The District's Comprehensive Plan envisions transforming the North Capitol Crossroads area around North Capitol and Irving Streets into a connected, well-designed, and multi-modal neighborhood. The Office of Planning initiated North Capitol Crossroads efforts to develop a broader planning framework for the North Capitol Street, Irving Street, and Michigan Avenue corridors and large properties like the Armed Forces Retirement Home, Washington Hospital Complex, and the former McMillan Sand Filtration site.
In 2024, OP completed a planning and design study to envision a transformational future for North Capitol Crossroads that accounts for anticipated change, embraces an understanding of lived histories, and identifies opportunities for ongoing collaboration. The project team met with over 20 representatives of the area’s major institutions, community groups, and landowners with the goal of fostering dialogue with and among stakeholders. Additionally, oral historians conducted interviews with residents, workers, and volunteers with deep roots in the study area to form the basis of the two-episode “District Crossroads” podcast. This video documented the process of making the podcast.
In 2021, OP completed the North Capitol Cloverleaf Urbanization Study, to help envision how the cloverleaf interchange at North Capitol and Irving Streets could be redesigned. This study is an important first step to guide a more urban redevelopment pattern of large adjacent institutional properties and create more interconnected and people-friendly corridors between the rich urban fabric of adjacent neighborhoods.
Recent studies in North Capitol Crossroads are the result of interagency efforts that build on prior planning. This includes the North Capitol Streetscape Guidelines (2019), Crosstown Multimodal Transportation Study (2016), and North Capitol Street Cloverleaf Feasibility Study (2009), as well as master plans for the Catholic University of America (2014), McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Site (2014), Veterans Affairs Medical Center (2010), and Armed Forces Retirement Home (2008).
The Office of Planning recognizes the need to consider these planning efforts in concert and explore opportunities to guide future urban growth that changes the current development pattern to one that is open, connected, inclusive, and sustainable.
For more information about the North Capitol Crossroads, visit the project website.