A DC study recommended replacing stop signs with mini-roundabouts on First Street in Bloomingdale, a years-old proposal which resurfaced recently after a resident asked about making the street safer for people bicycling. Unfortunately, it's led to confusion and to the neighborhood debating a non-existent proposal to remove parking for bike lanes.
As Bloomingdale residents are well aware, First Street not only carries our local neighborhood traffic, but also sees a high number of drivers passing through the neighborhood on longer trips. With few stoplights and high visibility, these drivers often roll through stop signs and travel at speeds higher than are safe for such residential blocks. Finding a solution to these problems has been on the community’s radar for many years.
Sometimes it does make sense to remove parking or travel lanes for bike lanes, but the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is not currently recommending this for First Street. However, residents might get the wrong impression from a message by ANC 5E commissioner Bertha Holliday.
1 comment:
I read the GGW article, and I have to say I'm glad to know the bike lanes are as much the product of fantasy as many of the other pot-inspired dreams I occasionally smell in the neighborhood. Long before 1st St. NW needs to surrender a parking lane to bike traffic somebody should consider permanently eliminating the private parking which is the bane of driving on North Capitol St. - both directions, and 100 percent of the time.
P.S. Best of luck to anyone who can introduce the mini-roundabouts, in any form, to DC. Those would be a boon.
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