Residents of Southeast Washington living near the Virginia Avenue Tunnel being expanded by CSX Corporation Inc., headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., recently protested the project. They demanded the D.C. Council take action to protect their neighborhood.
D.C. Council member Mary Cheh is chairman of the Committee on Transportation and the Environment.
The D.C. Council convened a rare summer recess hearing on Aug. 26 to hear residents, CSX officials, and leaders of the D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) testify on the century-old railroad tunnel. CSX, which owns the rights to the tunnel, wants to expand the it to handle more freight and to break bottlenecks in rail traffic on the East Coast.
Area residents are not happy about the process. “The people who work at CSX and DDOT are talking about this project being built and they say it is inevitable,” Debra Frazier, who testified on behalf of the Arthur Capper Community Group, an organization of residents who live in the Arthur Capper Senior Center, said. “Does inevitability mean that we will be harmed? Will our residents be able to breathe while construction takes place?”
The tunnel is located beneath the side Virginia Avenue’s eastbound lanes. The tunnel’s west and east portals are located near 2nd Street. S.E. and 11th Street., S.E. It is approximately 4,000 feet long and contains a single railroad track.
CSX wants to operate double-stack intermodal container freight trains to carry more cargo and to modernize it. An environmental impact study is completed and CSX is ready for DDOT to approve permits and begin work. Approval of the project by the Federal Highway Administration is expected in a few weeks.
What upsets residents is the perceived lack of transparency by CSX and DDOT. “CSX is attempting to expand the tunnel and they are making no effort to appease the neighborhood,” resident Helen Douglas said. “We are seeing that making a profit is more important than the needs of the people. We have to look at the health concerns of the people and put life over profit.”
D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) agrees with the residents and thinks the council needs to complete a railroad plan for the District in the near future. “The tunnel is old and needs to be repaired and replaced,” Grosso said. “Construction will be a headache for those who live in the area and we need to look at a comprehensive rail plan to guide the city on these matters. This federal government plays a big role in this.”
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) announced Aug. 9 that per her request, the Federal Highway Commission delayed its decision on the tunnel until Sept. 15 to allow oversight from the D.C. Council on DDOT’s role in the project. However, Cheh told residents the council may not have the authority to act the way they want. “The primary request that I am hearing is that the council votes to delay the issuance of permits, and I am trying to think of the legality of that,” Cheh said. “The council, as far as I can tell, cannot interfere in particular permits.”
Chris French, the president of the Navy Yard Neighborhood Association, said the council should get involved with concerns about information regarding the project being kept from the general public, DDOT’s collusion with CSX to move the process forward that he argues is not legal, and the safety concerns not being addressed by CSX or DDOT. French said the council should take action before the tunnel project proceeds.
“Members of the council, it’s not too late for the city to protect its own best interests and not abdicate its future to the profit motives of a private corporation,” French said. “I urge the council to pass legislation that places a moratorium on the issue of any railroad projects proposed by any entity until the council-funded rail study is complete.”
CSX officials testified that they have been transparent with residents and the company is aware of their safety concerns. An official with DDOT said CSX is working well with the city to get the project moving along.
Nevertheless, Frazier said the council needs to take action to protect the residents. “We need more hearings to be held on this and to stop the granting of permits,” she said. “We need to get the best possible deal for the community if this is inevitable. Our residents want a safe place to live.”
