On our way home from work, DCist took a quick stroll across the newly reopened Pennsylvania Avenue pedestrian precinct in front of the White House. While How Now, Brown Pau was underwhelmed with the results, we’re still digesting the revamped streetscaping.

From How Now, Brown Pau:

I had expected that the whole stretch of Penn Ave from 15th to 17th NW would be paved over with colored granite slabs, turning the street fronting the White House into an extension of Lafayette Park. Instead, the granite slabs are just for the fronts of the Old Executive Office Building and the Department of the Treasury. The rest of the street remains mostly the same, with only minor cosmetic changes, some extra trees, and removed bollards.

That assessment is correct. But we have to say that while it may not be an amazing innovative redesign, it does feel like the avenue has returned back to its pre-1995 condition, when bulky Jersey barriers and oversized planters were moved in to calm post-Oklahoma City truck bomb fears.

The avenue feels considerably open and in a certain way a bit unsafe. In D.C., we have been accustomed to associate concrete obstacles with safety. Now the America’s Main Street has graceful fluted bollards that are designed to thwart any sort of vehicular threat.