One quibble with this part: “Hyattsville’s developers are trying to build public space that fosters a thriving community and economy, yet these four lanes of traffic make that impossible to do.”

Route 1 certainly makes it very challenging, but does that really make it impossible ? It’s a common situation: trying to redevelop a center city area, but with a busy highway running right through the middle of it. The same issue is in Arlington, Silver Spring, Rockville, White Flint, and even Tyson’s Corner & beyond. There’s “only” four lanes of highway traffic to deal with in Hyattsville, but more in Arlington, Rockville, Silver Spring, and other places. Yet it can be done.

Change moves so slowly and imperceptibly, sometimes it seems like it won’t ever happen. It pays to be in it for the long haul. The changes and level of investment in the Hyattsville Arts District have been incredible. Just a few years ago, there was little reason to go down there other than visit Franklin’s. Now with all the townhomes going in, Busboys & Poets, YES market, there’s a lot of momentum that can hopefully lead to more investment and eventually fill in the abandoned buildings there with real businesses.

Even in College Park, opening up the Varsity & University View II last year with their associated businesses have lead to new energy by the University. You can see foot traffic along Route 1 that wasn’t there before. It gets people thinking about what could happen if East Campus ever gets off the ground.

But I definitely agree with the main premise: Route 1 is a default main street and that’s a drag on the communities struggling to redevelop along there. If the SHA ever got around to making those changes, it would be huge. Moving the sidewalks back from the road, so you aren’t inches away from cars, narrowing the lanes, and extending the median would make it much more walkable experience. It’s interesting: College Park has a lot of interesting attractions & businesses, but the aesthetics can be very bad and it discourages people from exploring the area on foot. If Route 1 could become somewhat attractive and pedestrian friendly, that could “flip the script” and change a lot of people’s perceptions of College Park.

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This is good news on the leases. Let’s hope these new businesses hang around for a while.

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@cprealist People will “magically” switch to walking, biking, and public transportation if they live in, or commute to, an area that has easy, competitive access to such modes. You point out that the BW Parkway is already congested. So is the Beltway, and the Purple Line would serve as a competitive mode of transportation to that interstate. Over time, the population in and around DC is only going up, and land is a limited resource.

If we expand the highways, without expanding any other mode of transport, an induced demand to drive is created. A greater strain is placed on corresponding arterial roads (such as Route 1), which in turn may need to be widened to take on the extra traffic. Development becomes more oriented around cars, which spurs more roads and traffic. The result is sprawl and an ironic lack of place for areas that attract people. Congestion and commute times increase, and tax revenue per square unit decreases. This would all be very bad news for College Park and the University, which both have an interest in devoting as much space as possible to people and businesses.

It’s a given that College Park will need its roads. Unfortunately, not everyone has good access to transit (even with a Purple Line), and transit can’t get everywhere reliably. But there is something to be said for reliable sidewalks and dense growth. They take away car congestion, put eyes on the street to reduce crime, and increase revenue and business.

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The retail vacancy rate in College Park last month was six percent. That doesn’t count leases that were recently signed for the old Santa Fe Bar on Knox Road and the forner Varsity Grill Restaurant, the Showcase Furniture building, and the former Jordan Kit building on Route 1. So the actual vacancy rate by the spring may be well under five percent.

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