All - I don't want to suddenly become the most unpopular person in Bloomingdale (I do, after all, clean up after my dog and I get on the bus in the order in which I arrived at the bus stop..ahem..), but I have noticed with the closure of 1st Street north of Bryant, perhaps the closure of Bryant west of 1st, and the massive influx of new (welcome) people, our little unit block of Bryant has become the entrance ramp for north capitol in never-before-seen ways. It's not uncommon to see cars going upwards of 40 mph on this little stretch, and for anybody who has tried to park on the street, the bumper-stalking aggressiveness of cars eager to get out of the neighborhood is both annoying and disturbing. I've noticed that we now have a lot of really little kids (we've always had some kids) and many more pups - it's a disaster waiting to happen, especially as pedestrian traffic tends to go up in summer months.
Would it be ridiculous to post signs or - gasp - put in some speed bumbs?
Have you checked the transportation plan that VMP has published for their plan for McMillan development? I am sure that they offer something to mitigate the many extra cars that will be using Bryant Street during construction and upon completion.
ReplyDeleteAfter I finished chuckling at the joke in the previous comment (May 5, 4:47 PM), I figured I needed to get serious. What Bryant Street is experiencing now is simply the tip of Bloomingdale's transportation future if the VMP plan is actually allowed to go forward. So going to the promised park and grocery (for all the people who are planning apparently to walk to the grocery store) is likely to be much less safe and much less enjoyable than many had envisioned. Bloomingdale will experience traffic and vehicles cutting through streets like Bryant in ways it has never experienced. And the District and the developers have nothing to offer you for traffic mitigation . . . nothing.
ReplyDeleteA better plan could give the community the things we've all wanted (retail, grocery, park community center) without the destruction of the history that is McMillan and without the damage to the neighborhood from the incessant traffic. And such alternative plans exist, but the District has long been unwilling to consider anything that doesn't give VMP the highest profits. Its cozy relationship with developers means the District continues to put the desires of its partners over the long-term interests of residents. But that's another story.
For now, the big question is, what can we do for our friend on Bryant Street? Well, I can say the one thing he or she is not likely to get is speed humps. About 2007, Bryant Street received two forms of traffic calming, becoming one way and the installation of parking boxes. DDOT policy is not to add a third form. Could they be convinced otherwise? Possibly, and I have the petition form needed to start that process if unit block residents want to go down that road. Just e-mail me.
The way to address this issue in the very near term is MPD enforcement. If people are speeding or driving recklessly, then MPD needs to step in. If you want to e-mail me directly, I can work with you to make that happen.
Good luck and have a great day,
John
John T. Salatti
(202) 986-2592
John.Salatti@gmail.com
"Together, Building a Better Bloomingdale"