Neighbors in the chic Chevy Chase-D.C. neighborhood are being spurred to action by a massive road project that they say threatens the local environment.
Millions of taxpayer dollars have poured in from the federal government to help D.C. rebuild Nebraska Avenue between Utah and Oregon streets Northwest. But at a neighborhood meeting this week, city roads officials conceded that they hadn’t yet conducted an environmental impact study.
That has angered engineer James R. Collier and local environmentalist Beth Mullin. The two are drafting a letter to city officials saying they have “major concerns” about the Nebraska Avenue project, most stemming from the city’s refusal to install water basins to prevent erosion and sewage backup either in the neighborhood or into Rock Creek Park.
“We’re interested in a more modern kind of project where there’s a way for the water to soak into the ground rather than just running off to the creek,” Mullin told The Examiner.
Nearly 10,000 cars per day pass along that strip of Nebraska Avenue, most with suburbanite drivers cutting through Rock Creek Park on their commutes. The rehab project was supposed to start this month and is scheduled to take between nine and 12 months to complete.
But at a stormy Monday night meeting with neighbors, city engineer Muhammed Khalid said that the city hadn’t completed its impact statement, according to a neighbor who was at the meeting. Khalid also conceded that his agency wasn’t prepared to install water catch basins.
Khalid didn’t respond to requests for comment. But Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, D-Ward 4, who attended the meeting, said that the city had met its obligations.
“They are totally within the federal environmental requirements,” Bowser told The Examiner. “I think that we’ve responded to their concerns.”
