A map of every intersection and dead-end inside the Beltway, color-coded by type. Image by the author.
Recently, Bloomberg Citylab featured my maps of intersections in US metro areas. Their article didn’t include maps of the Washington region, so here’s a comparison of intersections in different parts of our area.
Why intersection types matter
Street networks are an important part of urban form, both for pedestrians and for public transit. In traditionally gridded cities, like New York, a regular pattern of long, straight roads provides natural routes for buses and good connectivity for pedestrians to get where they’re going without taking indirect routes. When three-way intersections predominate, buses often have to follow winding, indirect routings to serve communities for example the A22 in Prince George’s County or many routes overlap on the small number of straight through streets, such as Rte 7 and US-1 in Northern Virginia.
The latest casualty is the AMC Mazza Gallerie 7, which permanently closed in Friendship Heights.
On Friday, the AMC Theatres website posted: “AMC Mazza Gallerie 7 Has Permanently Closed. We hope to see you at our next nearest location: AMC Courthouse Plaza 8.”
Mazza Gallerie has become a ghost town since the pandemic began. The 294,000-square-foot retail center sold in August to Annaly Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. for $38 million in a foreclosure auction after its owner, an affiliate of New York’s Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., defaulted on $67.1 million in loans it took out to purchase the property in 2017.
The movie theater closure comes a year after AMC permanently shuttered the historic Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park in March, unrelated to the nationwide pandemic shutdown.
By Jefferson Morley
JANUARY 25, 2021
On Monday afternoon, June 1, the city of Washington was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Seven days after the killing of George Floyd, scenes of mobs, flames, cops and chaos looped endlessly on screens large and small, interrupted only by images of boarded-up windows and now the spectacle of a phalanx of uniformed soldiers routing peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square across the street from the White House.
I was sitting an 11-minute drive north of the mayhem at the carryout end of the Marx Cafe bar in the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant. The regulars who lined the bar masked and (sort of) socially distanced stared up in appalled silence at a TV as the president hoisted a Bible. The country was disintegrating during happy hour. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 7 p.m. curfew order was fast approaching. The crowd thinned.
30N, 30S Friendship Heights-Southeast eastbound toward Naylor Rd/Southern Ave
32, 36 Pennsylvania Avenue eastbound toward Southern Ave/Naylor Rd
Buses begin detouring on 13th St NW at Pennsylvania Ave, resuming regular route on Pennsylvania Ave SE at 8th St.
30N, 30S Friendship Heights-Southeast westbound toward Friendship Heights
32, 36 Pennsylvania Avenue westbound toward Potomac Park
Buses begin detouring on 8th St SE at Pennsylvania Ave, resuming regular route on Pennsylvania Ave NW at 9th St.
33 Wisconsin Avenue
Buses will operate between Friendship Heights/Federal Triangle Metrorail stations and a bus stop located on F St NW at 14th St (stop ID# 1001048).
52 14th Street