Gateway Center Environmental Assessment

Client: National Institutes of Health

Location: Bethesda, MD

Services: Environmental Investigation and Documentation

The National Institutes of Health, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, contracted KCI to prepare an Environmental Assessment for a new facility that would improve overall security at the NIH Bethesda Campus by consolidating visitor screening to one location and by placing visitor parking outside the campus perimeter. The facility would serve as a single entry point where all campus visitors would be screened for security purposes. A new visitor center, parking garage, and vehicle inspection station were included as was reconstruction of the Medical Center Metro Station Plaza facilities that have been closed as part of interim security measures. The Visitor Center building would be a single-story, 12,000 square foot building with an upper level lobby and roof terrace. The below-grade two-story parking garage would provide 350 spaces within 118,000 square feet. The 8,300 square foot vehicle inspection station would be located above the garage.

As part of the Environmental Assessment, KCI’s investigation and documentation evaluated the resources and environment affected by the proposed construction including: land use and visual impacts; transportation systems; noise; air quality; floodplain management and wetlands; energy; waste management; stormwater management and sediment and erosion control; water supply, sewage, and industrial discharge; cultural assets; endangered species; environmental justice; and cumulative effects.

Key issues associated with the project included visual impacts to adjacent residential communities, impacts on traffic patterns, and the potential to diminish the viewshed of the historic Stone House Property, located on the NIH campus. KCI conducted land use and visual impacts analyses, evaluated existing traffic studies, and conducted a cultural resources assessment to determine any impacts from the proposed facility.

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