Readers of this blog (and Twitter) will know that the traffic on 14th Street drives me crazy — in the mornings it’s sometimes backed up from Irving to Spring Road (like pictured at right), and it’s not so great during other parts of the day either — there’s often backups around DCUSA.
It turns out the city might be working on it — especially since the last study on traffic signal timing was done more than 10 years ago. Considering how much has changed in Columbia Heights since then, with much more traffic, residents and shoppers, it’s about time.
A few weeks ago I emailed incoming Ward 1 councilmember Brianne Nadeau about the traffic and she said she’d get right on it. Soon thereafter she said she talked to DDOT, who said they’re working on traffic signals in the city. Here’s what they told her:
Traffic Signal Timing:
DDOT traffic engineers are now working on a major overhaul of the District’s coordinated traffic signal timings. The 5-year project is well underway, and DDOT has already implemented small changes at nearly 600 intersections to date. These small changes are Phase 1 of a critical first step in developing a solid foundation to enable more extensive changes to come in Phase 2 of the project over the next 3 years at all 1600 traffic signals in the District. This city-wide comprehensive signal retiming effort of this nature has not been done in over 10 years. DDOT’s goal for the project is to make DC traffic signals safer and friendlier for pedestrians, reduce traffic congestion, improve bus travel, and reduce harmful emissions.
Fingers crossed, and thanks to Nadeau for already getting to work on these issues!
