Officials will begin renovating I Street between 23rd and 24th streets next week to install anti-rat infrastructure and lower plant beds.
Adam Aaronson, the assistant vice president of Construction Management and Campus Planning, said at a Campus Plan Advisory Committee meeting Monday officials expect to complete the construction — which includes lowering planter beds, adding pole and string lighting and installing anti-rat trash cans — by Nov. 8. Officials initially slated the I Street Mall renovations for over the summer, pending permit approvals and allocated funding from the Board of Trustees.
Aaronson said officials will install Xcluder anti-rodent mesh — a fabric-like product installed in planters to prevent pests — and Big Belly trash and recycling cans — which are sealed to prevent rats from entering — following reports from community members of a large rodent population on I Street.
In September 2023, officials purchased 90 trash cans and 90 recycling bins that secure waste and prevent rodent contamination in an effort to curtail the rat population.
“We’ve seen success with this in multiple locations across campus in reducing the rodent population,” Aaronson said.
University President Ellen Granberg said at an April Foggy Bottom Association meeting that the University needed to address “serious issues” with rats and pedestrian safety on the I Street Mall. Local officials called on the University to add more lighting to the pedestrian mall in 2015 after a female student reported that three men attacked and sexually assaulted her in the area.
Aaronson said officials will also install new “shade options” and planters along the I Street Mall, which comes after some community members raised concerns about the renovations mitigating shade for pedestrians.
Aaronson added that construction will not prevent the FRESHFARM Wednesday farmers market or Saturday Elevate Flea Market, a student-run market hosting about 30 vendors selling items from vintage clothing to arts and crafts, from operating.
He said construction crews will move the northern section of fence, which is currently located near the GW Hospital entrance, closer to the planter beds to give market vendors more space to set up their tables.
Brian Snyder, the interim assistant vice president of construction management and campus planning, said officials will also install Amazon Go and Mashgin technology — self-checkout concessions with prepackaged snacks — at the entrance and basement levels of the Charles E. Smith Center. Officials expect to complete the project Oct. 19.
Snyder said officials will begin the I Street sidewalk repair between 22nd Street and Rome Hall on Oct. 10 and complete the work by the end of the month.
Snyder said officials will complete a project to replace LED lights at Gelman library Thursday.
