by Marlene Berlin
When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, the stormwater overflows into yards from one section of Ellicott Street. The District is doing something about it at last.
DDOT is creating a drainage system for the segment of Ellicott between Connecticut Avenue to 32nd Street where there had been none, says Ian Maggard, the Ward 3 community liaison for Mayor Muriel Bowser. He put me in touch with Ejineh Simie, who manages this Department of Transportation project. Simie told me in an email that this entails adding four new catch basins to capture and control runoff, installing new new storm drain pipes, and replacing the curb and gutter where necessary.
Part of the Ellicott Street stormwater management project.
If the project remains on schedule, Simie says it will be complete by the end of the year.
Other projects you might encounter while walking, biking or driving the neighborhood:
The Brandywine Street water main project is due to wrap up sometime in November. DC Water is replacing the water main and hookups on Brandywine Street between Connecticut Avenue and 31st Street, and along 31st between Brandywine and Gates Road.
DC Water is managing the Brandywine Street water main replacement project.
We also see a lot of DC Water after rain events. Its workers must remove storm debris that impedes the flow of our streams at culverts and bridges. They were out on Saturday, September 23rd removing a tree that had fallen across Broad Branch Stream at the Ridge Road Bridge.
Work on the Beach Drive rehabilitation project continues. This work was happening on a Saturday:
At Fessenden and Broad Branch Terrace, neighbors have been watching with interest the slow and deliberate home demolition, likely so the materials could be reused or recycled elsewhere. The community was curious as to whether it was all coming down or some would be left to build around.
At the demolition site in late September.
It has been completely demolished. A new home is rising in its place.
The same site in early November.
And since the summer, 4600 Connecticut Avenue has been renovating the large yard behind the building.
The 4600 Connecticut landscaping project in early October.
And in early November, 2017.
Discover more from Forest Hills Connection | News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Ellen says
as someone who lives in The Ellicot house, this project as been welcome and yet frustrating to no end. We regularly park on Ellicot street (as do many other residents in the building) and the project has reached a standstill. It appears as though all that is needs to be done is paving. The problem is, the signs indicating when road will be closed to parking are constantly changing. Last week the signs that went up suggested that paving would be done sometime this week (11/6 – 11/13). This morning i noticed new signs that now indicated no parking 11/16/-11/17.. I have no problem parking further away from my building. However, there are a number of construction projects going on on other nearby streets and it’s making the parking and traffic in the area a bit frustrating. People are so unsure of if they can park on the street in the interim that most residents have just given up and park further away in fear of being towed for not seeing one of the DOZENS of conflicing “Emergency NO Parking” signs. The other frustration through this whole project has been the cars speeding down a very empty road. While the sidewalks were being replaced, local residents had to walk on the street. Cars have been speeding down this road in excess of 30mph as they move towards connecticut. This is nothing new as people have always been speeding down ellicot street. But with no cars on the stretch between 32rd and Connecticut, it seems to have gotten worse.