We provided strategic facilities support and project planning, analysis and evaluation of future budget and mission requirements; construction design reviews, cost estimate analyses, design schedule monitoring and management; concept development and program requirements analysis.

The new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Transportation is located on an 11-acre parcel within the Southeast Federal Center. DOT project is the first new cabinet-level headquarters to be designed and constructed in the Capitol in over three decades. The 2.1 million square-foot complex consists of two towers and is home to the agency’s more than 5,000 employees. Two levels of below-grade parking (1,000 spaces) also are included for the complex, which spans two full-city blocks. The development includes a nine-story western tower and an eight-level eastern tower situated on opposite sides of Third Street, which has been converted into a pedestrian promenade, and featuring a 68,000 square-foot “green”roof (one of the largest on the East Coast). A multi-story lobby leads to adjacent first floor space, which contains a large assembly area and matching 70-foot-wide central linear atriums provide a visual connection between the two towers as heavy landscaping serves to soften the mandated 50-foot security setbacks.

Although a highly-secured facility, the building presents an open appearance to the public, and seeks to embrace the community. The project also includes the construction of new streets, sidewalks, plazas, and retail pavilions as well as a “walking museum” that illustrates the important functions of the DOT.

Preparing the site for the headquarters’ 5-foot-thick mat foundation, two-level underground parking garage and 230-foot connector concourse offered a glimpse into Washington’s multimodal transportation history. Along with the typical logistical problems associated with a site the size of three football fields, the excavation program required an archeological search for artifacts from the Old Washington Canal, which connected the Anacostia and Potomac rivers in the 18th Century. And more than 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil had to be removed from the site, which in its former life was a Washington Navy Yard factory for fabricating battleship gun barrels.