Sidewalk closure along Canal pushes pedestrians into the street

DC Water is rehabilitating one of their sewer lines in the area of the Capital Crescent Trail

 DC Water will begin the rehabilitation of the Upper Potomac Interceptor, which is the 48" sanitary sewer main that runs along the Capitol Crescent Trail, as well as cleaning and inspection of the 18" sanitary sewer starting at Canal Road NW. 

In order to do this work, the sidewalk on Canal Road NW between Foxhall Road NW and the Key Bridge has been closed for pedestrians. Unfortunately, there isn't any good alternative for pedestrians (and cyclists) travelling this route. A "detour" told sidewalk users to cross the street, but there's no crosswalk or curb ramps there, and the "sidewalk" on the other side of Canal doesn't pick up for several hundred feet. Even then, it quickly narrows down to about 1 foot wide and isn't really a viable option. The only alternative that doesn't involve ignoring the signs is to go all the way up to Reservoir Road, about 5 blocks away.

The whole sidewalk was blocked at one point

And people who ignored the sign (because they couldn't see the large boxes) eventually crossed to the median.

Seems like a case where closing a lane of the road might have been in order. I wonder if DDOT approved this configuration, as it doesn't seem to be in compliance with the rules for "complete closure of a sidewalk."

When closing a sidewalk adjacent to a roadway with more than two travel lanes and where at least one end of the sidewalk closure is more than 150 feet from the nearest signalized crosswalk, the Traffic Control Plan showing the closure of the sidewalk requires the written approval of the District Department of Transportation Pedestrian Program Coordinator or work zone technician assigned to review the traffic control plan

Thanks to Brett for the photos and notifying me of this. 

Comments

[Jamie]

Did you report this to 311/DDOT/Councilmember Cheh?

[Brett Young]

@Jamie
I have not. I guess I should do that

[Brett Young]

I just emailed her now

[ontarioroader]

I sent a similar picture to DDOT on twitter Monday morning and got a canned "we'll look into it" response. During AM rush hour there were about 5-6 peds and 2 cyclists just walking and riding in oncoming traffic lanes. It's exactly what you would expect people to do if you provide no real alternative. This is far worse than the Van Ness sidewalk closure as it requires backtracking about a mile before you start heading in the right direction again.

[Brett Young]

I didn't take a picture, but to the right of those machines was a guy sitting in his car that was on the sidewalk. Probably from DC water. I don't know what he was monitoring....certainly wasn't pedestrians

[ontarioroader]

I talked to the guy in the car, he's a supervisor for Anchor Construction. He said the sidewalk closure wasn't their problem, that they had permits and "where else am I going to park".

[Mike]

correct, it's not their fault the permits were issued--that's a matter for your elected representatives to sort out

[john]

The three huge boxes are also inconveniently situated at the apex of a curve, meaning that in order to get around them, you have to stand in the traffic lane to see if there is any oncoming traffic. Pedestrians and / or cyclists who bail out before then and take their chances on the median or with traffic may be making the wiser choice.

[Will]

This doesn't appear to be "reasonable accommodation" and someone could die here the way this is set up.

[Kolo Jezdec]

It only marginally affects motor vehicles, so no one actually cares. If motorists were endangered and inconvenienced in the manner that pedestrians/cyclists are here, there would be a TV News crew down there...