Hoyas, take a deep breath, close your eyes (don’t actually because then you couldn’t read this) and imagine soaring above the crystalline waters of the Potomac River, gently gliding through the sky on a springtime morning.
To your left is the Key Bridge, congested with commuter traffic. On your right spans a breathtaking landscape, the river below you extending gracefully until it vanishes into a lush expanse of Virginia fauna. Behind you is your Georgetown home, featuring the both beloved towers of Healy Hall and the dreaded concrete facade of Lau. In front of you is the thriving metropolis we call Rosslyn.
Open your eyes (though you shouldn’t have ever closed them). Although this might seem like some magical dream you had while passed out in a Regents booth at 3 a.m., it is something that actually might become reality. As previously reported by The Hoya, the Georgetown Business Improvement District has proposed the construction of a gondola system over the Potomac River from Georgetown to Rosslyn as part of its fifteen-year 2028 Plan.
There’s only one problem: It doesn’t have enough funding … yet.
According to InTheCapital and UrbanTurf, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recently announced it will not give funding towards a feasibility study necessary for the current gondola project.
“The [gondola] project did not enter this round of [COB] funding,” Georgetown BID spokesperson Rachel Cothran said to UrbanTurf reporters.
But don’t get your knickers in a bunch too quickly. Although the gondola project isn’t getting off the ground (get it?) with the COB, it has still received approximately $100,000 in private sector money for the feasibility study. BID officials are confident that despite the setback, the project will continue and the the study will be completed by the end of 2015.
So just kick back and enjoy the summer, Hoyas! Before you know it (read: in about 15 years), you’ll be soaring over the Potomac like Aladdin on a magic carpet!
