14th Street NW Corridor Gets Another Look

Typical 14th activity
Image: Google

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a meeting to discuss how to make "lower, middle 14th Street NW" more attractive and accommodating to all users.

The meeting will be held Thursday, February 22, 2018 between 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the  Community Room of the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW.

According to DDOT, the project supports moveDC plan and the Mayor’s Vision Zero Initiative to help create a safer, more livable, sustainable and attractive corridor. The objective of the project is to increase multimodal safety and accessibility, improve mobility and pedestrian safety with ADA compliance, and improve the corridor with the new streetscape. 

As 14th Street is a major travel corridor, the mile long 14th Street NW Streetscape Project hopefully addresses concerns that bicyclists have noted for years. On social media, bicyclists complain that they are at risk as vehicles force them from the bike lane to the roadway or they are doored by unsuspecting vehicle occupants. Vehicles routinely double park in the roadway or bike lane and use the bike lane as a location to discharge passengers. There are also conflict with buses as they transition from the roadway to bus stops, making moving past them on bikes risky. 

Typical improvements in the 2010 version of 14th Street project
Image: DDOT

The current iteration of this project was listed in the draft D.C. Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) in 2015 but a plan for this area was underway by DDOT as early as 2007. The 2010 14th Street Transportation and Streetscape Improvements plan, created before Vision Zero and other planning initiatives, focused on adding multimodal features to the corridor to include street resurfacing, bulb outs to add sidewalk space, additional bike parking at transit stops, decorative pavement, and other amenities to help improve pedestrian safety.

Since then, DDOT implemented certain elements of that project at key intersections and presumably, the current project will reexamine certain traffic elements, including making improvements to the bicycle infrastructure. As of the 2015 STIP, the total amount obligated to this project totals $10.6 million.

Specifically, the project scope of work will include, but will not be limited to the following:

• Preparation of plans, estimates, and specifications for roadway resurfacing; 
• Resetting or reconstructing curbs; 
• Reconstructing wheelchair ramps and sidewalks; 
• Upgrading streetlights; traffic signal and drainage system; 
• Removal of dead trees and planting of new trees; 
• Improving pavement marking and signage; 
• and other work deemed appropriate. 

This section of 14th Street also contains one of the District's high crash intersections at 14th and U Street NW. DDOT issued a report in 2017 that suggested providing additional enforcement to reduce double parking, green paint through the intersection, and a redesign of the bus bulbouts as they create bus/bike conflicts - all of which may be included in this project.