DDOT meeting for 17th and 19th st ne/se

From the hill east listserv:
DDOT meeting regarding the 17th and 19th Streets Safety Improvement Project.


When: Monday, June 25, 2012
Where: Friendship Charter School (Blow Pierce Campus), 725 19th Street, NE
Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Neighbors should attend who have questions, comments or concerns about making 17th and 19th streets bidirectional. This is being proposed to decrease speeding on those roads.

H Street/Benning Road Starburst Intersection Design

Click on image to view larger version

Margaret Gentry (magentry@mactec.com), Community Relations Specialist MACTEC Engineering & Consulting, sent this information to RCA after folks inquired about the final starburst traffic patterns, see the above plan. Note, the plan does not show actual vehicular traffic patterns or turning movements, but she included a detail descriptive below to supplement the plan.

Ø East-west traffic on H Street and Benning Road will flow through the intersection in much the same way as before the construction. From H Street or Benning Road at the intersection, motorists can proceed straight ahead or turn north onto Bladensburg Road or southwest onto Maryland Avenue.

Ø Southbound motorists on Bladensburg may move through the intersection onto Maryland Avenue, or make a left turn onto Benning or a right turn onto H.

Ø From 15th Street – which is one-way north – motorists may proceed through the intersection to Bladensburg, or turn left onto H or right onto Benning.

Ø Northeast-bound motorists on Maryland Avenue may proceed through the intersection to Bladensburg, or turn left onto H or right onto Benning.

The major change from the pre-construction traffic pattern is that Maryland Avenue traffic will no longer flow straight through the Starburst intersection. The DDOT intersection re-design eliminated the Maryland Avenue flow-through to reduce the congestion of having so many heavily-traveled streets criss-crossing the intersection. The re-design, along with improved signalization and other measures, is intended to create a much safer and smoother-flowing intersection.

Traffic on 19th St

Among the traffic hot spots in our little residential neighborhood is 19th St, which is one-way heading north. Lots of commuter traffic comes up this street.

Two schools are located on 19th, and many kids walk along that street to and from school.

RCA is currently assembling a committee to work on traffic issues in the neighborhood.

C Street Beautification

RCA (Rosedale Citizens Alliance) has been collaborating with DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration (UFA) to replant missing and dead trees along the curbsides of C Street, NE from 21st to 15th Streets.

UFA's Michael Chuko, ISA Certified Arborist, has just informed RCA that his team will be replanting the requested trees (saplings) this fall! The tree species include sweet-gum, sycamore, black-gum, depending on availability.

RCA has requested, and volunteered to distribute, informational fliers requesting residents adopt the saplings and inform them how to nurture, maintain and who to contact if problems arise. Michael stated UFA will provide informative "door-hangers" and inquire about the feasibility of fliers with the above information.

Thanks UFA, especially Michael Chuko, for working with us and providing our neighborhoods with an invaluable living resource that will hopefully last a lifetime!

Traffic on C Street

For years, residents on C Street and surrounding blocks have complained about the high level of rush hour traffic on C street. Currently, it serves as one of the chief arteries for commuters from Anacostia and other areas north and east of DC. The congestion there results in regular traffic accidents and difficulty for residents who are crossing the street (including children on there way to one of the many schools in the area). At a recent meeting with ANC608 commissioner Mfon Ibangha, residents discussed various ways to ease pedestrian crossing.