Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser last week let the public see the master plan for what will be the new $3.7 billion home of the NFL's Washington Commanders football team, which includes changes to the city's transportation infrastructure.
"This will be the largest economic development project in D.C. history," said Bowser. "Our charge is to turn 180 acres of land on the banks of the Anacostia, on the monumental axis, into jobs and opportunity for our city and our residents."
Building a new stadium on the site of the now demolished RFK Memorial stadium required an act of Congress and will change the way traffic and pedestrians move through the neighborhoods surrounding the future mixed-use development.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is currently exploring options for the best way to move 65,000 people into and out of a new domed stadium that is right-sized for Super Bowls and other major entertainment events.
"WMATA has determined that the existing transit infrastructure at the Stadium-Armory Metro will not meet event day demand and is recommending capacity improvements to the station in order to address event-day transit need," per the master plan.
The options being studied include opening an additional entrance to the Armory Metrorail station that services the Blue, Orange, and Silver train lines, creating a new transit plaza to accommodate bus rapid transit, and developing a link to Union Station which serves regional rail carriers.
The bus rapid transit system has been dubbed the "Gold Line."
"We know we got to get people through the A Street corridor over to the campus, but also we need to have people have great transit every day of the week," said WMATA general manager Randy Clark during the public comment phase of the planning.
"From Union Station up to Benning Road is where we want the Gold Line. Center running, true bus rapid transit, getting away from cars, moving lots of people, really fast efficiencies."
WMATA estimates the current maximum station capacity at about 14,000 riders per hour and the cost of building a whole new station would be about $1 billion.
The deal for the new stadium was announced in
The team is kicking in $2.7 billion with the city expected to lean into bond financing to pay the balance. City officials are estimating the finished project will bring in $4 billion in tax revenue over the next 30 years.
The Washington D.C. economy has been rocked by a decline in office space leasing that never recovered from the pandemic.
The Trump Administration has laid off thousands of government workers which raised unemployment numbers in the city and surrounding states.
The city is looking to reverse financial trends by pouring millions into its professional sports teams in an effort to keep them playing within the District of Columbia.
The city points to the bond-financed, built from scratch Major League Baseball stadium in the Navy Yard neighborhood that's on track to pay off its bonds 10 years ahead of schedule by using tax increment financing.
The city maintains AA credit ratings with S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings and an Aa1 from Moody's Ratings.
The master plan still needs D.C. Council approval, with a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 30.
