“This week Georgetown University is informing DDOT [the District Department of Transportation], the Office of Planning and the National Park Service that we are no longer pursuing the loop road as proposed in the campus plan filed in December 2010. Instead, we have identified a new location near Harbin Hall, in the center of campus, for the bus turn around,” said University Spokeswoman Stacy Kerr.

The loop road was originally proposed [PDF] to reduce GUTS buses’ reliance on West Georgetown streets by creating a connection between the Canal and Reservoir Road entrances. However, the proposed loop road, which would have bordered Glover-Archibald Park, was vehemently opposed by Foxhall Community Citizens Association and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, on the grounds that it would increase noise pollution in the park.

The university maintained through June that the loop road was the “only feasible means to facilitate bus turnarounds,” because, among other reasons, “it minimizes impacts on pedestrian safety by separating bus traffic from high-volume areas of pedestrian activity at the center of campus, and provides safe areas for pedestrian travel and queuing near bus stops.”

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