Connecticut Avenue will soon have a new traffic light helping pedestrians cross the six lanes of traffic.
On Monday, December 15th, we saw workers installing vehicle signals at the Chesapeake Street intersection.
On the other side of Connecticut is Forest Hills Park, a popular all-ages destination from both sides of the avenue.
It seems fitting that the lights are being put up while Hanukkah – the Jewish celebration of lights – is under way. The holiday commemorates the reclaiming of the Jerusalem temple in 164 BCE by the Maccabees, after they fought off the Greeks. For the temple’s rededication, only one jar of pure olive oil was found to light the sacred eternal light. The miracle was that the oil burned for eight days, giving the temple enough time to make more, and keep the light burning.
We don’t know exactly when the Connecticut and Chesapeake signals will be activated, but know that long after the eight days of Hanukkah, they will continue to shine, allowing the many adults and children who play and socialize in Forest Hills Park to cross under the safety of the new lights.
Neighborhood pedestrian safety advocates, including myself, have been pressing DDOT for a signal at this intersection for years. Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action, a grassroots group that conducted a traffic and pedestrian audit all along upper Connecticut, included Connecticut and Chesapeake on the safety priority list presented to DDOT in 2011.
In 2015, DDOT determined that there was not enough foot traffic to warrant even a HAWK light.
The agency changed its tune sometime after beginning its Connecticut Avenue safety improvement study in 2019. In 2022, early concept plans included a pedestrian-activated HAWK signal at Chesapeake Street as well as bike and left-turn lanes. At some point, that evolved into a full traffic signal, which made it into the stripped-down safety project DDOT revealed in October 2024.
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Elizabeth says
WOW!!!! I would have loved this even more when my kids were younger – especially as they often took that route over to Wilson/Jackson-Reed – but so happy it is there now for all of us but especially the kids!
Charlie says
This is wonderful news! We have needed a traffic light at Chesapeake for many, many years. DDOT was using the wrong metric when they said there was insufficient pedestrian traffic. The correct metric should have been the number of children heading towards or away from the Forest Hills Playground. It’s the children who justify the light.
The light will also eliminate a long-standing traffic problem: drivers that choose the Chesapeake intersection over the intersections at Brandywine and Davenport because they don’t have to wait for a light to enter Connecticut or cross Connecticut. A hawk signal would not have fixed this problem. The hawk signal at Ellicott certainly didn’t fix it. We have too many drivers making turns from Ellicott onto Connecticut when the hawk signal is red. Ellicott needs a real traffic signal, not a hawk signal. The hawk signals work best in the middle of a block, such as in Cleveland Park. They don’t work well when there is a cross street — because the signal doesn’t stop those drivers.
Charlie says
The new traffic signal will be wonderful. I don’t understand why it took the DDOT so long to realize that the popularity of the Forest Hills Playground more than justifies a signal for children and their parents who live on the other side of Connecticut from the playground.
The new traffic signal will also stop the drivers who zoom across Connecticut on Chesapeake or who turn from Chesapeake onto Connecticut during breaks in the traffic flow. Both of those activities endanger pedestrians in ways that a hawk signal would not prevent.
Now we need to see if DDOT will replace the hawk signal at Ellicott with a real traffic light. The current hawk signal stops the drivers on Connecticut but not the ones on Ellicott. It is dangerous to cross Ellicott when the hawk signal is operational because the Ellicott drivers take advantage of the stopped traffic to zoom across Connecticut or to turn onto Connecticut.
Adam C. Sloane says
This is great news. We live on that corner, and I can’t tell you how many times I have had my heart in my mouth watching people attempt to cross that intersection, and how many drivers I have seen race through the intersection despite the presence of pedestrians in the crosswalks. I hope the light also reduces the number car accidents at that intersection. The sickening sound of metal on metal has greeted us on way too many mornings. In short, YAY!
Amy Rofman says
Thank you for your pedestrian safety advocacy, Marlene!