As discussed at last night's meeting of the Concerned Citizens of First Street -
A petition is circulating to close First Street for the duration of the First Street Tunnel work there. Street closure would address the following safety issues:
- · Pedestrians sharing space with the car lane on the west side of First Street;
- · Eliminate the need to remove tree boxes and parking on First between U & W;
- · Address the issue of construction vehicles sharing space with vehicles at the intersection of First & V; as well as,
- · Expedite the completion of the project.
if you live on 1st Street north of V and south of Channing, closing 1st Street is going to make life very difficult. You cannot go north, as 1st Street remains closed. Channing is one-way coming into the neighborhood, Bryant is closed going west but you could exit to the East. And, the 100 block of Adams will be closed. If feels like the way out of our blocks would be to go south on 2nd Street, which we all know really isn't wide enough for two-way traffic. Or, we could join the traffic jams on North Capitol. Seems like this petition would make my already difficult traffic situation even worse.
ReplyDeleteAgree with this. I'm in that boat. You can't shut down 1st south of Channing for me unless you also open up Bryant going west. Get that done and I'll sign the petition, otherwise you're forcing me to go on N. Capitol to go anywhere. No thanks.
DeleteFlooding abatement benefits all and everyone will be inconvenienced in some way - some more than others. What we have at First & V is a very chaotic and dangerous situation. We're trying to prevent accidents and loss of life. Unfortunately, that might inconvenience some. Expediting completion benefits ALL.
ReplyDeleteOur safety also is involved here, like police, fire and ambulance access to First Street between Channing and V. We are already inconvenienced, and it will only get worse under the current plans.Your petition seals in several blocks from access to the outside, which might be great for you. It is bad for us.
DeleteWe all share Fire/EMS issues,especially those with construction equipment abutting their homes. However DDOT criteria requires access to all homes. There are a myriad of issues that wont't fit in this blog, however consider these - Closure would be for the 2000 and 2100 blocks - U to W. Without it, we lose that much parking, the impact of which will reverberate throughout the community. The immediate need is to address pedestrian, motor and construction traffic using the same space. Also some of our neighbors would lose treeboxes and sidewalks such that traffic comes up to the doorstep. A number of them are seniors, disabled and families with small children with no rear motor access. The impacts are far reaching yet safety and preventing accidents & loss of life at the 1st & V intersection, is the current imperative. Hopefully we will all benefit from this project, and unfortunately many will also share the burden of it as well, which may mean altering our commutes.
Delete