The Pentagon’s Parking Lot
I think it’s great that the newest Pentagon auxiliary structure will be the DOD’s greenest office building yet but if they really wanted to be environmentally conscious they wouldn’t have located it “a mere 7 miles down I-395 at Mark Center,” they would have put it right next to the Pentagon where currently a gigantic open-air parking lot is occupying some extremely valuable land:
If you replaced all those lots with office buildings featuring underground parking garages, it would still be possible for DOD personnel inclined to drive to do so. But, obviously, parking would be expensive and many people would choose instead to avail themselves of the conveniently located Pentagon Metro Station. To cope with the increased demand you would also want to beef up the frequency with which the bus lines that serve the Pentagon arrive, and possibly even launch a new line or two. The environmental benefits of that kind of arrangement would be considerable.
Generally one substantial problem we have in the national capital area is that the federal government, being the federal government, faces no real financial pressure to use its space in an efficient way. Congress maintains a lot of open air parking lots in the vicinity of the Hill that a private company would almost certainly turn over to developers. That would add jobs and houses to a dense, walkable, very transit-accessible area. But of course the members of congress and their staff couldn’t personally pocket the money thereby earned, so they have no real incentive to do so.
32 Responses to “The Pentagon’s Parking Lot”
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Wow! Such libertarian rhetoric from Matt Y. Is he trying to get a plum job at Cato or get a date with McMegan?
If it’s the latter, this won’t work. Your argument is actually sensible here.
Of course, if the Obama admin actually did what you suggest, even righty-tighties who are wont to make fun of perverse incentives of the feds (as you do here) would be mercilessly mocking Obama for being a PC green forcing poor Pentagon staffers to pay more money for parking, which means he must hate the troops … or something …
August 28th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I always assumed all that empty space around the Pentagon was in part a security measure.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Geez, “American Airlines Flight 77″ shows up on Google maps? How macabre.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I always assumed all that empty space around the Pentagon was in part a security measure.
Right. It makes a great flyway for hijacked jet liners.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
BTW … Matt Y., the incentive would be that some politician who’s constituency includes Arlington County would ram this through the bureaucracy and then take credit for making a change that reduces traffic congestion.
The real problem is that voters won’t pay enough attention (or just dismiss the advantages gained by saying “so and so only did this to get votes”) for this to sway an election.
If people elected politicians for doing good things, than politicians would do good things. Part of the reason why the system is broken is that voters don’t care … and of course, because the system is broken, voters don’t care. So what are ya gonna do about it?
But Pogo was right about more than just the environment. In a democratic republic, when things don’t work, it really is a case of “we have met the enemy and he is us”
August 28th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Actually – there is more to it than Matt knows. First, this was a result of BRAC which, for the most part, was done well and correctly. However, I think they went awry with this one. I work in Mark Center and it is already difficult to get here off Seminary Rd. Now they anticipate almost 6000 new vehicles trying to get in here every morning. Google map Seminary and Beauragard in Alexandria and you will see impending disaster. And note that we are NOT on any metro site. Not even close in fact. This will be a traffic nightmare in about two years.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I’ll second Don B. I’ve been to meetings at Marc Center and it’s can get pretty clogged up trying to get out of there in the evening. Partly because it’s situated right at an already busy intersection, and partly because the 395 interchange there was designed by Rube Goldberg in one of his more playful moments.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Uh, Matt, you do realize the Pentagon is built on a swamp, don’t you? Digging underground parking on a swamp is a great idea. Parking for Pentagon workers is already difficul, and the government provides a transit subsidy for employees to take mass transit. It’s about $150 a month (tax free) right now. Most employees at the Pentagon either slug (organized hitch hiking) or take the metro, train, or bus to get to work.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
If you replace free outdoor parking with “expensive” indoor parking, then the rich can park with a negligible financial burden and the rest can park with a significant financial burden.
It’s regressive.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Jaffa, under your proposed system of socialized parking, we would subject the citizenry into parking rationing.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Right. It makes a great flyway for hijacked jet liners.
Given that the Pentagon is just two miles from Ronald Reagan National Airport, I wonder why they’d bother.
But yeah, the “security measure” thing makes no sense to me either. There are security concerns if you’re the neighbor of such a prime target, but that’s not the Pentagon’s problem.
Most employees at the Pentagon either slug (organized hitch hiking) or take the metro, train, or bus to get to work.
“Slug”? Never heard of that. (Unless you just mean car-pooling.)
August 28th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
@ pan
Then just have the 1st few stories be for parking and start the office buildings above that. Who builds an office building for 6000+ workers in one of the most densely populated areas of the country with no mass transit access? Just unthinkable. As bad as building the denver airport with no train to it. 15 years later and we are just now getting around to planning a rail line to DIA from Denver City Center. Just stupid.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Pan, there’s a large underground parking garage directly across from the South Parking lot at Pentagon Row shopping center. Metro runs underground past the Pentagon. The Pentagon itself has two basement levels. I’m pretty sure they could do it.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
If you replace free outdoor parking with “expensive” indoor parking, then the rich can park with a negligible financial burden and the rest can park with a significant financial burden.
It’s regressive.
Not in a place with decent public transportation it’s not. And, wow, what a coincidence, Arlington, Virginia has decent public transportation. There’s a Metro station under the Pentagon itself, a dozen bus lines that go there, and extensive shopping just one Metro stop away.
Or, technically I guess it is regressive in a way, but using the term so broadly makes it meaningless. Everything is regressive by that standard. In practical terms, though, if there is a viable affordable alternative, I don’t see anything wrong with the existence of a “deluxe” option as well.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Re Matthew’s comment “But, obviously, parking would be expensive and many people would choose instead to avail themselves of the conveniently located Pentagon Metro Station. To cope with the increased demand you would also want to beef up the frequency with which the bus lines that serve the Pentagon arrive”
————–
ha ha ha ha
Hasn’t anyone told Matthew about that line of big ass helicopters that fly up 395 to the Pentagon every morning? From Fort Belvoir, I believe. Or at least, they used to.
How green are they?
Er.. actually, they are painted dark green. Fuel consumption per mile , I mean.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
If you replaced all those lots with office buildings featuring underground parking garages, it would still be possible for DOD personnel inclined to drive to do so …
Garages under buildings is a bad idea because of car bombs.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
“Slug”? Never heard of that. (Unless you just mean car-pooling.)
Carpooling means riding with the same people every day. Slugging means you go to a central location and get in the car with someone going the same place you are. In NoVA, people regularly slug to the Pentagon. The driver gets to drive on the HOV lane, and the riders get a free ride to work.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
It’s called “casual carpooling” in northern california. Apparently calling it “hitchhiking” is considered a bit too proletarian by the white collar workers doing it.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
If I recall correctly, they CAN’T build underground parking lots bc the Pentagon is built on a swamp, which is Y it started to sink shortly after it was built.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I assumed that the parking at the Pentagon was surface because of cost and not just wanting the hassle of changing it no matter the change. No way would it be turned over to private developers – not now anyway. 30+ years ago maybe but the Pentagon would never tolerate offices towering over them a stone’s throw away. Now they could build other buildings with built-in parking as well as build parking decks to maximize space.
As for Capitol again they wouldn’t turn that over to the private developers – they would likely just build more Congressional space, parking garages, or more green space.
Basically I am sympathetic to the argument and agree that their is no incentive for efficient space planning by the feds – but the examples provided could be construed as problematic.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Unless there was some minimum distance desired between the Pentagon and the new building, I don’t know why the DoD didn’t locate the building just south of 395 where those crappy brick warehouse buildings sit. There are two big city blocks with very low value use sitting there – at least the last time I was in the area, and Google Maps doesn’t show any new buildings. Demolishing the crappy discount mall wouldn’t be a loss to society, either.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Frankly I’m surprised at the logic of BRAC and why they felt the need to vacate Crystal City which had plenty of garage parking, mass transit and office space.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Sean – Crystal city locations were BRAC’ed because they couldn’t meet the new standoff distance (to protect from car bombs) requirements for DoD facilities. Most of them were moved onto the Navy Yard where they have the needed (I believe it’s 150 ft) distance from road traffic. The new rules basically put all DoD facilties behind secured perimeters.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Congress maintains a lot of open air parking lots in the vicinity of the Hill
The one south of Cannon and the two north of Dirksen/Hart are almost certainly reserved for expansion of House/Senate office space. The two on Columbus Circle may be for aesthetics wrt. to Union Station, but they could go. The ones on Canal should definitely go. Beyond those, the area looks pretty well filled in.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Pat – Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. Do they plan on upgrading the buildings in Navy Yard? Seems necessary given that they used somewhere near one million ft^2 of office space in Crystal City. They’ll be pretty much boxed in between the Potomac, Capitol Riverfront, 395 and M St.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The new rules basically put all DoD facilities behind secured perimeters.
Thereby mandating enormous expense, disruption, and escalation of already unbearable traffic congestion. All on the premise that the Defense Dixie Cup Procurement Agency is a Prime Target for the platoons of lurking Al Quaedists who were going to be making like KABOOMA KABOOMA KABOOMA on a daily or hourly basis as a followup to 9/11.
Or to put it another way: The Terrorists Won.
(I will concede that my suspicion that DoD was being moved out of Crystal City to punish Arlington for its blueness has not been borne out by events. Apparently the idiotic policy is being honestly applied.)
August 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
replaced all those lots with… underground parking garages… obviously, parking would be expensive
There’s a gap in here somewhere. Are you saying that the surface lots are currently free, and proposing that the underground garages would not be?
August 28th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Do they plan on upgrading the buildings in Navy Yard? Seems necessary given that they used somewhere near one million ft^2 of office space in Crystal City.
Have you seen all that construction going on in the Navy Yard, big cranes and massive new buildings going up everywhere inside the yard. There’ll be enough space for everyone. And it’s all government owned buildings too, not leased space.
August 28th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Parking garages don’t really exist in the DoD. I work on a military installation that is expanding rapidly, and very space constrained for environmental reasons. Parking comes up a lot. We have asked and been denied a parking garage, basically because they can’t have then at the pentagon. There are a number of reasons they won’t allow them at the Pentagon, all of them security related. You can’t have parking within a certain stand-off distance of any building, so underground parking is out. Even a standard parking garage is ruled out due to the number of personnel you could take out with one explosive device at quitting time. The multiple levels bring more people with in the range of one car bomb. We’re hoping provide an additional justification for the structure(hurricane shelter for equipment) might get it approved.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Parking garages do exist on military bases. But they are inside the security perimeter. The Pentagon parking lot is not secure and is open to public traffic, although the Pentagon Police patrol it with a vengeance. There is story of a Carter era rule that government buildings could have only 1 parking spot for every 3 employees. It may be an urban legend, but I’ve heard it used as a justification for the parking shortages.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:54 am
The trend toward underground parking garages in DC in the 70’s more or less stopped due to 1980’s terrorism. Those that were built had their use further restricted (or were closed entirely) due to terrorism in the 90’s and noughts.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:32 am
It’s probably also a strategic Good Idea not to locate 7000 more DoD jobs adjacent to all those other DoD jobs. Yes, it would have been nice if the site chosen was more transit-friendly, but I’m fine with not expanding on the Pentagon grounds.