We need a safer First Street NW in Bloomingdale
By Edward
Russell (Editorial Board) April 9, 2018
It is time to make Bloomingdale's main street, First Street NW, safer. The thoroughfare is lined with homes and businesses but regularly becomes crammed with through traffic trying to avoid North Capitol Street, leading to unsafe conditions for people who walk and bike.
First Street is designed as a collector, or a slower-speed street that moves local traffic to larger arterials. In practice, it acts as a minor arterial because it parallels North Capitol street (a major arterial) continuously for the nearly two miles from Massachusetts Avenue to Michigan Avenue, according to the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT).
This higher volume of cut-through traffic results in less-than-safe conditions for residents who walk, bike, and live adjacent to First Street. Drivers often roll through stop signs to make the light, and traffic backs up through Bloomingdale as drivers wait to cross Florida Avenue NW and Rhode Island Avenue NW.
...
4 comments:
Do you think traffic and congestion on 1st Street is bad now? I can only imagine how the 1 million SF of healthcare space, 655 housing units, 125K SF of retail planned for the McMillian will impact safety for pedestrians and cyclists on 1st Street.
Traffic lights might be needed replace stop signs once/if the volume of vehicles increases. I fear traffic circles won't change the attitude of drivers that run stop signs now. They'll just drive through the circle without stopping.
So where s the consolidated data and facts report on the number of traffic accidents and bike and pedestrian incidents? Where's the DATA to support any changes? People run stop signs, drive too fast, ignore pedestrians etc all over this city. Is First Street somehow more dangerous?
Did you bother reading the Mid-City East Livability Study referenced in the article?
Post a Comment