WASHINGTON — The District Department of Transportation met with community members in the 14th Street corridor Saturday to discuss traffic decongestion and potential bus route improvements.
Christine Miller, a community member and a commissioner of Ward 1, sees firsthand how difficult it can be to make it past Park Street and 14th Street near Kenyan everyday.
“This is our chance to sort of weigh in and engage, I think they did a good job of identifying the challenges,” said Miller.
Julian Sena, another community member, also sat among the residents at the meeting. His main concern is the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.
“Looking out for your own safety and self-preservation makes you notice how a lot of these roads are laid out,” he said.
DDOT recognized and outlined many key issues, such as the enforcement of bus zones near Irving and 14th Street, and delays caused by congestion at Columbia Road and 14th Street.
Some solutions officials have in mind include removing approximately four parking spaces on the right side of the 1300 block of Columbia Road at 14th Street to add a right-turn pocket for right-turning vehicles.
At Irving Street, officials thought to add red paint in order help with the enforcement of bus zones and expanded bus zones.
On average, there are nearly 17,000 vehicles traveling through the 14th street corridor daily, according to DDOT. There are also 13,000 bus riders and 800 bikers.
Sam Zimbabwe, the Chief Project Delivery Officer for DDOT, said there’s no perfect fix, but the goal is to use community input to improve travel time for cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles.
“We’re at the very early stages of trying to think of solutions,” he said. “They’ll be some more process going forward to understand how we can help everyone that’s using the corridor.”
