I’ve learned some additional information about next Monday’s (June 25) DDOT meeting on the 17th & 19th Street Safety Improvement Project:
- There will be no major decisions made at the June 25 meeting. DDOT intends to introduce the purpose of the project and the key staff who will be involved in seeking community feedback. McKissack & McKissack, a firm that specializes in transportation, has been hired by DDOT to help facilitate the meetings and propose solutions to problems on 17th & 19th Streets. DDOT and McKissack & McKissack will provide an overview of the current status of traffic/speeds along 17th & 19th, recap the many studies that have been completed of traffic along the two streets and seek feedback from residents on additional safety issues.
- After this initial meeting, DDOT plans to hold public charrettes where residents will discuss various options to deal with safety issues along the corridor. Meetings will be held in both Southeast and Northeast.
- The goal is not to drag the process out – DDOT wants to hold these meetings and get recommendations as soon as possible. I have urged DDOT and McKissack & McKissack to move as quickly as possible to the recommendation and implementation stages.
- “Everything is on the table” according to McKissack & McKissack when dealing with traffic volume and speed on 17th & 19th, including the Capitol Hill Transportation Study’s recommendation to make both streets two-way. The June 25 meeting and the charrettes are designed to ensure that residents have a voice in decisions made about 17th & 19th Streets.
Again, the first meeting will take place on Monday, June 25, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at Friendship Charter School (Blow Pierce Campus), 725 19th Street NE. I plan on attending the June 25 meeting and will post a recap. I also plan to submit to DDOT and McKissack & McKissack the list of issues raised by residents during the June 6 ANC 6B Transportation Committee meeting. If you can’t make the June 25 meeting, there will be plenty of opportunities to provide your comments and feedback during the charrette process.
Please post additional questions or comments below.
Brian Flahaven 
Brian, thanks for working on these issues for us. Its terrific that DDOT is coming to the community to discuss 17th and 19th Sts. Regretfully, I will not be able to attend the meeting on Monday, the 25th. If i were there, I’d like to know a couple of things about 19th St:
– When there is talk about making 19th two-way, is it referring to all of 19th from Congressional Cemetery up through NE? If so, how will this impact the one-way direction of Potomac Ave in the 1800 block?
– What considerations are being made for the potential development at the Stadium Armory metro plaza’s new street? The plan calls for a road to be built around the metro station to create the village square and the road dedication/right-of-way has already been engineered (and received ANC approval). Massachusetts Avenue into the site extending to the proposed circle was included in that same right-of-way dedication. Will planners in this exercise take the planning work done to date into consideration? Are there any traffic studies planned to facilitate this proposed traffic movement and its impact on 19th St. Are they even aware of these plans?
– Over the years at various meetings and presentations, 19th Street has been identified as a potential multi-modal street with mass transit using the Stadium/Armory metro as a hub. How does that tie into what DDOT is currently reviewing/planning?
Thanks Brian!
Colleen G.
1850 Potomac Ave SE
Great questions Colleen. I certainly share them with DDOT. On #1, I believe that two-way on 19th would also mean two-way on the 1800 block of Potomac Ave. I can’t imagine DDOT keeping one block of 19th Street SE one-way so that 1800 Potomac Ave. SE remains one-way.
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