FBI chooses Greenbelt for new HQ, next to WMATA station

Fox 5 DC has more details than Washington Post:
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/prince-geor ... adquarters

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. - Prince George's County has been chosen as the location for the next FBI headquarters.

Maryland leaders confirmed with FOX 5 that it will be built on an empty 61-acre plot near the Greenbelt Metro Station.

The video is of most interest because it shows a map of the proposed site. Sadly, it needs a lot of reconstruction of the parking lot and the ramps to get to the station.

My immediate thought is "that's a lot of lost public parking for Metrorail and MARC passengers!"

My second immediate thought is "Will all of those discussions about extending the Green Line north of Greenbelt start up again?"

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 12:57 pm My immediate thought is "that's a lot of lost public parking for Metrorail and MARC passengers!"

My second immediate thought is "Will all of those discussions about extending the Green Line north of Greenbelt start up again?"

Or . implementing regional rail by adding a 3rd track on the CSX line, and having express trains from virginia to greenbelt.. possibly using the alexandria branch.

If anything, I suspect MORE FBI employees will drive given the new parking garages, even if there is an effort to discourage driving in favor of Metro. Also, I would not rule out the possibility that this decision is reversed.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 1:34 pm

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 12:57 pm My immediate thought is "that's a lot of lost public parking for Metrorail and MARC passengers!"

My second immediate thought is "Will all of those discussions about extending the Green Line north of Greenbelt start up again?"

Or . implementing regional rail by adding a 3rd track on the CSX line, and having express trains from virginia to greenbelt.. possibly using the alexandria branch.

Okay, I'll bite. Assuming four tracks to the Washington Terminal District from Alexandria and the new bridge gets built, plus rush direction service to lighten the load...

...you need to double-crack the CSX Alexandria Extension from Deanwood to North Kenilworth, put an interlocking before the wye, extend the existing third track on the Capital Subdivision to connect to itself on the southwest end of the wye going to the northern end... rebuild Riverdale MARC, maybe rework a WMATA bridge, rebuild College Park (it needs it anyway, stretch that platform, rebuild a bridge over a river... and connect up to existing pocket tracks with a full interlock....

...or, you just install a freight fly-over at the Riverdale interlock so it can access the west-side track and stay out of the way of MARC traffic trying to get into Union Station while said freight goes through QN and F tower.

I'm sorry, how did that get in there? I got many ideas for improvements to existing service that are just "simple".

For WMATA's Green Line, I would only extend it all the way up to Muirkurk, where there *is* parking and making a garage to accommodate WMATA and MARC parking would be easier. I would not go further than that -- those who want WMATA go all the way to BWI obviously have not ridden the MARC Penn line.

See: FBI Headquarters Consolidation DEIS for details of site plans.

I took a look a the proposed site plans for both of the location.

The Greenbelt site will provided direct access that will be new between MD I-95/I-495 and the new headquarters, The Springfield site will provide access between VA-95 and new headquarters using existing roads.

The Greenbelt site has a shorter walking distance between the MARC, Metrorail stations entrance and the headquarters entrances and visitors center compared to the Springfield site.

The Franconia - Springfield site makes no changes at the existing VRE, Metrorail stations. The Greenbelt site makes major changes at MARC, Metrorail stations, reduces the amount of commuter parking at the stations and adds a transit oriented development component to the overall site of the stations and headquarters.

As to commuter parking WMATA will likely incorporate garages into the transit oriented development component. If memory service, the parking lots at the existing Greenbelt MARC, Metrorail stations have never been filled to capacity.

The Greenbelt site also has large undevelopable buffer area on its east and south sides, the Springfield site has significantly smaller buffer area.

RE parking, they will build garages for whatever non-structured parking they loose that they need.

The press reports discuss the fact the VA location would cost $1.5B more than MD.

I know the VA location is crowded by existing other USG facilities.

Not only is the Metro walking distance far shorter in MD, it is also walking distance to the Federal Courthouse.

Springfield, VA is better because we have both Metro and VRE.
Also, VRE has a station at Quantico.
Maryland is further away from Quantico

What's going to become of the current building?

Rapidly condemned, I suspect....

Interesting. I hope turned into housing or something else useful.

davinp wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:03 pm Springfield, VA is better because we have both Metro and VRE.

From what I read, the proposed location will not be walking distance from the Metro stop, and shuttle buses would be required. I don't know exactly how far away it is.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:16 am I would not go further than that -- those who want WMATA go all the way to BWI obviously have not ridden the MARC Penn line.

Riding from Glenmont to Union Station to BWI Rail to BWI makes for a long journey.

The US House Transportation Committee is holding a hearing today (Dec. 12, 2023) on the selection of the Greenbelt location. Expect lots of grilling, or friendly questioning, depending on the politician's home district. https://thehill.com/homenews/4355453-ho ... atch-live/