George Washington Memorial Parkway North Section Rehabilitation Scoping Period

The National Park Service (NPS), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is re-initiating a planning process for the rehabilitation the North Section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) from Spout Run to Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) in Virginia. The GWMP was developed as a carefully designed scenic roadway and memorial to the first president of the United States, George Washington and designated as a National Park Unit in 1933. As the infrastructure ages, it has become necessary to rehabilitate the roadway, which includes making safety improvements. The NPS proposes to systematically rehabilitate and repair the roadway and related transportation assets along the 8 miles of the parkway between Spout Run and the Capital Beltway. Additional work includes improving existing roadway geometry and safety features at the Route 123 Interchange, CIA Interchange and GWMP Headquarters/US Park Police entrance.

Elements of the proposed action include: (1) reconstructing the asphalt pavement and constructing new concrete curb; (2) replacing drainage inlets and culverts; (3) the stabilization of erosion and repairs at drainage outfalls; (4) safety improvement options including consideration for crash-worthy roadside barriers; (5) various options to reconfigure the interchange at Route 123/GWMP; and (6) other smaller project elements such as creation of emergency turnarounds, extension of acceleration and deceleration lanes, and installation of stormwater management practices. For the safety improvements, the proposed action may entail a combination of rehabilitation of the historic walls at their existing height, construction of a new crash-worthy 22 or 27 inch concrete core stone faced guardwall, or installation of steel backed timber guardrail in front of the historic walls. The treatment to be used will be based on the potential safety risk, potential impacts to views and the parkway historic character, and a context sensitive design approach.

The proposed action is the initial NPS proposal to address the project purpose and need for taking action. It represents one alternative that will be considered during the EA process. In addition to the proposed action, the NPS will consider the no-action alternative and a reasonable range of other alternatives. For more information on the history of this project and project details, a scoping newsletter has been prepared and can be found at the NPS PEPC website at National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment website located at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/gwmp.

NEPA requires an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying potential significant issues related to the proposed action. Issues describe problems or concerns associated with impacts from current environmental conditions and operations, as well as problems or concerns that may arise from the implementation of the proposed action. The purpose of this announcement is to notify members of the community and other stakeholders of an opportunity to assist the NPS and FHWA in identifying potential environmental issues. Your participation in this process is greatly appreciated. A public scoping period will be held starting June 3 through July 8, 2016 and during which the NPS and FHWA will accept comments concerning the scope of issues to address in the EA. Comments received during the scoping period will be used to refine the resource issues analyzed in the EA.

You are invited to a Public Scoping Meeting. In addition to the opportunity to provide comments
during the scoping period, the NPS will hold an open house scoping meeting on June 15, 2016 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Turkey Run Park Headquarters at 700 George Washington Memorial Parkway in McLean, Virginia.

If you would like to read more about the history of the project and issues to be addressed, please read the newsletter found under the "Document List" tab.

Document Content:

GWMP June 2016 Public Scoping Announcement.pdf   (169.7 KB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.