Northwest Georgetown April ANC Update
Hello and welcome to the April Northwest Georgetown ANC update!
Alley Repaved
Thanks to years of lobbying from residents and at least one ANC commissioner, the city finally repaired the alley behind the westside of the 1700 block of 34th St. And rather than a simple asphalt patch job, the city came and poured a completely new concrete alley. It looks great compared with how it appeared before:
Before:
After:
As much as this is a great step forward, it is also somewhat a missed opportunity. After all this time, the city chose a concrete base instead of a permeable surface. I had been advocating with the city for the alley to be included in the Green Alley project, which would have used a permeable surface with a water retention feature. This would help keep a great deal of storm water out of the drains in the first place. Alas, the city chose a traditional solution. An improvement, no doubt, but less than what it could have been.
The poor state of this alley was literally the first constituent request I fielded after taking this position. And I’m glad that it was finally addressed. But it’s also a good lesson for how much of this job involves two steps forward and one step back.
Transportation Study Draft Recommendations Released and Public Meeting
The District Department of Transportation released its draft recommendations as part of the Access and Circulation Study that it has been conducting since last year. Hopes have been high that this study and its recommendations could make a significant dent in long-term transportation challenges faced in Georgetown.
Here is a link to the draft recommendations:
The recommendations are listed by specific location. And there are several recommendations that touch directly on my Single Member District. They are as follow, with my personal response to each. (And before I get into them, I wanted to highlight up-front that there will be a public workshop presenting all of the study’s recommendation on Tuesday April 2nd at 6:30 at St. John’s. Please try to come out if you can!):
Intersection of Wisconsin Ave., Reservoir Rd. and 33rd St.
The intersection of Wisconsin, 33rd and Reservoir is an exceptionally dangerous one. When I did my walk with the DDOT representative, I asked to start here due to the hazardous conditions. The dangerous behavior I was concerned about occurred within minutes of our arrival, so much so that the DDOT representative joked that I had arranged for actors to play it out for him. I wish.
The dangerous behavior is familiar to anyone who walks through here. Drivers speed down Wisconsin, making crossing the street exceptionally risky, particularly at the marked crosswalk next to A Mano. Additionally drivers coming out of 33rd St. almost always end up blocking the crosswalk while they search for a break in traffic. Drivers also continue to make right turns on red at the intersection of Reservoir and Wisconsin, which is no longer permitted. This is exceptionally dangerous for pedestrians legally trying to cross Reservoir northbound because drivers on Reservoir inevitably only look left before hitting the gas the moment a gap in traffic appears. I have been nearly run over and killed in this manner multiple times at this intersection.
(It’s also a fair point that the new no-right-on-red has likely contributed to additional back-up of drivers on this road. I recommended that DDOT look into the signal timing to address this.)
Additionally, a great number of commuters come through this intersection to use Reservoir as a cut-through to 32nd St., in order to avoid traffic on Wisconsin.
The recommendations would address some, but not all, of these issues. It calls first for coordinated signalization. I believe this is largely about the signal timing, as I mentioned above.
It also calls for “improved sign locations and infrastructure”. I believe that means installing flex posts to make the turn from 33rd Street to Wisconsin Ave. more perpendicular. This forces drivers to take a more deliberate and, ideally, safe approach to Wisconsin. I agree with this goal, but I also know that flex posts are going to be contentious. Personally, I think the value and importance of making our roads safer is a higher priority than making sure they’re aesthetically pleasing. Safety should be the first and most important goal, aesthetics should be secondary. That is not to say aesthetics should be of no concern, just secondary. Perhaps a better structure or material is possible than flex posts. But we should not put safety on hold while we find one.
I mention this because a common theme throughout the recommendations involves the installation of flex posts. They look like this, if you are not familiar:
They are not pretty, I’ll admit. But they’re a lot less ugly than another pedestrian run over by a careless driver. As I said, hopefully they’re are better options, but simply not installing anything due to aesthetic preferences is not a responsible option as far as I’m concerned.
Finally, the recommendations call for automated enforcement, which is to say cameras. I am not sure if that means just red light cameras or speed cameras or both, but both are sorely needed here.
The recommendations do not seem to address cut-through traffic on 32nd Street, which is unfortunate. Drivers are currently prohibited from making a left on to Reservoir from southbound Wisconsin during morning rush. But plenty are doing it during evening rush instead. I had asked DDOT to explore expanding the time for the prohibition to evening rush, but they did not include it.
35th St. and Dent Place:
The other intersection in our SMD that is addressed by the draft recommendations is 35th and Dent. Currently this intersection does not have a stop sign for the 35th St. traffic. But it does have cross walks across 35th. This leads to the dangerous situation where pedestrians are expected to walk out into traffic and hope drivers stop. It is the only intersection on this stretch like this. The recommendations call for a stop sign to be installed on 35th St. to make it a proper all-ways stop intersection.
I spent a good deal of time with the DDOT representative at this intersection during my walk, and I am glad they included it. This is a dangerous, but popular, spot for pedestrians to cross. Adding a stop sign should make it much safer. Moreover, there is constant dangerous driving on 35th St., with drivers blasting through stop signs routinely. I have long suspected that the fact that the intersection with Dent does not have a stop sign might contribute to that behavior (i.e. drivers get used to the T-intersections not having a stop for the 35th St. traffic.) You also see this at other T-intersections in Georgetown such as Potomac & O St. and 29th St. & R St. There’s just something about T-intersections where drivers on the top of the T, so to speak, don’t easily register that there’s a stop sign at all. Starting off the stretch with an intersection without a stop sign might make that even worse.
(I had hoped DDOT would recommend stop sign cameras or raised crosswalks for this stretch, but they did not. If the new stop sign does not improve matters, perhaps they can reconsider.)
The recommendations also suggest something called “RRFB”. This stands for Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons. This is basically a crosswalk sign with a flashing light on it:
This would add to the visibility of the stop sign and the crosswalk.
Finally, it would add a crosswalk on the north side of the intersection. Given the geometry of the intersection, it may require the relocation of the streetlight on the northeast corner in order to facilitate the required ADA ramp.
Commuter Congestion on 33rd and 34th Streets
The final recommendation that directly impacts our SMD is the one addressing the heavy congestion on 34th St. This is an obvious and long-standing issue that directly impacts many of us on a daily basis. Traffic often backs up on 34th St. all the way from M St. to as high as Reservoir Road. This is largely from drivers coming from northwest DC back to Key Bridge who are trying to avoid M St.
DDOT considered reversing the traffic flows of 33rd and 34th. In other words, 34th would become northbound and 33rd would become southbound. In 2008, another Georgetown transportation study floated this idea based on the analysis that it would result in fewer back-ups. The logic was that it gave more space on M St. between 33rd and Key Bridge where cars could line up. This would theoretically lead to shorter back ups on 33rd than are currently on 34th. However, it was vociferously objected to by 33rd St. residents who did not want to end up with the same congestion that 34th St. residents have. The recommendation was nixed before the final report was issued.
In either event, DDOT concluded this time that the reversal was not justified. They did suggest some changes touching on 33rd and 34th, however:
These recommendations are largely about improving pedestrian safety on M St. But they do not do anything to address the congestion on 34th St. This is a disappointment. I am in favor of the safety improvements, but they will probably make the back-ups worse (for instance, by prohibiting right turns on red at 34th and M St.) Additional solutions must be explored along with these safety improvements. Perhaps signal timing could be improved to allow more through-put from 34th to the bridge? Perhaps we could prohibit turns off of Wisconsin Ave. to 34th during rush? Surely there are creative solutions possible, it is unfortunate that none were proposed.
These are just a handful of the recommendations that the study produced. As I mentioned above, I strongly encourage you to come to the public workshop on Tuesday, April 2nd at 6:30 PM at St. John’s. There will be a virtual version of the workshop on April 3rd at 6:30 pm. More information on the workshops is available here.
If you’re still with me, I want to pitch one more great event! There will be another CAG architectural walking tour on April 6th from 3-5 p.m. I was one of the group leads last year and really enjoyed it! So I’m re-upping and doing it again. I can also report that the tour will largely focus on homes in our corner of Georgetown! Please consider joining us!
Happy Spring!
