Ballou HS Rocks the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Caps Thankful for Varly in 2-0 Win
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
WTOP reports on some of the ideas being floated around to create better cross-town connectivity as part of the White House Area Transportation Study. Ever since Pennsylvania Avenue and E Street were shut down to traffic around the White House after Sept. 11, 2001, getting across many parts of downtown D.C. by automobile at rush hour has been challenging, to say the least.
One of the ideas DDOT and the National Capital Planning Commission are considering is adding dedicated bus lanes to K Street. The lanes would allow bus lines like the D buses, some of the S buses, and the Circulator to move passengers across town more quickly. Whether that would involve trying to widen the street, or just limit regular traffic lanes each direction by removing the local access lanes on each side, remains to be seen.
DDOT director Emeka Moneme also said the city is studying whether changing the direction of some downtown streets to one-way thoroughfares would make sense.
The final study is due out in a few months, but in the meantime, we thought we'd ask you: how would you make changes to downtown to make getting across it easier?
Photo by danielmacy@verizon.net
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
It should get dedicated bus lanes (as a placeholder for an east-west eventual streetcar line), but it won't. The businesses along K Street won't want to lose street parking for their clients/customers.
Also, unless bus lanes have the right of way, they're just going to be trapped at stoplights like any other surface vehicle. They need a crosstown express line fitted with those traffic light changers that ambulances have.
Pennsylvania Avenue was closed after the Oklahoma City bombing in 95; they did talk about reopening it, but 9/11 shut that down for good. And whatever proposal that gets rid of the access lanes I am for.
They should absolutely turn the access lanes into dedicated bus lanes. It only makes sense considering how heavily K is used for crosstown transit (Circulator, I'm looking at you).
Agreed, RJ. Those local access lanes are a huge pain. I'm of the opinion that they make rush hour on K much worse. If I need to make a right, there most certainly will be a UPS truck blocking the loca access lane.
London-style congestion charges.
So far in London: a 30% decrease in delays;
200 million dollars (80m pounds) in revenue;
decreases in automotive charges;
surprisingly, an increase in business;
slightly higher public transport use; and
slightly higher bike use.
Expect protests from people without a vote.
Then we can have a land-for-peace deal. Except that it'll be a surcharge-exemption-for-representation deal.
London-style congestion charges.
So far in London: a 30% decrease in delays;
200 million dollars (80m pounds) in revenue;
decreases in automotive charges;
surprisingly, an increase in business;
slightly higher public transport use; and
slightly higher bike use.
Expect protests from people without a vote.
Also, I mentioned this in another recent thread, but the 42 would be greatly aided if they would skip the two or three stops closest to Dupont Circle and just went beneath. Unfortunately, those are the stops that directly connect to the metro entrances...
Can the lanes be one-way out of town? Wokka Wokka!
What if they make the dedicated bus lanes into bike/bus only like it is on 7th and 9th downtown? Oh my gosh. I think I just wet my panties thinking about that one.
Problem with London congestion charges is that it also affects the costs of goods transported downtown. You think that merlot and flatiron steak at Whole Paycheck is expensive now, wait until that value-added congestion tax gets tacked on. And how will the kids afford their Rap Snacks? Won't someone please think of the Rap Snacks!
this isn't going to lead to anything. hate to get your hopes up here, kiddies, but they proposed dedicated bus lanes as part of a wholesale reconfiguring of the k-street clusterf*ck like 5 years ago, where the bus lanes would be in the middle of the right-of-way, and the standard traffic lanes pushed out to the sides (which would eliminate the access lanes). nothing ever came of it.
what needs to happen, period, is that e street has to be reopened. it isn't close enough to the white house to be that big of a problem. if they're worried about a car stopping and firing a missle at the white house, why not close down scott circle, since you can get a clear shot from there too?
a reopened e street would allow pennsylvania avenue and the e street freeway to function as a complete arterial route again, instead of the two stumps they are now.
and please, if not a full reopening of e street, at least open it to buses. the securicrats have way too much sway in this world....
Yes to bus lanes! Not sure what the proposals are at this point, but a few years ago the idea was to completely re-do the street, not just turn the access lanes into bus lanes: the bus lanes would actually be in the median, and on-street parking would be preserved. Pretty sure signal priority, if not pre-emption, was included.
Not a fan of turning streets one-way, however. I thought DDOT had a policy to turn one-ways back to two-ways whenever possible? Seems strange they would be considering one-way streets.
By bike/bus only, of course, you mean bike/bus/taxi/whichever entitled asshole drivers decide the rules don't apply to them.
I'm a cyclist and those lanes are pure theory. Without physical separation (could be plastic bumps but concrete is preferable) you cannot keep cars out of a full lane of traffic.
Luckily, on K Street, turning the local access routes into bus-only would mean the physical separation would be largely built-in already. But dedicated bus lanes definitely require priority at traffic lights to be any use.
Word. I always feel like such a tool not using the bus lanes when they are crowded with taxis.
Sadly, I don't either Penn or E street by the White House will ever be open. Same for the couple of streets around Capitol Hill between the various Senate and House office buildings. The securitycrats decided it was a danger and the staff now likes the new free parking.
Here's a link to the K Street Busway Project from a few years ago. Also some cool simulations.
Definitely didn't hit the 2008 start date, but that doesn't mean it won't ever happen. I believe the K Street piece is also a high priority on the list of projects that came out of the DC Transit Alternatives Analysis. These things take time. Have patience, young Skywalker.
K Street should definitely get bus lanes! Metro even planned for it years ago. It was scheduled to open this year. See http://www.wmata.com/about/expansion/kst_busway.pdf
If cross town buses were faster than cars, by having their own lanes, there would be an advantage to taking a bus. Thou I generally do not drive, I even shun buses in the city in favor of Metro due to their delays in traffic on K Street. In Baltimore, they have a light rail with dedicated lanes throughout the city. Washington should take the first step toward this by starting with dedicated bus lanes on K Street.
I actually like the closed down E Street! Really pedestrian friendly, you can rollerblade there in the summer. No noise. No congestion. They should do that with more streets downtown. Like, say, K Street between 9th and 23rd. I know what you're saying, "But that's insane!" Well, I for one have never courted sanity. How would you be able to travel downtown?
Three words: ski lift gondolas. Imagine picking up a ski lift seat at the Convention Center or in front of Acadiana and having it haul your drunk ass across town to Foggy Bottom? And instead of worrying about where to park their Jettas near Rumours, the West End Trixies could just ski lift their textiles-majoring asses to DC Coast for happy hour. And the bikers and Segway users and double-amputee chips in Radio Flyer buttwagons could call K Street their own.
Here is a report directly from DDOT in 2004 that explains what they had intended to do.
Link to the busway study
K street circulator is a lifeline. Grease the skids so it can go faster -- yeah!
I'm all for bus lanes that can eventually be converted to BRT or light rail. With platforms for easier boarding and handicapped ramps. I'd put them in the center. They work fine that way in other cities. Like Market Street in SF (although admittedly they have trains on the inside, buses on the out, and cars and parking, and room for really wide sidewalks. So it's a much wider street in general.)
I'm with somegirl on this one ... has anyone ever driven up 7th street through Chinatown and seen that "Bus Only" lane actually left clear by cabbies and other drivers? Unless they leave the access lane barriers in place, these special lanes would be "Bus Only" in theory only.
Re-open E Street NW. It's much farther away from the White House compared to Pennsylvania Avenue, and was just closed with jersey barriers rather than a permanent barricade. As soon as the Democrats take the White House, that is. Hopefully a less paranoid and more popular administration will reverse some of the more egregious, unnecessary security precautions that clutter and ugly-up our town.
They should make Penn Ave a tunnel under the one block next to the White House, and extend Lafayette Park over the top like the way they have 9th street go under the capital mall. The shortie blocks between that block and 15th on one side and 17th on the other would be the tunnel ramps. The reason for closing Penn was to prevent a truck bomb on the street, but in a tunnel all a bomb could do is cave in the ground above it
Again with the "downtown tunneling" nonsense. That area is a rats maze of tunnels, ducts, fiber optics, and drains. And I guess you all forgot why they didn't do a Penn Ave tunnel in the first place? Lafayette Square has historically been a hotbed for molemen/morlock activity. Start tunneling and you ruin a peace accord that's lasted since U.S. Grant's day. We had a hard enough time trading those underground sex bunkers for smallpox infected blankets.
And besides, tunneling will wake up Gamera.
Absolutely agree, IMGoph and MrT--the paranoid security measures for far too long have trumped common sense and reasonableness. E St. doesn't offer a vantage point from which to launch an attack against the White House that you couldn't also obtain from several other open streets nearby. There's been an entire industry spring up on the backs of the securicrats who know that there is a lot of money involved in continuing the security smoke screen. Not only has it led to unnecessary gridlock and frustration, but it has led to the random dumping of jersey barriers haphazardly around the Jefferson Memorial and the closure of the Capitol's west portico via metal barricade.
I was going to point out that this is just a little bit of history repeating, but about 10 people beat me to it. The K St. busway plan is pretty dead, as far as I can tell. One thing that concerned me by the project was the elimination of the medians between the access road and the main road. Besides making K St. easier to cross as a pedestrian, the more important role these medians serve right now is that that's where the trees are planted. K St. is already a dutch oven in the summer; getting rid of its already sparse tree canopy would make it worse.
That being said I do agree that dedicated buslanes (with redlight control) would be a huge improvement. DC should not give a rats ass about the car commuters affected by the elimination of the lane; they're mostly not DC residents, whereas bus riders mostly are.
Finally, I believe I read somewhere that as part of the Pennsylvania Ave. refinishing project a few years back (which was post 9/11, by the way) they discussed the possibility of allowing buses to use Penn. Ave in front of the White House. Unlikely, sure (especially considering that the "airlock" between the moveable jersey barriers would not fit a bus) but at least they thought about it.
Of course there are taxis and out of towners in the bike/bus lanes on 7th and 9th street. That's a given. But, in that lane I can pedal as slow as I want to in front of a cabbie or car (never a bus), extend my middle finger down to the big ole bus and bike lane only writing while yelling, "hey bitch, you in the bike/bus lane".
and with all of the lobbyists and lawyers on K street I just, oh my, my heart gets all fluttery just thinking about it.
hmm. I really enjoy my power trips. I better go find a girl scout, knock her down and steal her cookies in order to sustain my high.
how would you make changes to downtown to make getting across it easier?
I would split the Orange and Blue lines at Rosslyn into two different, double-tracked, lines. But somehow I don't think that's going to happen.
Build a gondola lift over Rock Creek Park connecting Columbia Heights and Cleveland Park! Fast & scenic! Not to mention, ripe for future posts.
Build a gondola lift over Rock Creek Park connecting Columbia Heights and Cleveland Park!
But only if it has a stop in Mount Pleasant. What a great way to link to the red line!
lolz 2 monkeyerotica
be mine, you gondola rider.
"Build a gondola lift over Rock Creek Park connecting Columbia Heights and Cleveland Park! Fast & scenic! Not to mention, ripe for future posts."
You joke, but Baltimore is doing just that. Although I can't see the NPS allowing it.
But seriously, y'all, sounds like everyone on dcist is for reliable, fast public transportation downtown. What are we going to do about it? Sit around and opine? Or organize?
I propose a meeting. When/where, I'll leave up to someone a little more motivated than I. But meet!! I will come.
Forget the lifts. Bring back the canals, which we will fill to overflow with the tears of dcist sycophants.
Or mambo sauce. Mambo sauce works, too.
What IMGoph said -- Re-open E Street NW, duh. Even if it's only one-way WB.
Also, reopening Executive Park (Ave, whatever it is) E & W to ped traffic again would be frickin' awesome. I would LOVE to be able to make my commute all-bus and walk from the stop on Constitution through Exec Park between WH & Treas to my office behind Lafayette Park. Instead, if I want to do that, I have to walk all the way around either Treasury or OEOB, both of which take so long that it's not worth it. I'm forced to deal with riding the Metro! With tourists! Standing on the LEFT! Gah!
If the Secret Service is so concerned about security on E Street, the White House needs to take a cue from Chinese carryouts: six-inch-thick wall of lucite.
With a little slot underneath so lobbyists can slip their money through.
monkeyerotica - interesting fact, the way many people are setting the Opticons on their emergency vehicles at many intersections is not to set *their direction* green, but rather to set *all directions* red.
That way, they're less attractive for abuse, and you can still get through the intersection by swerving over to the (now vacant) oncoming traffic lanes.
Doesn't work for all kinds of intersections, obviously, but a neat counterintuitive trick at many.
The first step in clearing up congestion on K street (and other downtown streets) is to ticket the hell out of the food service trucks/UPS vans/contractor trucks that block travel lanes during rush hour (how about triple fines for rush hour violations???) and/or park in "2 hour" spots all day long.
Seriously, try finding a parking space in the K street "access lanes" any time after 8:00am. They are all full with suburban contractors working on the office construction boom. If you ever take time to watch the traffic in that area (I know, thrilling hobby, right?) you'll notice it's about 15%-20% people cruising around looking for parking.
And don't get me started on the bullshiz a-holes who block rush hour travel lanes with their delivery trucks. Unfortunately DC can't tow anybody anymore (the impound lot is now a Home Depot), but the meter maid brigade should be out in force from 7:30-9:30 every day. They could make that $96M budget shortfall disappear in about 2 weeks!
cminus - here's your separated blue and orange lines.
t'would be teh awesome....
What's the deal with all the VA/MD construction trucks with handicapped dash permits? I'm all for helping the handicapped, but do we really want them driving, taking up parking spaces, and handing backhoes? Do delivery people even care about getting parking tickets? It's not like they have to pay them. Where's the incentive for deliverypeople to not choke up the alleys and access lanes?
I mean, short of spending quality face time with sweet lady brick.
Don't delivery people get the fine taken out of their paycheck? Or am I making that up?
Could George Bush just remove his court to Camp David the way Louis XIV quit Paris for Versailles?
Also, give the buses monster truck tires and the right to roll over any car in their dedicated lane.
I'm pretty sure major delivery companies like UPS and FedEx eat the parking ticket cost. But how much of that is their fault anyway? I'm always seeing DELIVERY ONLY spots taken up by some dildo in a plumbing van or a Lincoln with a Clergy permit on the dash which, I might add, are easy to xerox and make great hannukah gifts.
Currently the bus stops are every two blocks downtown. They should spread out the distance between bus stops. This will make traffic flow a little better. It doesn't hurt to have people walk an extra two blocks or so. By the looks of some of the people on the bus they need the exercise.
If the tires let the busses ride high and wide enough, the bus drivers could just bypass the jersey barriers that close down E Street.
It would be super sweet to watch the Secret Service chasing after a monster bus in front of the White House.
If the tires let the busses ride high and wide enough, the bus drivers could just bypass the jersey barriers that close down E Street.
It would be super sweet to watch the Secret Service chasing after a monster bus in front of the White House.
Well now, John, considering that 2 blocks in DC is about a quarter-mile (a 5-minute walk), I'd say a bus stop every 2 blocks isn't totally insane. It also makes sense on K Street to space the bus stops to meet major N-S lines. Which means transfer points at 7th/9th Streets, 11th Street, 14th Street, 16th Street, Connecticut Ave, 20th/21st and Washington Circle -- roughly every 2-3 blocks.
My experience riding buses in DC has been that traffic accounts for most of the headache. That and people who don't start looking for their SmarTrip card until they get ON the bus when there are 15 people waiting to board behind them. Seriously, what have you been doing all that time you were standing at the stop? Picking your nose?
Dedicated lanes would be great. I read that the new chair of Metro, Zimmerman, favors them. That's nice. Too bad he doesn't favor dedicated lanes (for bus or tram) on Columbia Pike in his own county.