Brian Flahaven

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.

DDOT crews patched portions of 17th Street SE near E Street SE on June 13. Hopefully this will help reduce some of the truck noise for residents.

Mark your calendars! The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will hold a public meeting on the 17th and 19th Street Safety Improvement Project on Monday, June 25 from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at Friendship Charter School (Blow Pierce Campus), 725 19th Street NE. DDOT and McKissack and McKissack, a consulting firm hired by DDOT,  are expected to share some new data and (hopefully) strategies for slowing down traffic along the entire 17th and 19th Street corridors.  DDOT Director Terry Bellmany and Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells are expected to attend.

I’m hopeful that we will learn more from DDOT than we did during the June 6 ANC 6B Transportation Committee meeting. I’ll post additional information about the meeting as I learn more.

Last night’s ANC 6B Transportation Committee meeting on the status of the Capitol Hill Transportation Study was extremely frustrating. The volume and speed of traffic along 17th Street SE and 19th Street SE is a major safety issue and daily hazard for residents, yet we learned nothing about what the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) plans to do about the problem.

For some reason, DDOT chose to send a representative to the meeting who is new to the study, new to the study area and has zero authority to make decisions on 17th and 19th Streets SE. Here is an example of the typical exchange:

Question: Is DDOT still considering the study’s recommendation to turn 17th Street SE and 19th Street SE into two-way streets?

Answer: Unclear. I’ll follow up with James Cheeks, who is in charge of the area.

We had 40+ residents in attendance, yet DDOT sent someone who could not provide a concrete answer to a single question. I left the meeting with the clear impression that safety along 17th Street SE and 19th Street SE is not a priority for DDOT. Totally unacceptable.

Since the DDOT representative was not in a position to answer questions related to the study, we spent the rest of the meeting documenting traffic concerns in Hill East. Here is my list from the meeting:

• Traffic volume and speed on 17th Street SE, 19th Street SE, Indepedence Avenue SE.
• Need for a signal or stop signs at 18th Street SE & Independence Avenue SE and 16th Street SE and Independence Avenue.
• Reduce truck and bus traffic volume on 17th Street SE – potential ban on truck traffic on 17th Street SE after completion of 11th Street Bridge.
• Improve pedestrian crossings at C Street SE & 19th Street SE, 18th Street SE & Potomac Avenue SE, 17th Street SE and G Street SE, 15th Street SE & Potomac Avenue SE and 17th Street SE and Barney Circle SE.
• Does DDOT still plan to improve the Potomac Avenue Metro Plaza and pedestrian crossings at Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Potomac Avenue SE?
• Speeding in front of Payne Elementary School on C Street SE.
• Repairing the fence at Barney Circle SE.

If I missed an issue, please post below.

Commissioner Francis Campbell (6B10) and I plan to ask James Cheeks, DDOT’s point person on 17th and 19th Streets SE, to attend an ANC 6B Hill East Task Force meeting to provide answers to our questions. We hope to hold this meeting sometime later this month. I’ll keep you posted.