Initial concept maps drawn up for DDOT show the current conditions at the top, and proposed changes at the bottom. Get a closer look at this map here.
The reversible rush-hour lane markings have been erased. A new 25 mile-per-hour speed limit is being implemented. And the process of designing bike lanes, 24-hour parking zones, left-turn lanes, bus stops and pedestrian crossings is now under way for Connecticut Avenue from Calvert Street to Legation.
These are all steps taken since Mayor Muriel Bowser and DDOT announced in December that they had selected a safety and operations plan for Connecticut Avenue known as “Concept C,” which proposed to eliminate the reversible lanes and to install protected bike lines.
DDOT presented block-by-block concept maps at public meetings on June 28th and 29th, and is collecting the public’s comments on the presentations and the concepts through Sunday, July 31.
If you were unable to attend either meeting, you can watch DDOT’s June 28th virtual presentation here:
(A DDOT contractor goes over the map legends at 37:00, and from 41:00 to 1:07:00 gives an overview of each concept drawing.)
Need a closer look at the concept maps? You’ll find them on DDOT’s Connecticut Avenue project site.
A detail of concept map 7 above.
Then, to comment, fill out this form: rebrand.ly/ConnAveRevStudy-Comments.
DDOT will be considering the public comments as the design team spends the next six or so months refining the concepts. Then, according to the project timeline presented at the late June meetings, begins the year-long work of finalizing the design. Construction would not begin until fall 2024, at the earliest.
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Green Eyeshades says
The main post here mentions the June 28 and June 29 public meetings about Connecticut Avenue.
The Connection devoted a full blogpost to those public meetings in June:
https://www.foresthillsconnection.com/news/ddot-to-present-some-connecticut-ave-bike-lane-concepts-at-june-28-and-29-public-meetings/
FHC says
We’re publishing this comment on behalf of Green Eyeshades:
The DDOT survey in the last link in the main post is very short and easy to use. It’s a Google document styled as comments on the public meetings held June 28 & 29, but the last page of the survey form allows open-ended comments about those meetings and the “project,” by which DDOT means the Connecticut Avenue redesign project.
I was able to submit a comment of 170 words on the last page of the survey form. I wrote that all District residents urgently need the Protected Bike Lanes (PBLs) to be constructed along Connecticut Avenue. I stressed that the PBLs should be made of concrete to provide physical protection to bicycle riders and pedestrians. I urged DDOT to speed up the procurement process so that construction could start before October 2023. I asked DDOT to speed up construction so that we could start using the PBLs and the redesigned Avenue before the end of 2025, as currently scheduled.
The DDOT survey form is here: http://rebrand.ly/ConnAveRevStudy-Comments
Marlene Berlin says
The the concept presented at the public meetings still has some steps to finalize. Next is the design phase to refine the concept, then construction. So the concept presented is not the final design for the project. This is a work in progress, See slide 30 of the 28th and 29th public meetings at https://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/page_content/attachments/In-Person%20Connecticut%20Avenue%20Public%20Meeting%20No.%202_06292022_vF.pdf.
Rebecca Stevens says
My neighbors and I are not in favor of the plan C to put bike lanes on Connecticut Ave. for several reasons.: the elimination of parking will destroy the businesses, traffic will be rerouted onto side streets, it will be difficult for seniors to access the bus and cabs, etc. because they have to cross the bike lanes in the path of bikers, emergency vehicles will be hampered in reaching those in need. There are many other reasons.. see “Save Connecticut Ave. org” for particulars.
John Saunders says
I certainly agree with Rebecca. And I am a cyclist. The complexity of traffic is already amplifying danger to pedestrians and drivers. Scooters, e-bikes, pedestrians & drivers not paying attention because their head is in their phone are now routine. We don’t need more complexity. Bike lanes on Connecticut is a very poorly thought out decision.
Green Eyeshades says
The DDOT design concept is supported by years of detailed statistical data based on in-person and technological observation of traffic patterns. All of the complaints listed in the August 15 comment and the August 19 comment above have been considered and rebutted by DDOT, in public, repeatedly over the past year, including in Ward 3 at both an in-person meeting at UDC in June 2022 and a virtual (online Zoom) meeting in June 2022.
Elizabeth McPike says
In plain, everyday, human language, Rebecca Stevens and John Saunders express straightforward views as residents of this unique neighborhood. I have lived in the neighborhood for 43 years, sent my children to school here, walked every street and alley, supported and cheered for every small business, eaten at every restaurant, helped carry boxes of books across the street when Politics and Prose first expanded….Well, I could go on. Let me just say how much I love this neighborhood….And once you change it too much, it will be gone forever. No to bike lanes. No to tall buildings. No to everything looking the same. Yes to individual idiosyncratic character. Yes to human size.