WTOP is reporting that, in order to have the new baseball stadium meet "environmentally friendly" design standards, an additional $5-$10 million will have to be spent. The December 2004 law passed by the city council requires the stadium to be "green", says Phil Mendelson, but the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission has written a letter to the Mayor and the council that appears to disagree--and the council has written a letter disagreeing with that disagreement. Since this additional money is above and beyond the $611 million spending cap, it's not known where the money would be coming from.

In today's Post (well, in some of them, depending on which Extra you receive) is "For Commuters, A New Way to Travel Through the District," a good overview piece about the plans for a new South Capitol Street/Frederick Douglass Bridge. The article doesn't have anything new, but it brings together all the bits and pieces that have come out over the past months about the new bridge. It mentions the public meeting scheduled for May 4, and also confirms that sometime this summer two blocks of the "elevated" South Capitol Street (from O Street to Potomac Avenue) will be dismantled, allowing South Capitol Street to be "at-grade" alongside the stadium site. And it also says, as we've heard previously, that construction would not begin before 2011; the final design of the bridge will be chosen this summer, after the Environmental Impact Study is completed. Cost estimates range from $285 million to $392 million, based on the design. Make sure to go to the poll to vote for your favorite design!