Toll tunnel for 1600 Pensylvania Av

Toll tunnel for 1600 Pennsylvania Av?

Since the Oklahoma City bombing last year Pennsylvania Av in front of the White house has been closed off with Jersey barriers and huge planters, and arguments have centered on what to do with 1,000 feet (300m) of the 100 foot roadway, a nice big patch of blacktop presently being used by the odd skateboarder and a few tourists on foot. The Secret Service is insistent that there is no way it can protect the White House and the President from a truckbomb if the roadway is opened again, because it is hardly 200 feet (60m) away from Bill’s bedroom.

But the closure has caused horrible congestion in the center of Washington, and many voices have called for the avenue’s reopening. Shocking to say, this has become a bit political with Republicans saying the truckbomb danger is over-rated and that the President has developed a siege mentality. Now we are utterly and completely centrist in our politics and hence we offer a practical compromise.

There has been surprisingly little discussion of a rather obvious compromise concept — a vehicular underpass or tunnel built of heavy reinforced concrete engineered to protect the White House from a truck bomb. Such an underground roadway 1,000 feet (300m) long between Jackson and Madison Places would restore much of the road mobility that existed before the closure, while allowing a protective pedestrians-only plaza in front of the White House. It would be about the same size as long established road underpasses at Dupont and Washington Circles and the section of 12th Street under the Mall. It would not be easy to design in part because at its eastern end the Metro red line cuts under Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the Treasury building in a quite shallow tunnel on its way between Connecticut Avenue and G Street.

Our underpass in front of the White House might need quite steep ramps. It could be designed as a cars-only facility allowing it to be built with steep shorter approaches and lesser headroom, both reducing the visual impact of the ramps and the Secret Service’s concern about a large truck being driven into there. Of course the city’s mobility needs would be best served by an all-vehicles underpass, and the possibilities and trade-offs should be the subject of a professional engineering study. It shouldn’t be long enough to require mechanical ventilation or any of that expensive stuff. But if cost is an obstacle the underpass could be financed by borrowings based on toll revenues to be collected via electronic toll tags?

Heck, maybe that last bit is stretching the toll advocacy thing? “The World’s Tiniest Toll Tunnel”!

Seriously, this is a hot issue in Washington DC. Here’s an opportunity for the nation’s, indeed the world’s, premier engineering companies to get directly involved in protecting the president of the United States. Now there, no need to get nasty. I already hear readers muttering like: “A bomb is much too kind. What kind of a mush-head would want to protect that sonufabitch...” Now, now guys just cool it. By the time this tunnel thing actually gets built there will be someone else living there...No, no, not Dole. Someone we can’t even think of...Possibly even lovable enough to be worth protecting...No, I’ve lost you! Well alternatively, then, here’s an opportunity to help alleviate the internationally known gridlock of the U.S. capital. No, you aren’t drawn to that mission either? Mission Impossible, you say. Well then, here’s a terrific opportunity to get your company some free national publicity. (Send sketch plans to the Metro Editor, the Washington Post, 1150 15th St NW Washington DC 20071)