With the fever pitch of development bubbling over in all of these adjacent districts, NoMa, Union Market, Eckington, etc., the entire swath of exposed rail infrastructure in the area is beginning to look very out of place and a somewhat of a significant obstruction. I know there is a gradually evolving plan to cover the tracks most adjacent to Union Station, but perhaps that doesn't go far enough? I think there would be tangible benefit to decking over/burying the entirety of the Brentwood and Ivy City yards, to Rhode Island Avenue to the north, and Montana Avenue to the east.
When you look at some other national capitols in the developed and even developing worlds, it becomes clear that
*this* level of exposed industrial or infrastructural uses
*this* close to the marquis buildings of federal government is, well, atypical. There is SO MUCH opportunity in going big in this subdistrict of the District, and if New York can consider a plan to cover all of the Sunnyside Yard in Queens, then it is far from inconceivable.
Idk about y'all but I'm still holding out for the promise of infrastructure week.