Next week, the District Department of Transportation will hold its final public meeting on a years-long study of Cleveland Park.
While the $1.5 million Cleveland Park Streetscape Improvement and Pedestrian Safety Project deals with a large swath of that area, you can expect many neighbors to show up to express their opinion about one thing: The Connecticut Avenue NW service lane.
As WAMU and WJLA reported, Cleveland Park is divided over whether the service lane should stay as it is or should become a pedestrian walkway, as it was before the 1960s. Businesses between Macomb and Ordway Streets NW have put “Save The Service Lane” signs up in their windows, fearing that without the 30 or so spaces, they will suffer.
I Wish This Was A Sidewalk counters that idea on their website:
Some suggest that the businesses on this strip can’t survive without the service lane and its 17 parking spaces. But every other commercial strip on Connecticut Avenue is able to thrive without a service lane. These businesses are just steps away from a Metro entrance, and are served by a rear alley that would allow people to drop off and pick up heavy items. The nearby Sam’s parking lot almost always has space available. Making this area appealing and walkable would attract people in larger numbers, benefiting all of the businesses in the area.
Over 840 people have signed that group’s petition.
According to a DDOT survey of 110 people who shopped in the service lane between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on a weekday, 68 percent of people walked to make retails trips, while 12 percent biked and 12 percent drove.
Visitors from outside the Cleveland Park neighborhood tend to either drive (46%) or take the Metro (33%), with a lower percentage walking (13%). Almost all residents surveyed (98%) patronize shops along the service lane at least once a week, compared to 43% of visitors, with 25% of visitors surveyed shopping in the area only once a year or less.
The DDOT report also concluded that the width of the sidewalk next to the service lane “does not allow for free pedestrian movement and often results in pedestrians having to step into the service lane.”
This sidewalk is difficult for wheelchair access and for those with limited
mobility. In many locations, due to vending machines and other projections into public space, the service lane sidewalk does not provide the standard of 10’ width for clear pedestrian passage in a commercial corridor outside of downtown.
But the report also said that “parking in the study area is almost fully occupied
during the peak weekend parking hours, and turnover is very low, limiting the number of visitors to retail establishments who are able to park.”
A week ago, DCist received an email from Neal Gross, a Van Ness resident and fan of the service lane, who explained why he opposed any plans to turn it into a sidewalk.
The proponents know well that elderly, disabled, infants, toddlers, and general citizens, be they CP residents or visitors, are safer, at less risk, with less anxiety and fear, and overall more conveniently served by this virtually essential Service Lane.
Safer: because we don’t have to exit a car adjacent to fast moving Connecticut Avenue traffic, and likewise at less risk both on foot or in a car because while in the service lane we are protected by the mini-island, small as it is, but so advantageous. Has anyone tried to unload a wheelchair bound passenger from a car at the outside curb lane on Connecticut Avenue, with traffic going by? And what about the driver’s safety just opening the door?
More conveniently served: because with nearly 30 parking spaces turning over regularly during the day and evening, and especially as the only source of parking during Rush Hours, what are the proponents of TOTAL PAVE OVER proposing we do if we choose to patronize the merchants during those hours?
And.
Perhaps the proponents are suggesting that the merchants can survive with only those who walk, bike or take the Metrorail/Bus. Let me say that I may be able to walk to the shops, but I am not about to carry 2 sleeves of 12 Cokes home from the sales at CVS with or without the 18-36 roll packs of Charmin, let alone the 40-packs of Pampers and a couple of cans of Enfamil – either on foot or on Metrorail or a bus. Without parking, that merchant strip, as vital and inviting as it is, will dry up and perish.
Gross’ petition has 586 supporters.
Both camps may be disappointed in the end. DDOT is considering four proposals, including one that would widen the sidewalk but keep some of the parking. Stay tuned.
