An eastbound driver approaches one of Davenport Street’s blind corners. The pedestrian pathway ahead is buried in leaves.
Davenport Street east of Linnean Avenue would become a one-way street under a traffic safety plan proposed by DDOT.
The agency would limit vehicle travel on this narrow and winding section of Davenport to eastbound traffic heading to Broad Branch Road. DDOT is also planning to install speed humps, and to use flexposts and pavement markings to create pedestrian walkways.
Under the DDOT safety plan, drivers would not be permitted to enter Davenport from Broad Branch Road.
Residents of this stretch of Davenport Street have been pressing the DC government for years for safety improvements due to speeding drivers and high vehicle traffic volumes during some dayparts. In 2014, they succeeded in getting DDOT to install a narrow pedestrian walkway on one side of the street, but from the driver’s seat, the raised path can be indistinguishable from the street asphalt, and it’s often blocked by overgrown vegetation or buried under leaves.
Here, the raised pedestrian path is obscured by leaves, and the curb blends into the street asphalt.
The latest calls for safety improvements resulted in an onsite meeting in September between Davenport Street neighbors and officials from DDOT, Ward 3 Council member Matt Frumin, and ANC 3F. DDOT also conducted a traffic study, and affirmed what residents have been saying all along: that non-local traffic is speeding by, especially during the morning rush.
Another eastbound driver, and two blind turns ahead. Cyclists also brave this roadway.
DDOT published its notice of intent on November 15th, and is collecting written comments until 5 p.m. on December 31st. Comments can be sent to [email protected] or [email protected].
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HERMINE DREYFUSS says
Not the whole story as we will appeal. Afternoon traffic heading east from Linnean is even worse as it starts with school dismissals and. blends into afternoon rush hours. Walkway is driven on and parked on when it’s clear. Pictures are misleading ss we are waiting for second leaf removal. We do live in a forest hence excess of leaves in the Fall.
One way in the morning only creates a speedway worse than we already have. DDOT only heard half of our issue.
RICHARD W ROBERTS says
Install speed humps? YES. Use flexposts? YES. Use pavement markings? YES. Convert to one-way eastbound only? NO!
Laurie Sieminski says
Drivers have to be able to get across the park, and there are few options since the closure of Klingle Road many years ago and the closure of upper Beach Drive more recently.
Making Davenport one-way eastbound will only exacerbate the situation on Brandywine, which since the temporary closure of Albemarle, has a parade of westbound commuters backed up from Connecticut to 30th Street every morning.. Currently, Davenport offers some drivers a route directly to Connecticut.
We all have to share the roads and calming measures such as speed cameras and humps, lane markings and perhaps some signs encouraging good driving behavior should at least be seriously tried before yet another cross-city traffic pattern is changed.