According to today's Post, Clark Construction of Bethesda has received the recommendation of the chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission to be the construction company for the new Nationals baseball stadium. The full DCSEC board will not vote on this until Friday, and could still choose a different company, according to the article. Clark teamed with Hunt Construction Group and Smoot Construction Group on its bid; the article says that the other contenders were Turner Construction, which teamed with Guilford Construction, and a joint bid from Barton Malow Co., Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. and Essex Construction. UPDATE: A touch of additional information is in this Washington Business Journal story.

Speaking of the Sports and Entertainment Commission, they now have a New Ballpark page on their web site, with information on the architects handling the project, environmental assessments, and the Local, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (LSDBE's) opportunities that are anticipated with the new stadium. There's also a page for the public to leave and read comments about what they think the new stadium should be like. None of the pages say when the design will be unveiled, except for a small item noting that "this fall DCSEC will present [the environmental assessment] findings for review along with the stadium conceptual design." (I don't know how long these pages have been up--weeks ago I bookmarked their "New Ballpark" page, which has said nothing but "Under Construction," as I've checked it over and over. Only today do I do some surfing on their site and find that they've launched the page at a different URL. Bad webmastering! Bad!)

The District Department of Transportation has received a Best Practices in Smart Growth and Transportation Award for the South Capitol Gateway Project from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. According to the DDOT press release, "The award singles out DDOT in the category of Revitalizing Communities and Corridors for the smart growth features planned for the corridor and for realizing South Capitol Street as the southern grand entrance to the US Capitol, as envisioned in the historic L'Enfant Plan for the Nation's Capital." Quoting Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini, "The signature South Capitol/Frederick Douglass Bridge will be sensitively designed to connect travelers and neighborhoods to the river and to each other. The new bridge and streetscape will draw people to the corridor to live, work and enjoy the Anacostia River and waterfront." The release also describes planned transportation improvements for the corridor, including "a green median, wide sidewalks and street amenities as well as roadway, pedestrian, transit and bicycle improvements." For more, see DDOT's South Capitol Gateway Corridor and Anacostia Access Study as well as the National Capital Planning Commission's New Vision for South Capitol Street.