DDOT to present the Pennsylvania and Potomac Avenue proposed design concepts

Early next month, DDOT will host a meeting to present the proposed design concepts for the Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Potomac Avenue SE intersection improvement project; and to allow the public to comment on them.

The project focuses on improving pedestrian safety for residents and multi-modal transit users at the Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Potomac Avenue SE intersection. The project is one in a series of transportation, environmental, economic, community and recreation projects included in the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI) Program. From the Tidal Basin to the city’s northeast border with Maryland, the 30-year $10 billion AWI Program is transforming the shores of the Anacostia River into world-class waterfront.

DDOT has been talking about reworking this intersection since at least 2005, when it was included in the Middle Anacostia Crossing Study. After a flurry of activity in the 2013-14 time range, not much has happened publicly since 2014. The website still says that the final decision would be made last summer. But it may be that the process is restarting. 

Back in 2009, the preferred alternative was to combine the traffic islands into one square in the middle of Pennsylvania, sort of like Stanton Park.

2009 Preferred Alternative

In 2013, they kicked off an environmental study of the intersection with public meetings and a Pedestrian Safety Study. They then came up with two design options as well as two no-build options (that added crosswalks and such). One build option created a T-intersection and the other a traffic oval - smaller than the one seen above. 

2013 T Intersection Design

2013 Oval Intersection

 

There were also plans to place a bikeshare station at the Metro there and extend the bike lane on 14th to Pennsylvania.

By the next year, they'd moved on to more of a park design. There were 2 oval designs and one triangles design. None of them moved the CaBi Station to the Metro Station and none have any bike facilities. 

I have no idea what they will present in June. I think moving the CaBi station across the street to the Metro (or just installing a 2nd one) makes a lot of sense. And extending the bike lane on 14th to Pennsylvania, across it on another facility and then to 14th on the other side would be a good addition as well. 

The meeting will be on Thursday, June 1, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Hill Center (Abraham Lincoln Hall, 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE/Washington, DC 20003)

Comments

[Curt Beltram]

I wonder if these authors ever call the Project Manager at DDOT to get real-time information?

It's pretty simple to pick up the phone and get the facts.

"may be"
"I think"
"I have no idea"

[washcycle]

Nope. Pretty much never. If you're looking for professional journalism, you've made a wrong turn. But, I encourage anyone who wants more information about a project to do so.

I'm usually doing my writing from 11 to 1am and most DDOT managers aren't interested in being called then. And I'm not interested in putting more effort in and getting less sleep. I put the amount of time into each post that I have to put into them, and then I'm done.

I try to strike the right balance between quantity and quality. I could write deeper dive posts, but then there would be fewer of them.

This is the same reason that I almost never edit my posts. I could spend time correcting the glaring and frequent typos, but then you'd get fewer posts.

So no, I don't call them to ask. GreaterGreaterWashington often does, so you should check that blog out. This is why I qualify my statements with maybe, I think etc... so that readers know about my confidence in statements and can discount accordingly.

But to reiterate, I never call them. If you'd like to be my unpaid research assistant then I (or you) can start calling them. Are you interested?

[Uptowner]

washcycle, you are awesome, and I for one, very much appreciate these posts!

On another note, I hope that DDOT comes up with something better than these. Pretty much nothing from a bicycle perspective despite GOBS of street space. All the options are quite bad for pedestrians as well. Maybe they should consider removing a leg or two from the intersection. Every street does not need to connect straight through.

[DE]

When DDOT's website says that a decision will be made *last summer,* criticizing the messenger for not knowing what DDOT is doing is a bit puzzling. Seems DDOT could do a better job of communicating its own information.