Everything about Potomac Yard totally explained
Potomac Yard was one of the busiest
railroad yards on the
Eastern Seaboard of the
United States. Today, it refers to the neighborhood encompassing the same, which straddles southeastern
Arlington County and northern
Alexandria, Virginia, bounded by
U.S. Route 1, the
George Washington Memorial Parkway,
Four Mile Run, and
Braddock Road. It may also refer to one of several developments on the site, especially the
Potomac Yard Retail Center strip mall.
History
English settlers built several plantations on the site in the 1700s. The land, much owned by the Swann and Daingerfield families, became part of
Alexandria County, D.C. with the creation of the
District of Columbia in 1791, and retroceded to
Virginia in 1846.
Its role as a transportation hub began when
Congress chartered the
Alexandria Canal Company in 1830. The Canal, which opened on
December 2,
1843, would connect the port of Alexandria with the end of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (completed 1850) in
Georgetown via the
Potomac Aqueduct Bridge. It would operate until abandoned in 1886.
Railroad development began in the 1850s, though stymied by political concerns and by the
American Civil War. Order to the region's mishmash of active and abandoned rail lines and stations didn't come until the
City Beautiful movement of the late 19th century. The
1901 Plan for Washington, D.C. (report of the
McMillan Commission) proposed consolidating the region's rail operations, including a new
Washington Union Station (approved 1903, completed 1908) and a
New Long Railroad Bridge (completed 1904).
In accordance with the plan, the
Pennsylvania Railroad,
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
Southern Railway,
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway,
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and
Seaboard Air Line Railway formed the
Richmond-Washington Company to manage traffic. It would control the new
Alexandria Union Station, which opened in 1905, and the new switching yard—Potomac Yard—which opened in
October 15,
1906.
The booming "Pot Yard" attracted thousands of workers, who largely settled in the areas of Del Ray and St. Elmo. These subdivisions incorporated as the town of
Potomac in 1908, but were annexed by the City of Alexandria in 1930.
Potomac Yard in its heyday was one of the busiest railyards in the Eastern United States, processing thousands of cars daily. The Pennsylvania Railroad extended its
railway electrification program to Potomac Yard in 1935, marking its southermost point—the
Penn Central segment of the famous
Tropicana Juice Train operated from here. The site reached capacity in 1937.
As rail traffic declined in the mid-20th century, Potomac Yard also declined. The PRR's old
catenary was dismantled in the 1980s. The facility was declared a toxic waste site in 1987. The
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) finally decommissioned it in 1989. Plans for rehabilitation and redevelopment of the land have been a source of intense debate since then.
Redevelopment
At decommissioning, decades of industrial use had left the site contaminated with heavy metals and hydrocarbons, including
diesel. It was immediately declared a
Superfund site. In 1995 the
Environmental Protection Agency approved RF&P's study and cleanup plan, and cleanup was declared completed by 1998.
Various commercial and community interest groups came into conflict over the future of the
brownfield land. The City of Alexandria rejected the original mixed use plan in 1992.
Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the
Washington Redskins, unsuccessfully pushed for the construction of a new
football stadium on the site. Seventy of the 400 acres (1.6 km²) of the site were approved for retail use in 1995; the Potomac Yard Center, a strip mall anchored by
big box stores, was completed in 1997. Other sections of Potomac Yard have since been slated for development as residential units, office space, parkland, and retail use. The Potomac Yard Complex by Crescent Resources is already under construction, with One and Two Potomac Center completed in Nov 2005. The southernmost portion of the Alexandria section is under construction as of Aug 2006. It includes two plans, one for Arlington and one for Alexandria. The Alexandria portion of the site is highlighted by a new Town Center. The plan also includes of office space; a 625-room hotel; of neighborhood retail space; and approximately 1,900 residential units.The plan for the Arlington site includes of office space; a 625-room hotel; of neighborhood retail space; and approximately 1000 residential units. The plan also calls for a 25 acre park, which will be owned by Arlington County, north of Crystal City.
Recent efforts to develop a
Virginia Railway Express commuter rail or
Washington Metro subway station at Potomac Yard have failed due to the high costs of the project and studies showing low demand for the station. As a result, such a project is near the bottom of the priority list of the City of Alexandria and the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
Further Information
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