Transportation Studies Lead to Entitlements, Access Permits, and Unanimous Approval

Wells + Associates has consulted with the Redskins on traffic engineering, parking, and transit matters since 1993 when the owner, Jack Kent Cooke, decided to relocate from the outmoded RFK Stadium to a new stadium in suburban Maryland. Our traffic engineers and transportation planning team evaluated the traffic, parking, transit, and pedestrian impacts of various new stadium options: a 76,500 stadium at Potomac Yards in Alexandria, VA; a new site immediately adjacent to RFK Stadium in the District of Columbia; a new site adjacent to the Laurel Racetrack in Laurel, MD; and the Wilson Farm in Landover, MD.

The Redskins opened Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, now FedEx Field, in Landover in 1997. The 76,500-seat venue offers state-of-the-art suites and club seating; over 22,000 on-site parking spaces; 6,500 off-site parking spaces; and a new game-day interchange on I-495 (the Capital Beltway). W+A conducted the transportation studies to obtain land use entitlements from Prince George’s County and access permits from the Maryland State Highway Administration; prepared detailed traffic and parking operations plans; and provided expert witness testimony. These studies evaluated traffic impacts at three interchanges on I-495, 17 arterial highway intersections, three major on-site approach roadways, and all driveways into the stadium parking lots.

Our traffic engineering team also prepared a parking and traffic study in support of a preliminary plan application to increase the number of seats to 81,000 and to relocate 5,000 off-site parking spaces to property adjacent to FedEx Field.

The Prince George’s County District Council and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission unanimously approved the W+A studies.

We continued to provide traffic and parking counts during the Redskins home games and other major events after the stadium opened.