K Street (Washington, D.C.)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

K Street, epicenter of American lobbying.

K Street is a major thoroughfare in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. known for the numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups that exercise influence from this location.

1 Location in the city
2 Traffic configuration
- 2.1 Current
  - 2.1.1 Service roadways and main roadway
- 2.2 Proposed
3 Lobbying
4 K Street in the media
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Location in the city

There are two separate roads designated K Street in Washington, D.C.; they are east-west streets in D.C.'s northern half and southern half. When not being qualified, K Street almost always refers to the northern K Street, as it is the more famous of the two.

The northern K Street has its western starting point as K St. N.W. just west of the abutment of the old Aqueduct Bridge in the southern part of Georgetown in the city's Northwestern quadrant. The Georgetown section of K Street was called Water Street until the Georgetown street renaming of 1895. West of 33rd Street, the United States Postal Service still recognizes both "K Street" and "Water Street" in addresses.

The road crosses Rock Creek and enters the area surrounding Farragut Square park, where it is exceptionally wide due to parallel service lanes (described below). Farther east, the street eventually changes designation from K St., N.W., to K St., N.E., after intersecting North Capitol Street, the boundary between the Washington's northwestern and northeastern quadrants. This K Street's eastern end is at Florida Avenue in the Near Northeast neighborhood, just south of Gallaudet University.

In alignment with the city's Cartesian-coordinate-based street system, there is another K Street in its southern half; this one running between the Potomac River at the western edge of the Southwestern quadrant (as K St. S.W.) to the Anacostia River at the eastern edge of the Southeastern quadrant (as K St. S.E.).

[edit] Traffic configuration

[edit] Current

K Street provides a major east-west thoroughfare for traffic through Washington, primarily from Mount Vernon Square (location of the new Washington Convention Center) to the Whitehurst Freeway. K Street also runs through Georgetown under the Whitehurst Freeway; however, most westbound traffic exits to the freeway. A segment of U.S. Highway 29 runs along K Street. K Street also runs as a tunnel underneath Washington Circle, allowing traffic to avoid the circle, which is an intersection with 23rd St, Pennsylvania Ave, and New Hampshire Ave.

[edit] Service roadways and main roadway

Portions of the street, in both directions, are divided into both "local" (or service) lanes and "express" lanes, allowing through traffic to, hopefully, travel more smoothly across town. However, since that division of traffic lanes is universally acknowledged to be a failure, local officials have proposed to remove the barriers to make room for a busway (see next section).

[edit] Proposed

Because of K Street's standing as a major thoroughfare, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the local transit authority, has been studying making K Street a possible busway. The scope of the project would be to have the busway run from Georgetown University, across Downtown Washington on K Street, switching to Massachusetts Avenue at Mount Vernon Square, and finishing at Union Station. The DC Circulator east-west route provides service along most of that route, although the DC Circulator must share right of way with other vehicles.

[edit] Lobbying

"K Street" is a common metonym for Washington's lobbying industry. Many of the major Washington lobbying firms are located on the section which passes from Georgetown through a portion of Downtown D.C. This part of the street is sometimes referred to as the fourth branch of government. Lobbying firms are thought to have great influence in U.S. national politics due to monetary resources and the revolving door policy of hiring former government officials. K Street firms often hire ex-politicians from both major parties since the party in power can vary between elections and among the legislative and executive branches in government.

The K Street Project, according to former Washington Monthly editor Nicholas Confessore, is an attempt to build a new Republican political machine "built upon patronage, contracts and one-party rule ... among Washington's thousands of trade associations and corporate offices, their tens of thousands of employees and the hundreds of millions of dollars in political money at their disposal."^[1]

The theory behind the project, Confessore wrote, boils down to this: "As Republicans control more and more K Street jobs, they will reap more and more K Street money, which will help them win larger and larger majorities on the Hill."

The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal, which contributed to the slippage of Republicans into minority status in both houses of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, has called the future of the K Street Project into question.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] K Street in the media

The Associated Press Washington Bureau and the AP Broadcast News Center are situated on K Street. The street also inspired a television series on the HBO network by the same name, K Street.