The Cleveland Park listserv is teeming with arguments both in favor of and against eliminating the reversible traffic lanes on Connecticut Avenue. Detractors claim the lanes to be unsafe for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists alike; of course, others (read: commuters) are crying bloody murder at the potential increase in traffic jams during the morning and evening rush hour on one of the city’s main arterial roadways.

Some of the posters in the thread believe that the reversible lanes are vital to keeping the traffic flow on the Avenue at a reasonable flow, especially during peak traffic times – this argument should ring true to those of us who not only use one of the District’s major traffic vessels for commuting to and from work, but also for commuting between neighborhoods in Northwest (not to mention one of the most frequently accessed entrances to the Beltway). But those residents who have children express concern about the potential disaster waiting to happen for small ones who need to cross the Avenue to get to school.

Many different compromises and solutions have been tossed around: better demarcating the lanes to use, using a DDOT truck to place 4×4 pylons in the lane lines to demarcate the lane changes (a practice commonly seen on urban bridges like Golden Gate in San Francisco), stepping up police ticketing of cars that simply idle in the curb lane during rush hour, and pressuring Metro to, you know, fix itself to make it more appealing to drivers traveling along the Red Line/Connecticut corridor.

There will be a community meeting held at the Cleveland Park Library (3310 Connecticut Avenue NW) on February 7th at 6:30 p.m. for residents to discuss the matter with representatives of DDOT and the Police Department.

Have any of you ever accidentally gotten in the wrong lane or almost struck due to the lane changes? Or is this just a terrible idea?

Photo by billadler.