WMATA has environmentally-friendly plans for the historic bus barn at 14th and Buchanan Streets NW. Not only will the barn be redeveloped to include 27,500 sq ft of commercial space, but it will also only house electric buses. This is good news for neighborhood residents who had expressed concern over the pollution a local bus hub would generate.
In a win for environmental justice, WMATA announced on Monday that the rebuilt 14th Street garage will only house electric buses.
WMATA (the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) has been working toward partially demolishing and retrofitting the historic bus garage at 14th and Buchanan Streets NW (map) in order to create a bus garage with newly-constructed commercial space.
While the project has undergone a lot of design scrutiny, nearby residents have also long expressed concern about the pollution the bus garage would generate and have called on Metro to commit to an electric-only fleet for the site. In June, WMATA committed to converting its entire bus fleet to electric busses by 2045; the DC Council is signaling its preference for a quicker timeline, and a resolution signed by the council in April states "When WMATA finishes refurbishing its Northern Bus Garage on 14th Street NW, it should no longer house diesel buses there, running only electric buses at that site."
Beyer Blinder Belle and Wendel are the architects for the retrofit bus garage project, which will include up to 27,500 square feet of commercial space and a rooftop parking deck. A community update meeting is scheduled for tonight.