
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The D.C. Council set aside $10 million in its 2022 budget to acquire property at a former Exxon gas station across from the Francis Scott Key Bridge, where it envisions a landing site for the proposed cable-propelled transit system.
Securing the land at 3607 M St. NW would give the District more than a location for the gondola terminal, business and civic leaders say. It also would give the city control of a valuable piece of land that could be used as the home of a long-sought Georgetown Metro station.
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“One day the city is going to use this [parcel] for transit,” said Joe Sternlieb, president and chief executive of the Georgetown Business Improvement District. “It might be in the near-term for a gondola, but it will certainly be in the longer-term for Metro.”
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Budget documents do not specify how much of the site the city hopes to purchase.
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According to the Washington Business Journal, which first reported about the prospective land acquisition, the half-acre site belongs to a joint venture of Altus Realty Partners and DYNC Atlantic Property and Investment, which has unsuccessfully sought redeveloping it as condos.
D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) who represents Georgetown and led the push for the land acquisition in the Council, listed it among her budget priorities in a March 25 letter to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). She had urged the city to allocate $12 million for the property acquisition and $2 million to complete environmental studies of the project.
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The council approved $10 million in its capital budget and allocated it to the District Department of Transportation. Agency officials said they have yet to review the plan for the property and have not started negotiations.
A coalition of Georgetown neighbors have agreed to help the city acquire the site, Sternlieb said.
In the more immediate future, the site would be used as a charging station for electric vehicles, according to Pinto, possibly becoming a gondola terminal connecting to the Rosslyn Metro station. Some proponents had hoped the system would be in place by 2024, but its environmental studies are not complete — a process that could take years.
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Down the road, officials say the site could be used for a Metro station. An ongoing Metro study to address tunnel congestion at the Potomac River includes the potential building of a second tunnel near Rosslyn and running the Blue Line through Georgetown. That plan would cost billions of dollars and take 25 years to execute.
Metro declined to comment Thursday on the potential Georgetown land acquisition.
Pinto did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. In a statement, citing the city’s “ambitious climate and clean energy goals” she said establishing electric-vehicle charging stations at the site would be one way to encourage electrification of private and public transit. She did not mention the possibility of a gondola landing site or a Metro station.
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“Now that the budget has passed, [the deputy mayor for planning and economic development] and DDOT should move forward expeditiously to work with public and private partners to pursue a new EV charging station at this site,” her statement said.
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In her March letter, however, she referred to the gondola system as a potential option if studies demonstrate “it is the most cost effective, green transportation option for commuters.”
A 2016 study found that building a gondola connecting the District and Arlington would be a feasible endeavor. The study, paid for with contributions from the two local governments, Georgetown University and the Georgetown Business Improvement District, projected a gondola would allow people to travel more quickly between Washington and Virginia, and would serve at least 6,500 passengers a day.
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According to the report, a gondola system would cost between $80 million to $90 million to build, with annual operating costs near $3.25 million.
Proponents have touted the concept as a cost-effective and efficient way to solve Georgetown’s lack of Metro access, which makes it difficult for visitors, workers and residents to get to the neighborhood and leads to some of the busiest bus routes in the city.
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A gondola also could ease traffic on the Key Bridge, one of the largest arteries connecting D.C. and Virginia. Crossing from the Rosslyn Metro station to Georgetown would take about four minutes.
Arlington County transportation officials said the county is working with the District “on understanding this planning effort,” but one county board member said he isn’t convinced a gondola is the solution.
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Christian Dorsey (D) said the county will have to decide whether it makes sense to commit public money to the project.
“It’s a fairly short walk from the Rosslyn Metro station to that station in Georgetown,” he said. “What’s the overall bang for the buck that we get providing a gondola transport over the Key Bridge versus the other modes that are already there?”
In 2017, the county board said in a letter that it would not fund the gondola project despite agreeing to commit $35,000 to a feasibility study.
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“We viewed it as more of a luxury concept than an essential transportation service,” Dorsey said.
Some D.C. leaders have expressed enthusiasm for a cable-car system. DDOT Director Everett Lott said in an interview earlier this year that a gondola is not off the table as the city explores more transportation options to reduce single-vehicle trips.
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“It’s just another alternative, another mode of transportation that I think is fantastic,” Lott said. “It’s something that we’ve had at least exploratory conversations about — a gondola in the District. I think there’s a possibility.”
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The concept was first pitched in the Georgetown 2028 plan, a 15-year strategic plan released in 2014. The Federal City Council, a private nonprofit business group led by former D.C. mayor Anthony A. Williams, recently launched a one-year project to identify the best transit links between the Metrorail system and Georgetown.
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The study, in partnership with the Georgetown BID and DDOT — which is funding the $250,000 analysis — is intended to improve transit in the neighborhood. Whether that includes a gondola, a rapid bus transit option or multiple alternatives remains to be determined, said Laura Miller Brooks, a senior transportation and infrastructure associate at Federal City Council who is overseeing the study.
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Williams said the city is on the right track to purchase the former Exxon station site, which he called “a strategic multimodal transportation acquisition.”
“There are a host of short-, medium- and long-term transportation uses, from EV charging and last-mile delivery staging, to a Metrorail line station,” he said. “Activation of this prime parcel of underutilized city and neighborhood space will help increase sustainable access in Georgetown.”
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Georgetown supports about 23,000 jobs and hosts about 1 million visitors a month, according to estimates from the Georgetown BID.
“That’s more people than work in Woodley Park, Cleveland Park and Van Ness, Tenleytown and probably Friendship Heights combined, and those five neighborhoods each have a station,” Sternlieb said. “What we’ve been doing is really trying to figure out what do we do to link Georgetown to the regional transit system, which is Metro.”
Teo Armus and Stephanie Lai contributed to this report.