Site Development Guide - National Capital Planning Commission

INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY CAMPUS - BETHESDASite Development GuideThe Central Business District of Bethesda is served by Washington Metro Red-Line, which also stops atFriendship Heights. The Red-Line has good connectivity to the regional network with trains departing ineach direction about once every 7-10 minutes during the work day. Unfortunately the closest stations tothe ICC-B site are approximately 5 miles away, therefore commuters would need make alternatearrangements to get to the ICC-B site from the Metro.There is a WMTA bus that connects from the Bethesda Metro Station to the ICC-B area, however this busonly runs every half-hour so would not be effective for managing peak travel time traffic volumes into thesite which have been measured to be 760 vehicles per hour. With bus capacities limited to around 40passengers total, and the extensive cycle time on this route, mass transit is not a feasible alternative forsite personnel without some type of enhanced shuttle.This inability of the regional mass transit system to meet site demands is indicated by the failure of aprevious ride sponsorship program the existing site user implemented in 2004 to try and alleviate off-siteparking concerns. Personnel were simply unable to sustain mass transit ridership given the extendedtransfer time to get to the site and the inconvenience of transferring between multiple transit modes.The site mission profile doesn't allow this type of workplace flexibility for reporting times and frequentlyoff-hours work is required which necessitates use of personal transport as the metro lines are shut downafter 12 AM and don't run again until 5 AM.Furthermore, the Bethesda transit connection currently provides service to an average of 15,000passengers per workday, and therefore has limited additional capacity to handle peak commuter loads.There are plans to expand service to the Bethesda region by extending a 16 mile light rail or rapid busline enhancing regional connectivity with the Purple Line, which will provide broader access to adjacentmetropolitan areas. That project should be monitored throughout project develop to ascertain in therewould be any benefits to the ICC-B community with this proposed mass transit improvement.Key Issue:Although mass transit trains run within 5 miles of the ICC-B site; there is limited connectivity from theregional train service to the site and commuter parking at the nearest train station is not available.Due to the extended travel times and limited off-peak availability; the ICC-B site plan will need toaddress full projected commuter vehicle loading requirement. As a planning criteria site thegovernment should continue to monitor regional transit development programs to ascertain benefitsto any proposed changes, but mass transit for employees is not a viable option at this time.Section 2: Page 6 of 8