Widely available amenities, improved access, rehabilitated grounds and the preservation of resources highlight the National Park Service plan for the National Mall, now available for public consumption after a three-year drafting process.
The 600-page document represents the Park Service’s long-term effort to “restore the National Mall so that it may continue to symbolize the ideals and greatness envisioned for the United States of America.” The 684-acre park is plagued by a lack of amenities, challenges for pedestrians as well as vehicles and more than $400 million in overdue maintenance.
The park service is accepting critiques on its plan through mid-March. “Substantive comments” are preferred, said Bill Line, NPS spokesman.
The plan includes the NPS preferred option — creating a heavy-use, sustainable “pedestrian environment” of visitor amenities, event space and open space — three alternatives, each with a different focus, and a “no build” option.
All the alternatives, minus the no-build, feature a new multipurpose facility on or near the Washington Monument grounds and expanded restrooms steps from the Lincoln Memorial. The park service envisions a redesigned Union Square at the base of Capitol Hill, rehabilitated grounds, paved gravel paths, widely available bathrooms and restaurants, and improved access to the Tidal Basin.
The price tag could be as high as $705 million, the NPS estimates.
The National Mall Plan
» Read it at nps.gov/nationalmallplan
» Available for public comment through 11:59 p.m., March 18
The effects of the plan could be immense. One alternative proposes to eliminate the ramp from the Memorial Bridge to Rock Creek Parkway, restoring a “historic scene” but forcing all traffic onto 23rd Street. Another suggests removing or shrinking the Capitol Reflecting Pool to make room for events and demonstrations. Yet another features a 14th Street vehicular tunnel. The NPS received 30,000-plus comments during the drafting process. Among the proposals it rejected: an expanded National Mall boundary, underground connections between memorials, a tram or streetcar system, and the construction of a central visitors center.
Judy Scott Feldman, president of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, said the plan appeared shortsighted and piecemeal. However important the document is, she said, it is limited only to maintenance and management of the grounds under NPS control — dividing the Mall into disparate “memorial parks” rather than tying it together as a unified space.
“Clearly we can’t call this a vision for the National Mall if it doesn’t encompass the museums and iconic buildings like the White House and Capitol,” Feldman said.
The coalition’s suggestions were mostly ignored, Feldman added. “What is the public process,” she asked, “if you can’t have any impact?”
