Agglomeration benefits and the location of city offices

I write not infrequently about "intra-city sprawl" being fomented by the City Government and its practice of relocating government offices hither and yon across the city--to revitalize neighborhoods is the stated purpose...

But this reduces the agglomeration benefits from having the offices, especially those offices where people are likely to have interaction, nearby. And for other reasons, primarily the limited business effect as office workers have limited demand for retail and limited interests (convenience goods mostly) supporting 2 s.f. of retail and 5 s.f. of restaurant/carryout space each.

Can you imagine riding a bike on an office trip during work hours, from DCRA at 941 N. Capitol NE or from the Office of Planning at 800 N. Capitol NE to the Department of Housing and Community Development, currently located at 800 N. Capitol NE, but being relocated to 1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. (Of course, now you can just walk to the building from those buildings...)

According to Mapquest, the distance from the current location to the new Anacostia location is 3.52 miles.

This entry is inspired by this article, "Workers to put pedals to metal" about the new bike fleet (Paul DeMaio's term) to be utilized by city employees in Long Beach, California. Article from the Long Beach Press-Telegram.