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| | | Residents ponder Pennsylvania/Potomac intersection alterations | | December 18, 2009 | | | | Voice Correspondent | | Citing hazards for pedestrians and confusion for drivers, city officials are resolved to redesign the intersection of Potomac and Pennsylvania avenues SE. Their prospective plans include creating a more open, six-point intersection or rerouting traffic around a central oval or square, similar to Dupont or Scott circles in Northwest D.C.
The D.C. Department of Transportation has been working since February to overhaul the intersection, which also crosses 14th Street SE and includes a bus stop and the Potomac Avenue Metro station.
In the existing intersection, several conditions, including slip lanes for merging vehicles, unclear signage and pedestrian inaccessibility, have created a confusing traffic pattern, a 2005 Transportation Department survey determined.
Officials involved with the federally funded project held a public meeting Wednesday night to garner community feedback.
“Ambiguity is extremely bad with traffic situations,” said Jamie Henson, a planner with the Transportation Department, which has been working on solutions with private development firm HNTB, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service.
Henson explained that the shallow angle of westbound traffic merging from the Potomac Avenue slip road onto Pennsylvania Avenue both confuses drivers and allows them to speed. This can be dangerous when combined with pedestrians attempting to cross the major thoroughfare en route to the new Jenkins Row complex that houses Harris Teeter.
Also listed among the agency’s concerns are drivers speeding on Pennsylvania Avenue, particularly eastward toward I-295, and the volume of traffic, which planners hope the new intersection pattern will reduce.
“All of these options are traffic-slowing devices,” said project manager Joseph Dorsey, adding that the Transportation Department has not yet analyzed specifically how traffic will be affected.
“I’m glad they’re trying to do something,” said local resident Justin Antos, who moved to 16th Street and Potomac Avenue three years ago.
“Crossing from the Metro to Harris Teeter is terrifying, and drivers find it very confusing.” He added, “Now I’d like to know how each of these alternatives would perform.”
But some who attended Wednesday’s meeting were not enthusiastic about what they heard from the officials, particularly the changes that would entail changes to D.C.’s original city plan, laid out by Pierre L’Enfant in the 1700s.
“I don’t support anything that changes the alignment of a major corridor, especially one leading to the Capitol,” said one attendee, who asked to remain anonymous. “I want to see change … but not part of the L’Enfant Plan, which we already see eroding.”
Jeffrey Catts, senior landscape architect for HNTB, said, “Change in general is sometimes hard to grasp.” He pointed to past concerns that arose in the area after the Metrorail system was implemented in the mid-1970s.
“We need to see to the overall intentions of the [L’Enfant] Plan, not just the details,” Catts said. He also noted that the original plan displays street intersections but does not contain details on how the streets should intersect, such as through circles, squares or tunnels.
The need for this project arose after the Transportation Department completed its 2005 Middle Anacostia River Crossings Transportation Study. The department examined local traffic patterns and suggested ways to increase accessibility and mobility. After determining the need for improving this intersection, the agency was required by federal law to draft an environmental assessment, a detailed report on the effects of each redesign option.
The agency has consulted with local advisory neighborhood commissions, the National Capital Planning Commission, the Capitol Hill Restoration Society and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
Last month, the Transportation Department installed additional signage at the intersection to direct traffic and stationed traffic-control officers to observe other problems or hazards. The agency has not yet released the results of these initiatives, Dorsey said.
The Transportation Department will host another public meeting on Feb. 10 and expects to prepare the draft environmental assessment by spring or summer. More information can be found at ddot.dc.gov and theanacostiawaterfront.com. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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