The new sidewalk is on 35th Street between Yuma and Alton Place.
by Paul Harrison
Congrats to our neighbors on 35th Street, who advocated for installation of a paved sidewalk on their street between Alton Place and Yuma Street (the residential block just behind Bread Furst, Zips and the car wash).
There are many families with children in the immediate area, and the lack of a sidewalk on either side was particularly unnerving and dangerous because cut-through motor vehicle traffic from Yuma comes down a hill and around a blind curve.
Former ANC Commissioner Teri Huet first highlighted the issue to the ANC 3F Streets and Sidewalks Committee, and almost exactly one year after we first met with neighbors at the corner of 35th and Alton the new sidewalk is in place! Thanks to current and former commissioners Courtney Carlson, Marilyn Slatnick, Adrian Iglesias and Amy Rofman, who also engaged.
So, next time you’re out to get some steps, take a detour and enjoy the new sidewalk on 35th Street. While it can appear that they are working in people’s front yards, in fact DDOT only builds sidewalks on city-owned land. But they do consult with neighbors and are very thoughtful about the design.
As the included pictures show, DDOT’s sidewalk design and construction team has a variety of tools that they use to work with the city arborist and neighbors to preserve mature trees and adapt to driveways and hillsides.
For example, the pictures show the use of lightweight and water-permeable “flexipave” to route new sidewalks over established tree roots, as well as the ability to build retaining walls for hills and to route the sidewalk directly next to the street when provision of a tree box would otherwise cause problems with concerns like elevation or neighbor’s existing front stoops.
We’re very much looking forward to DDOT’s next sidewalk gap construction in the community, including commitments for new sidewalks on Davenport, Linnean and Fessenden.
Paul Harrison is chair of the ANC 3F Streets and Sidewalks Committee, and is an at-large member of the DC Pedestrian Advisory Council. He lives with his family on the 3000 block of Albemarle Street.
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Adrian Salsgiver says
People still walk in the middle of 35th Street. It’s very dangerous because many drivers, especially from Maryland, don’t even slow down for the stop signs on Yuma Street. Some people don’t even know the sidewalk is there. They saw some construction and just assumed it was for water pipes, sewerage or something. Hopefully someday soon they will notice the new sidewalk and start walking on it.
Lee Mayer says
I’m glad DDOT built the sidewalk but question why they didn’t continue the retaining wall all the way to the homeowners driveway ( per the picture in the article). During heavy rain dirt will wash down onto the sidewalk. In the winter, that area could get iced over.
MJ Rymsza-Pawlowska says
This is wonderful news! I’d love to see something like this on Davenport Street towards the Park, and some speed bumps too!
HERMINE DREYFUSS says
We are supposed to get speed bumps, a camera and more signage on the 2800 block of Davenport. But When????
Green Eyeshades says
At the last ANC3F monthly meeting a week ago (July 15), the chair of ANC 3F’s Streets and Sidewalks Committee warned the community that DDOT is about to break its own rules and regulations by closing the north-south crosswalk at the east side of the intersection of Albemarle and Connecticut.
That part of Albemarle has already been interfered with by DC Water’s contractors closing the street from Connecticut east to 32nd and beyond 32nd for half a block. DC Water and DDOT both pledged that the businesses on the southeast corner of Albemarle and Connecticut would have guaranteed, continuous access to their parking lot behind their buildings. Those District agencies are about to break that promise to those businesses.
If the crosswalk on the east side of Connecticut is closed to pedestrians walking north to south to those businesses, those businesses will not be able to use their own parking lot because DDOT is breaking its own rules and regulations. Also, closing that crosswalk will endanger many residents of apartment buildings on the east side of Connecticut who travel in wheelchairs and motorized chairs, endanger other residents who have limited mobility, and threaten the safety of school children who use that crosswalk twice a day every day.