Let’s start with some good news: After 15 years of study and advocacy, Chesapeake Street at Connecticut Avenue finally has a fully operational traffic light.
Installation started in December, and the signal was activated on March 10th, but its origins go all the way back to 2010, when Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action, a grassroots effort I headed, submitted to DDOT its plan for improving safety along the corridor. The plan included a request for some manner of traffic control at that intersection.
So, the new light has been long in coming but is appreciated, as it very much improves safe access to Forest Hills Park from west of Connecticut.
Reno Road
More pedestrian “See Me” flags have been installed along Reno Road in ANC 3F Commissioner Amy Rofman’s single-member district.
The orange flags at the Yuma Street intersection join flags paid for by ANC 3F and neighbors at nearby Warren Street last summer.
If you’re unfamiliar, the flags can be picked up and carried, and intended to get the attention of drivers on Reno Road so pedestrians can more safely get across. They’re also meant to be a temporary solution to a long-term problem: speeding drivers who are anything but attentive.
Rofman and many of her constituents have been pressing DDOT for additional – and temporary – traffic-calming measures, as well as a traffic study needed for permanent changes. And one communication from DDOT last year suggested a Reno Road/34th Street NW study was planned for the current fiscal year.
But recently, the ANC learned that a study would not take place this budget cycle.
“We were unable to, due to budgetary restrictions, add Reno and 34th to our work plan this year,” Christophe Wassmer, DDOT’s Ward 3 liaison, explained at ANC 3F’s February 24th meeting.
But, he said, DDOT hopes to set up multiple listening sessions this year with ANCs and the Ward 3 Council member’s office to get some “really good feedback that will then inform our concept planning [and] phases when the projects are selected for the work plans.”
At the ANC’s March 10th meeting, Rofman returned with a resolution supporting funding for this initiative. The resolution includes a reference to the Cleveland Park ANC’s request for interventions on the same street, and mentions the need for “signal changes, right-turn-on-red restrictions, crosswalk upgrades, traffic calming, or other Vision Zero measures.”
It passed in a unanimous vote by the five commissioners present.
Murch’s new Safe Routes to School plan
Wassmer was not able to attend the March ANC meeting, which delayed a long-awaited update on DDOT’s Safe Routes to School action plan for Murch Elementary.
DDOT was set to develop the plan in FY 2025, and a presentation is now scheduled for the ANC’s April 21st meeting.
DDOT’s Safe Routes to School team studies foot and vehicle traffic around schools, and works on implementing safety improvements. Here’s what it recommended for Oyster-Adams after a FY 2024 study.
A separate issue is the District’s crossing guard shortage. ANC Commissioner Sue Guzman said at the February meeting that Murch needed a crossing guard at Davenport Street and Reno Road.
Barriers to hiring include the jobs’ low pay and the hazards of being in the street with impatient and speeding drivers. Plus, the Washington Post reported a year ago that many applicants were turned away after testing positive for cannabis use.
The Soapstone and Rock Creek trails gap
At the February ANC meeting, Commissioner Mitch Baer introduced a resolution calling for “safe passage” for Soapstone Trail walkers and hikers once they reach Broad Branch Road.
The Soapstone trail entrance on Broad Branch Road.
This was also unanimously supported.
The issue: For people on foot, there’s no safe connection between Soapstone and the Rock Creek Park trails.
Broad Branch Road is a busy arterial with narrow shoulders, and the National Park Service fenced off an informal walking path next to Broad Branch Creek that provided some safety for pedestrians.
Part of the fence blocking the social trail between the creek and Broad Branch Road.
Both Baer and Paul Harrison, who chairs the ANC’s Streets and Sidewalks Committee, have been pressing DDOT representatives for remedies.
So far there has been no progress, but discussions will continue, Commissioner Baer said.
Connecticut Avenue streetscape project in Van Ness
Last but not least is the announcement in both meetings that Van Ness Main Street is pressing for funding for the Van Ness streetscape project.
DC agency planning for the safety, stormwater control and aesthetic improvements was put on hold when the Connecticut Avenue Multimodal Safety Project (the one with the bike lanes) was in its active phase.
Ward 3 Council member Matt Frumin included a $10 million request for design funding in his March 5th budget priorities letter to the mayor.
The frustration with DDOT in these ANC meetings was palpable at times. It can take hours, months and sometimes years of work by community volunteers to keep neighborhood projects and priorities on the agency’s radar, and get them over the finish line.
And when they do, we get wins like the safer Connecticut-Chesapeake crossing.
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Charlie says
As a long-time resident of Connecticut Avenue I have long been in favor of traffic lights at Chesapeake Street and Ellicott Street. We finally have a traffic light at Chesapeake, but all we have at Ellicott is that pathetic hawk signal. The hawk signal protects pedestrians from north-south traffic on Connecticut, but it does nothing to protect pedestrians from east-west traffic on Ellicott. Some Ellicott drivers take advantage of the stopped cars on Connecticut to zoom through the intersection, endangering pedestrians walking along Connecticut. Other drivers make right and left turns from Ellicott onto Connecticut, endangering the very pedestrians (many of whom are school children) that the hawk signal was supposed to protect. Let’s get a regular traffic light at this intersection!
Barbara Kraft says
Thank you, Commissioners and Neighbors, for your hard work and persistence in securing these safety measures for our neighborhood.