facilities renewal master plan - National Zoo - Smithsonian Institution

FACILITIES MASTER PLAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Construction of a two-story underground parking structure at the Connecticut
Avenue entrance;
Addition of two new traffic circles on North Road;
Construction of a new service road from Amazonia Science Gallery to Bird Hill;
The construction of a new administrative, support and operations hub near the
Parking Lot C site; and
Additions to research buildings near the hospital, and construction of a new
greenhouse.
Parking Lot A and the Bus Lot would be reclaimed and older exhibits and flat land areas
would be revitalized. Land clearing and grading would be required to construct five new
large multi-species habitat and exhibit areas throughout the park to enhance animal
exhibits and visitor experience. The larger exhibit areas would help the National Zoo to
provide the highest quality animal care and management. It should be noted that
collection planning for animal exhibits at the National Zoo is a separate process from the
master planning process. The reclamation of Parking Lot A and the Bus Lot, and
revitalization of older exhibits and flat land areas would cause land disturbance, minor
soil erosion, and alteration of existing topography.
The new Beaver Valley exhibits and walkways would be designed to separate park
service from visitor circulation through a series of bridges, structures, lifts, and ramps.
Minor soil loss would occur due to land disturbance activities. The Beaver Valley
walkways would be designed to work within the existing landscape contours, and
therefore would have negligible impacts to topography and geology. Although
construction would occur within previously disturbed areas, the creation of new animal
exhibits would also have minor adverse impacts to soils, geology, or topography due to
activities such as site clearing, excavation, grading, and fill.
Revitalization of visitor entrances at Connecticut Avenue and Harvard Street
Bridge/Beach Drive, as well as a minor entry at Parking Lot B would occur within
previously disturbed areas of the park. Construction activities would have minor adverse
impacts to soils, resulting in localized soil loss during construction activities.
The new underground parking garage near the Connecticut Avenue entry would likely
have minor impacts to soil and topography due to the excavation necessary to construct
this facility. Moderate localized impacts would also occur to geology. More detailed
analysis during preliminary design and planning would occur to quantify potential
impacts.
Construction of a new service road from Amazonia Science Gallery to Bird Hill would
have minor to moderate adverse impacts to soils and topography due to vegetation
clearing, excavation, grading and fill activities.
The addition of two new traffic circles on North Road would require minor earth
disturbance that would result in soil loss and erosion. With sediment and erosion control
measures, the impacts to soils would be minor and localized to the area of construction.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION – NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK 43 | P a g e