If a “Barnes Dance” sounds like something your friend from book club would drag you to on a Saturday night, you are not alone. Also known as a “pedestrian scramble” (which still sounds like some kind of choreography I have no interest in learning), it is in fact a method of crossing the street. If you’ve ever tried to get from RFD to the Chinatown Metro in a hurry, you will appreciate this: Instead of waiting to make a two-part 90 degree turn, the “Barnes Dance” allows pedestrians to cross the intersection diagonally—legally, and without risking life and limb.
And now, the intersection at 7th and H Streets NW is getting a new look to match its fancy crossing system, which was installed in 2010 to help improve the flow of foot traffic at one of the busiest crossings in the city. In a request for proposals for the public art project, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities promised artists visibility, a role in promoting public safety, and a $30,000 budget.
Charles Bergen is the hero D.C. pedestrians needed. Okay, “hero,” is a bit strong, but I’ll be damned if drivers don’t see me crossing diagonally across this new, colorful intersection. Motorists have a red light too, but after decades of conditioning myself not to cross the street diagonally, I guess I still need some encouragement. It seems I’m not the only one. While dozens of people cross at the sides of the box, fewer seem to utilize the “X” that decorates the intersection.
Bergen’s public art installation is nearly done, and it certainly adds something to the landscape. The Chinese New Year-inspired design does a hell of a lot more for the neighborhood’s aesthetic than a Mandarin language Chipotle sign.
The edges of the box feature the old white crosswalks, newly decorated in between the lines with white painted renditions of the dozen animals that rotate throughout the Chinese zodiac. Connecting the corners is a massive gray “X,” outlined in white, that features dragons in red, yellow, blue, and green.
Bergen (who is also the artist behind one of the animal sculptures adorning street signs in Capitol Hill and the Chuck Brown Memorial) explains his vision: “The long curves, colorful scales and expressive heads of the dragon lead the pedestrians from one corner across to the other. The twelve lunar zodiac symbols are placed in the gaps between the crosswalk bands. Here in the perpendicular crosswalks they forever reenact the race across the wild river that determined their sequence in the lunar calendar and allowed them to become zodiac signs for ever.”
It’s a lovely complement to the “Friendship Archway,” and hopefully it will help pedestrians realize they have a right to do the “Barnes Dance.”
