• The study is not an objective evaluation of the feasibility of deconstructing the
    Whitehurst Freeway but an effort to demonstrate its inevitability and to look at how best to
    proceed with this already decided-upon  project.

  • The methodological approach is seriously flawed  and, deliberately or otherwise,  
    makes the Report’s conclusions almost inevitable.  Some important judgments seem to lack
    support in the data and the Report does not explain them.

  • The “no-build” alternative was never actually evaluated and the alternatives chosen
    cannot fairly be described as “best performing.” Using the study’s own methodology, a fair
    evaluation would have ranked “no-build” a close second to one of the costly K Street
    tunnel alternatives.

  • The study area was too narrowly delineated and, even within that area, no real effort
    was made to solicit widely people’s attitudes or ideas on the proposed project.

  • The several public workshops did not provide any meaningful  input to the study.
    The choice of the alternatives, the criteria to employ, the ratings for the criteria and  their
    relative weights  obviously were made by the project staff.

  • The very useful  traffic surveys conducted early in the study raised  the right questions
    but these data were largely ignored in the  final Report in  favor of  mostly unhelpful
    computer modeling.

  • Deconstruction will mean heavier traffic through both commercial and residential
    Georgetown  and neighboring areas.  The Report manages to avoid this inescapable
    outcome.  

  • The best that the study can offer commuters, including all those from upper NW,
    Va. and  Md., is that traffic conditions will not be much worse.  The Report’s own
    numbers suggest that this may be too optimistic.

In the end, despite its best efforts not to, what the Report really shows is that a proposed
$50 million project will mainly create a substantial amenities benefit for a relatively small
group of Georgetown near-waterfront residents, and a substantial gain in property values
for owners in the same area, while also increasing traffic in Georgetown and nearby
neighborhoods and adding to the problems of commuters who now use the Whitehurst.

For a summary of the analysis, click on Summary.

For a full analysis of the study, click on Analysis.

More about why this study is erroneous and misleading.



Campaign to Save the Whitehurst       yes@savethewhitehurst.org
Warren Robinson, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Pennsylvania State University,
        "deconstructed"  the DDOT Whitehurst Deconstruction Feasibility Study.   

For a summary, click on Summary, and for his full analysis, click on Analysis.  
Conclusions: