[Lincolnparkdc] Fwd: Plans for 1300 NC Ave NE

[Marche Maine]

Sharing with the wider community.  If you've not received ANC Commissioner
Gove's email here it is.
I'd like to point out a DDOT contradiction, they acknowledge the North
Carolina Ave speeding problem by NOT considering the sharrow option
..."Sharrows
are not considered a safe treatment for a street with this volume/speed of
vehicles..."
But exacerbate it by creating a wider one-way west bound lane. If you need
a visual example of what their ineptitude will do look at 17th street south
bound. It is a wide one-way with a chronic, seriously dangerous speed
problem.

Dear Neighbors,
For those who don't know me, I'm the Commissioner for the area that
includes Lincoln Park and the 1300 block of North Carolina. Since several
of you asked for additional information, I'm sharing a high level summary
from the most recent public meeting. If you were not able to join us, the
recording is available here
<https://zoom.us/rec/share/O6TWIo1jdse0ErV7-x0xmggEC34J4_T9N8hp1BhqxvPBLsqq0P4ORTWEEkrpsXeW.fXAVr-qvLpaNvl1v?startTime=1626735621000>.
The agenda with slides from both the July and January meetings is here
<https://anc6a.org/wp-content/uploads/TPSA0721.pdf> and detailed Q&A
responses from DDOT are here
<https://anc6a.org/wp-content/uploads/July-2021-TPS-QAs.pdf>. Minutes will
be posted next month.

Below are a few highlights from the July public meeting, in which DDOT
shared SIX potential designs and reiterated their commitment to “filling in
this missing segment in the bike network, improving pedestrian safety and
reducing vehicular speeds.”  One set of designs (Options A1 and A2) would
remove about 25 parking spaces on the south side of the block. The other
four proposals (Options B through E) would retain nearly all parking but
convert this block to one-way westbound, rerouting eastbound drivers to
either East Capitol or Constitution.

Clarification of Process. At the top of the meeting, TPS Chair Dundon and
DDOT’s George Branyan provided an updated timeline and where we are in the
process. We are still very much in the development phase, so now is the
time to engage to ensure that the final design meets our needs and that of
the broader community. We will have at least one more public meeting before
the Notice of Intent and official public comment period.

*C Street Project.* DDOT is seeking to add bike facilities to this block
because construction on the 1400-1600 blocks of North Carolina is scheduled
for Sept 2022 as part of the C Street Project. The $16M project will remove
a vehicle travel lane in each direction, add raised crosswalks and
greenspace, and install a fully protected bike path to connect the
Anacostia River Trail to Lincoln Park. Or nearly so. At some point in the
decade between initial concept and final designs, the 1300 block of North
Carolina Avenue NE was dropped from DDOT’s plans. No one at DDOT has been
able to explain to me how or why this happened. See project details here:
www.cstne.com.

Demand for Traffic Calming. Residents reiterated their concerns related to
speeding and requests for traffic calming measures, and DDOT committed to
adding more calming measures to the designs. All designs narrow the vehicle
travel lanes from 12 feet to 10 feet wide, which has been shown to reduce
speeds, especially when physical barriers are used. They also all add a
raised crosswalk mid-block-- a legal crossing that will allow better access
to the triangle park. We also saw new designs for the intersection at the
1400 block of North Carolina that will eliminate the left turn lane and
improve the bike connection for that block.

Demand for Parking, including Accessible Parking. DDOT again presented a
set of one-way designs that retain nearly all parking-- proposals B through
E. Handicapped parking would also be retained on both sides of the block in
the one-way designs.

Alley Access. DDOT reiterated that alley travel/access would not change
with any of the plans. For the one-way plans, entrance to the 1300 A/East
Capitol alley would only be allowed by turning left from westbound North
Carolina.

More information/data. Many neighbors requested additional information on
the impact of the one-way conversion and other data/study results. Several
studies were shared in the chat, so please take a look at those. For those
who missed it, the 20 page circulation study was attached to the TPS
agenda. From additional emails I've seen, DDOT estimates that the rerouted
traffic would mean a 5% increase in the number of daily vehicles routing
via 13th/Constitution or East Capitol over baseline (pre-pandemic data).

*Alternate Designs.* DDOT also committed to sharing written clarification
as to why they do not plan to advance the alternate proposals with Sharrows
or Advisory Bike Lanes. Short responses I've seen to date from DDOT on
these are that a) Sharrows are not considered a safe treatment for a street
with this volume/speed of vehicles (and DDOT is trying to move away from
Sharrows) and b) Advisory Bike Lanes work well when there is roughly equal
vehicle traffic in each direction, which is not the case for this block
(which is 80% westbound).

Want more details? Please sign up for our ANC6A listserv (links below) and
feel free to email me (6A04 at anc.dc.gov) and project director Will
Handsfield (will.handsfield at dc.gov) your questions and comments.

Stay safe,
Amber

-- 
-----------------------------
Amber Gove
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, 6A04
Twitter: @AmberGove
Email: AmberANC6A at gmail.com
6A04 Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/anc-6a04-residents
6A Official Announcements: https://groups.google.com/g/anc-6a
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