May 15, 2008
Why Don't All Construction Sites Have Covered Walkways By Now?
Photo by Sommer Mathis
Last fall we reported that builders in the District would be required to construct covered pedestrian walkways beginning in October. Since then, we've definitely seen a few of the new, safer passages around town, but we've also run into more than a handful of others, such as the one pictured above at 11th and K Streets NW, that still force pedestrians to cross the street to use a proper sidewalk (or, as is often the case, simply put them in harms way when they end up walking alongside a construction fence in a lane of traffic, as is the case in this photo).
So, where our covered walkways at?
"Existing sites were not required to comply in full," explained DDOT spokesperson Karyn LeBlanc. "We treat them on a case-by-case basis. New sites are required to be in compliance."
So if you're still bugged by an impassible sidewalk on your way in to work each morning, it's likely because that construction was underway well before October, 2007. Until all these previously existing building sites are completed, D.C. residents can expect to see a patchwork of covered passageways, occasional non-covered pedestrian lanes, and totally obstructed ones like the one at 11th and K.
Which construction site sidewalks annoy you the most?
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The one that takes up the entire block on the east side of 17th between H and I really bugs me. That whole area is a mess.
Score another loss for the pedestrians...thanks Jim Graham (overseer of DDOT).
The one on 15th St. between P and Church St. It annoys me not just because there is no covered walkway, but because it takes up not one but *two* lanes of the street (and often with cones that make a third lane almost unusable), to essentially be the storage space and porta-potty zone for a condo building whose construction apparently is being done by snails.
Can anyone tell me if the city gets paid in any way for this use of the street? I've always wondered that, particular in this case with construction dragging on forever.
Maybe DDOT can ticket construction equipment that's illegally parked in roadways? A $100 ticket every day might change things.
You commies! Trying to assert puny human rights against the "we can do anything we want" attitude of the developers. OK, back to the matrix.
14th and Rhode Island. It's short, but it leaves only one lane of traffic, and the light at 14th is long, so you end up killing time until it turns red and you can cross or walk along the traffic.
And it's new construction. Apparently they didn't get the memo.
where by 14th I mean 15th. I'm awesome.
DL in DC - The building on 15th between P & Church has been under construction much longer (years) than expected because they are on their third builder (the first two declared bankruptcy). I would not be surprised if this is also happening at other sites throughout the city. There should be a time limit place on the use of streets regardless of who is in charge...
edenman:
I don't know what the "Emergency No Parking" signs say, but I hope that 15th and RI Ave isn't a long one. Looking out my window right now, they are moving some construction material from the ground to the roof of the Latrobe. Are they somehow getting an "out" because it is "Emergency"? Maybe if the time window is short enough, they don't have to provide the walkway?
Logan Resident:
I agree that a time limit should be put, or maybe an escalating payment/fine.
The 15th & P construction site though should do better about pedestrian safety. They don't have any signs that the sidewalk/walkway is closed on P Street, and sometimes you take your life in your hands when walking to Halo, Logan Tavern, The Written Word, etc.
They used to have Jersey barriers there which allowed pedestrians to walk through, but those seem to have disappeared.
Next to my house, on Ontario in Adams Morgan, they are gutting the building next door. They closed the sidewalk and commandeered the parking spaces for their workers, materials, and dumpsters. The fencing though cuts through my tree box which I think should be some sort of violation.
that 15th and rhode island one really gets my goat. it's crap that they can get away with throwing up a sidewalk blockage after this law went into effect. the owners ought to be fined into the stone age for non-compliance