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05-02
ANC 3F COMMENTS ON THE
WISCONSIN AVENUE CORRIDOR TRANSPORTATION STUDY
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3F
North Cleveland Park, Forest Hills, &
Tenleytown
4401A Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Box 244
Washington, D.C.
20008-2322
1. Issue: Traffic counts north of Tenley Circle
are
skewed for Thursday and Friday because they were taken the week of
November 7, which included the Veteran's Day holiday.
Recommendation: Extrapolate
from
Monday-Wednesday of that week to arrive at an estimate of what the
traffic
counts would normally be on Thursday and Friday.
Discussion: On Thursday,
November 11, all federal and District employees did not have work, nor
did
many employees of private companies. Six of the
seven nearby
schools were closed. Vehicle counts were much lower during
rush hour
that day. They were also lower the following day, a Friday, as if
some
people decided to take a long weekend. As a result, the data for
this
critical section of the corridor, where much of the rush hour
traffic is school-related,
were skewed.
2. Issue: Significant
over-reporting of existing development and under-reporting of
anticipated
development.
Recommendation: DDOT convene a
task force
including OP, affected ANCs, and residents to work out correct figures
to use;
DDOT issue a second draft of the Study using the figures agreed upon by
the
task force; and this draft be circulated for comment.
Discussion: Marilyn
Simon has done extensive research into exactly what development was in
existence at the time of the Study. She
is correct that a number of sites that the Study counts as in
operation, and
thus generating traffic, were either closed or had been demolished and
thus
were generating no traffic at all when counts were taken.
She also points out that the square footage
of Whole Foods Market in ANC 3F may have been overcounted by including
the
parking lot as part of the retail store.
To make sure the Study is accurate and to gain the community’s
confidence, a task force made up of all affected parties should be
convened to
agree on what figures should be used.
The final report should not be issued until all errors and
differences
have been resolved.
3. Issue: The report
failed to make a correction for the enrollment of Sidwell Friends
School, as
requested at the meeting at Guy Mason Center on January 27, 2005, and
again at
the meeting at Guy Mason on June 21, 2005.
Recommendation: Correct the
data to reflect
the increase in enrollment and increase in number of vehicles using the
Wisconsin Avenue entrance.
Discussion: The enrollment authorized by the BZA is
850, not
800. The school is starting construction on its
307-space
parking garage at Rodman Street. The new garage will
accommodate all faculty and the approximately 124 students who have
been parking
on side streets behind the school, as well as drop off for 7th and 8th
grade
students who have until now been dropped off on 37th Street. Even
though
the school's traffic study for the BZA hearing stated that there would
be
limited impact on Wisconsin Avenue from the new arrangement, it is
important
for the WACTS to be as accurate as possible.
4. Issue: Increased
signal green time on
Wisconsin Avenue and reduced green time for intersecting side
streets,
including Albemarle Street and Nebraska Avenue at Tenley Circle.
Recommendation: Any changes to signal
timing must consider
optimum timing for all streets, not
just
Wisconsin Avenue, and pedestrian safety!
Discussion: Increasing
green time on Wisconsin Avenue at the expense of the side streets will
lead to
even greater gridlock on the side streets.
Because of turning restrictions on Wisconsin Avenue, many people
use
cross streets like Albemarle Street, Nebraska Avenue, and Van Ness
Street to
get to and from AU Park and Spring Valley. At present, queues on
Albemarle Street back up from Wisconsin to 38th Street during evening
rush
hour. Queues also extend north on 40th Street with cars
waiting
to merge into the traffic on Albemarle Street.
The study
missed this phenomenon because no queuing data were collected for
Albemarle Street at Wisconsin Avenue or at Albemarle Street and
Nebraska
Avenue. During morning rush hour, traffic on southbound Nebraska
Avenue
waiting to get through the light at Tenley Circle backs up to the
Wilson
High School playing field, approximately 1/5 of a mile.
Perhaps the person making traffic counts
only looked at the cars around the circle and not those being held at
the
secondary lights at the perimeter of the circle.
Residents
say the study ignores pedestrian safety while emphasizing moving
cars more
quickly on Wisconsin Avenue. Decreasing the green time for the
cross
streets would make crossing Wisconsin even more hazardous for
pedestrians than
it is now.
5. Issue: Poor
visibility, frequent (unreported) accidents, and confusion the
intersection of
Albemarle Street – Nebraska Avenue - 39th Street – Grant
Road.
Recommendation: Include the
recommendations
from Joe Lowry at the June 21 site visit in the final report.
Discussion: Joe Lowry,
an engineer with Louis Berger, met with ANC 3F Commissioner Cathy Wiss
and
resident Doug Wonderlic on June 21 to observe the intersection of
Nebraska
Avenue - Albemarle Street - Grant Road - 39th Street.
Among his recommendations were removing one parking space on the
south side of Albemarle Street just east of 39th Street for
greater
visibility of west bound traffic from 39th Street; striping
39th
Street with parking “L”s to discourage illegal parking close to the
corner;
putting warning signs for the 39th Street intersection on
Albemarle
Street and Nebraska Avenue; and keeping the existing turning radius
from south
bound Nebraska Avenue onto west bound Albemarle Street to force
vehicles to
slow down for pedestrians. He also
agreed to find out whether a “stop here on red” sign could be posted on
west
bound Albemarle Street just east of 39th Street.
6. Issue: Removal of
the three parking spaces on the south side of Albemarle Street between
Fort
Drive and Nebraska Avenue.
Recommendation: Keep the three
parking
spaces, but clearly mark with “L” striping where parking is permitted.
Discussion: These spaces are
often used by
residents for their cars. There is no other residential parking
on this
part of Albemarle Street or along Fort Drive north of Albemarle on or
Nebraska Avenue. Striping the street to
show where parking is
permitted would solve the problem of cars parking too close to Nebraska
Avenue,
as happened this year when the "no parking" sign disappeared.
Consistent enforcement of parking restrictions would help.
7. Issue: Removal of
“8” parking spaces on Van Ness Street west of Wisconsin Avenue to make
a left
turn lane for east bound traffic on Van Ness Street.
Recommendation: Remove 3 of the 7 metered parking spaces to
create a left turn
bay and reposition the remaining parking meters.
Discussion: Note: there are only 7 metered parking spaces on
this block, all adjacent to the shops at 4200 Wisconsin Avenue. Devoting an additional lane to vehicles
turning left at the light would certainly help relieve the heavy
congestion at
this intersection. On the other hand,
very few on street parking spaces are available to customers of the
shops at
4200 Wisconsin Avenue, either on Wisconsin Avenue or on Van Ness Street. Customers on short errands to some of the
shops
are unlikely to park in the underground garage of the building. Retaining some of the parking spaces while
creating a left turn bay would allow some customers to continue to park
while
helping to relieve congestion.
8. Issue: Installation of pedestrian
crossing
signs along the side of Wisconsin Avenue at Veazey, Warren
and Windom
Streets.
Recommendation: Pedestrian-activated
signals
or lights embedded in the street that flash when someone wants to cross
would
be more effective in improving pedestrian safety.
Discussion: Signs along
the side of the road are wholly inadequate for this dangerous
stretch. In
2003, a Tenleytown resident was run over at the intersection of Veazey
and
Wisconsin. She believed that she was safe because she was walking
in a
striped crosswalk that had a "yield to pedestrians" pylon in the
center of the street. The car on the outside lane saw her and
stopped. The car on the inside lane did not. Another
resident was
hit at Warren and Wisconsin, also in the mid-morning. If striped
cross
walks and "yield to pedestrians" pylons are not enough, signs on the
side of the road will not do much good and could give pedestrians a
false sense
of safety.
9. Issue: Increasing the turning radius for the
southeast corner of Wisconsin Avenue at the Whole Foods driveway.
Recommendation: This
recommendation should be
rejected.
Discussion: The Whole
Foods driveway crosses a very busy sidewalk.
Increasing the turning radius will make vehicles turn into the
driveway
more quickly and thus make crossing the driveway more dangerous for
pedestrians. Most pedestrians are
oblivious to turning cars at this location.
Approved by a vote
of 6-0-0
at a duly noticed public meeting of ANC 3F on July 25, 2005, with a
quorum
present (a quorum being 4).
/s/ Karen Lee
Perry
/s/ Frank T. Winstead
Karen Lee Perry,
Chair
Frank Winstead,
Secretary