Weather Finds a New Home
6 11 2008Looks like people’s worries about the new National Weather Center for Environmental Prediction not being transit friendly were well founded. The one thing left out of the rendering we showed you a while back is the huge parking lot pictured below. The actual building is coming along nicely though, it should still be ready to be moved into next year.
[Photo: Aphis1]
That parking lot is for another building not in the frame of the photo. The NOAA building has a parking garage to the side/rear (also out of the frame). The comments were unfounded, however, because it is a very short walk to the Metro station.
I think the comments are VERY well founded, there is no direct path to the new building from the metro, plus surrounding the buildings in that area with tons of parking isn’t transit friendly at all. The fact that it is simi close to metro makes it all the worse!
This is not an urban location…. cars still rule in the ‘burbs
I work in the building served by the parking lot in the photo. I keep wondering when a path from River Road to the NOAA building is going to be constructed, which would allow for a 10-12 minute walk from College Park Metro Station to that building. Haven’t seen one yet.
If they don’t build that path and make people walk up the service road farther down River Road, the walk becomes 20 minutes easy - definitely enough to discourage use of the Metro to get to the building. It would only be accessible through the shuttle bus (which there are already enough people riding in the PM, plus NOAA would have to contribute in order for the bus to service that building) or through the irregular R12 and F6 service along River Road.
I am extremely puzzled that they are not building a path from River Road to the NOAA building. Maybe they’ll do it before the building opens.
FWIW, the shine from the NOAA building’s windows is near-blinding in my building in the afternoon.
I went on a construction tour led by the architects , HOK, a couple weeks ago. NOAA built an expensive security gate in the back (picture is of the front) of the building for employees that want to walk and bike on a path through the woods to the metro station. The path has been promised by Univ of MD, the owners of the whole office park. They have bike racks and showers, also. They building is very eco -friendly but not leed rated because they didn’t have the budget.
They must be coming from Paint Branch Parkway, then, ’cause there’s no gate on the front of the building facing River Road. I’m not sure that’s a good solution for them, since that path wouldn’t be lit unless U-Md put lights there, and I’m not sure what kind of flexibility they have to put lights up in the park. The park itself is not U-Md land.
BTW, all the land around NOAA was forested when U-Md bought it. Then they took all the forest down and let weeds grow there for two years. Now that NOAA is closer to being occupied, they put in sod. Tell me how that’s eco-friendly.
I am the architect of the new NOAA NCWCP building. To clarify a few points:
- The parking lot pictured is not on NOAA’s site — it is the parking lot for USDA. The NOAA building uses structured parking, to free up the 10-acre site for pedestrians. This photograph is very misleading.
- We have constructed a path from River Road to the site, so that pedestrians can walk from the metro. It is less than 1/2 mile. Gate is on the north side of the property.
- Building will be LEED silver
- NOAA has no control over how UMD manages the surrounding sites. The NOAA site will have native vegetation.