D.C. residents will have their first chance next month to learn more about a planned expansion of the Virginia Avenue railroad tunnel, a massive project that will ease a major freight bottleneck but also disrupt the southern end of Capitol Hill.
An open house meeting on the project is slated for Sept. 14, the first of several federally required steps in an environmental assessment aimed at evaluating the impact of the project on the surrounding area that hugs the Southeast Freeway near the Navy Yard and the Capitol Riverfront.
CSX is planning to widen and increase the height of the tunnel that that runs from Second Street to 11th Street just below the Capitol in Southeast.
The work would allow double-stacked trains to run in both directions at the same time. The more than 100-year-old tunnel has been a bottleneck along the East Coast for years and is expected to become more important as the demand for cargo increases and the Panama Canal expansion finishes.
Want to go? The meeting runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sept. 14, at Van Ness Elementary on 1150 5th St., SE.
Details: The project now has its own website with more information.
