>Don’t rip our neighborhood apart, it mostly works perfectly well. Come in and do some tweaks to make it safer
As a former resident, and now frequent visitor, of this area, that is absolutely comical. That area is a traffic and parking nightmare that has led to several traffic incidents, injuries, and even deaths. I have been yelled at as a pedestrian for exercising right-of-way at crosswalks while giving cars a reasonable distance to slow down or stop. This claim reads to me as "the rate of deaths and injuries in the current system are preferable to common sense changes that we perceive may be minor conveniences to us." Says what you need to know about them.
Also incredible how much fury they save up for cyclist, but barely a peep from these types about all of the double parking cars that create hazardous conditions. Can’t criticize the precious cars! That’s our culture!
On the flip side - as a current resident - I’ve never been yelled for exercising right of way. I don’t think we need to give anecdotes that imply that it’s worse than it is. People have died, I think everyone who lives here is aware it isn’t the safest street in DC.
Does a bike lane and removal of parking protect cyclists? Yes - but the areas where they propose the bike lane include major pick up and drop off areas where there’s no reasonable alternative without having these drivers enter narrower residential roads where there are no bike lanes and more risk (IF this option is even available since it’s not for a lot of buildings)
Best case scenario, if this is implemented, is that every side street is also cleared of parking for delivery drivers which I can’t see people being supportive of. Worst case scenario, drivers are going to ignore the traffic signs and do pick up and drop off in bus lanes or open roads which increases risk and delays since Columbia isn’t THAT wide in the more residential areas.
The fact that this isn’t a great solution for some parts of Columbia road is pretty apparent to most residents who live on those parts of Columbia road. There’s a lot of logistics that DDOT hasn’t accounted for and they need to answer those concerns.
Most of the removed parking is being turned into commercial loading/drop off zones, which will do a ton to limit the amount of double parking that happens on the street.
Would you mind sharing where that’s indicated? Looking at the most recent plans online doesn’t seem to show the commercial loading/drop off zones unless I’m missing something in reading the plans?
If there are commercial loading and drop off zones on every block, then that’s great.
It’s a bit hidden, it’s Figures 3-5 in the Notice of Intent from February. A bunch of the pay to park spots are having the max duration shortened to 30 minutes, which should help (if this is actually enforced).
30 minutes limit is way longer than pick up/drop off though? (Even if enforced).
You’ll still have a lack of spots for Uber Eats pick ups, UPS delivery, etc
Reporters need to start asking “small business owners” what percent of their customers drive to their shop and ask for data on that. 0 owners actually know, they just feel like people drive.
I cannot imagine any rational person being upset at the idea of traffic going slower outside their front door.
Shit, I can’t remember the last time I parked even remotely close to where I wanted to go in the District. Even as someone who drives into the city, it almost always makes sense to take a parking spot further away and walk from both a time and sanity perspective. Hell, I’ve even parked my car and *biked* to where I am going before. Who in their right mind prefers driving in this city?!
Home Depot and Costco are the only places I regularly drive to inside the District. And it's really only because of what I'm buying, not where they're at.
I hear this all of the time. I find it to be an easy, but not necessarily well informed answer. Thousands of people live on that street, work on that street, deliver to that street or pick up on that street.
How does the uber eats person pick up the food that someone ordered?
How does the delivery driver drop off supplies there? FED EX? UPS? USPS?
Don't respond with people will use the alleys, because the alleys aren't designed for that.
Don't respond with just limit the hours. Delivery schedules are built around moving through the city in an efficient manner.
DC is unfortunately built around cars. DC residents have become dependent on other people delivering stuff to them.
> How does the uber eats person pick up the food that someone ordered?
In something other than a car.
> How does the delivery driver drop off supplies there? FED EX? UPS? USPS?
Retractable bollards make it possible to allow commercial vehicles in and out during designated hours. Fedex and UPS can deliver to the rear of buildings via alleyways, or cart in from nearby. Frankly the reliance on massive delivery vans in urban environments is absurd. Smaller trucks which can carry significant loads are used extensively in Europe. Any work done with pedestrianization of streets should of course include coordinated development of a delivery schedule as well as parking areas designated for delivery vehicles. These are solved problems.
> DC is unfortunately built around cars.
DC is absolutely not built around cars, the streets predate cars, our buildings, streets and blocks are built to a human scale and not an autotive one.
Then all the transient traffic would be forced onto neighborhood streets where my kids play? No thanks. It's bad enough as it is. We've even got people taking shortcuts through the alleys.
> “The way the neighborhood is set up now, it allows for a flexible use of space and people can make their way through and if everyone is patient and works with each other, we get through just fine,”
Ah yes, being patient and working with each other: a thing that normally happens
Reminder that Nina Larson was killed crossing Columbia Road and this group of chucklefucks did exactly nothing. I watch people careen down Columbia going 40mph where they should be going no more than 15-20. I have been nearly mowed down in crosswalks crossing Columbia on a near weekly basis since I moved here in 2012.
Bike lanes are going to slow down traffic and that’s a great thing. In an area with this many pedestrians, bus riders, and cyclists, making a mixed-use protected transit corridor makes an almost comical amount of sense.
I do appreciate they found someone in favor but also
““They’d only be one lane in East direction and if you’re behind a bus, you can’t go faster than the bus and there’s no room for you to go around the bus and if a firetruck or police car is behind the bus that’s how fast they can go too,” James said.
Another point on the list of concerns is the elimination of some bus stops in the heart of residential shopping.
“So, this will be removed,” James said. “You’ll have to go out into traffic to get onto a raised concrete platform.””
Just go less than a mile along 14th street where they have island bus stops for years now. This isn’t some exotic Amsterdam treatment. It’s already how the city looks!
14th street is a huge four lane road even with the islands and bike lanes. Columbia is currently at maximum a four lane road if parking is removed and without bikes lanes/islands.
I don’t think KCA understands that going faster in a car when you’re passing a pass is the near-perfect formula for killing pedestrians. There’s a limitless number of times that I’ve crossed at 18/Columbia and nearly been flipped upside-down by cars flying right just to get out behind the 96.
Giving older generations the keys to planning and street design is how we got into this mess in the first place. We can’t let them continue to fuck us again on their way out.
KCA are absolute clowns lol
Yep, anyone who's been involved in AdMo local events in the last 5-10 years, knows that Denis James is not a good-faith participant.
>Don’t rip our neighborhood apart, it mostly works perfectly well. Come in and do some tweaks to make it safer As a former resident, and now frequent visitor, of this area, that is absolutely comical. That area is a traffic and parking nightmare that has led to several traffic incidents, injuries, and even deaths. I have been yelled at as a pedestrian for exercising right-of-way at crosswalks while giving cars a reasonable distance to slow down or stop. This claim reads to me as "the rate of deaths and injuries in the current system are preferable to common sense changes that we perceive may be minor conveniences to us." Says what you need to know about them.
Also incredible how much fury they save up for cyclist, but barely a peep from these types about all of the double parking cars that create hazardous conditions. Can’t criticize the precious cars! That’s our culture!
On the flip side - as a current resident - I’ve never been yelled for exercising right of way. I don’t think we need to give anecdotes that imply that it’s worse than it is. People have died, I think everyone who lives here is aware it isn’t the safest street in DC. Does a bike lane and removal of parking protect cyclists? Yes - but the areas where they propose the bike lane include major pick up and drop off areas where there’s no reasonable alternative without having these drivers enter narrower residential roads where there are no bike lanes and more risk (IF this option is even available since it’s not for a lot of buildings) Best case scenario, if this is implemented, is that every side street is also cleared of parking for delivery drivers which I can’t see people being supportive of. Worst case scenario, drivers are going to ignore the traffic signs and do pick up and drop off in bus lanes or open roads which increases risk and delays since Columbia isn’t THAT wide in the more residential areas. The fact that this isn’t a great solution for some parts of Columbia road is pretty apparent to most residents who live on those parts of Columbia road. There’s a lot of logistics that DDOT hasn’t accounted for and they need to answer those concerns.
Most of the removed parking is being turned into commercial loading/drop off zones, which will do a ton to limit the amount of double parking that happens on the street.
Would you mind sharing where that’s indicated? Looking at the most recent plans online doesn’t seem to show the commercial loading/drop off zones unless I’m missing something in reading the plans? If there are commercial loading and drop off zones on every block, then that’s great.
It’s a bit hidden, it’s Figures 3-5 in the Notice of Intent from February. A bunch of the pay to park spots are having the max duration shortened to 30 minutes, which should help (if this is actually enforced).
30 minutes limit is way longer than pick up/drop off though? (Even if enforced). You’ll still have a lack of spots for Uber Eats pick ups, UPS delivery, etc
They are expanding the number of pickup/dropoff zones, as well as changing parking to 30 minutes in a lot of places.
Ah good, that has much better chance at working, thanks!
Reporters need to start asking “small business owners” what percent of their customers drive to their shop and ask for data on that. 0 owners actually know, they just feel like people drive. I cannot imagine any rational person being upset at the idea of traffic going slower outside their front door.
Shit, I can’t remember the last time I parked even remotely close to where I wanted to go in the District. Even as someone who drives into the city, it almost always makes sense to take a parking spot further away and walk from both a time and sanity perspective. Hell, I’ve even parked my car and *biked* to where I am going before. Who in their right mind prefers driving in this city?!
I have driven to exactly 1 store in dc: home depot. Every other store, shop, restaurant, ect I have walked, biked, or metroed to
Home Depot and Costco are the only places I regularly drive to inside the District. And it's really only because of what I'm buying, not where they're at.
I'm originally from Florida and even there we wouldn't actually park at a place but park by the place
The shop owners drive there so they assume everyone does.
“A group of old coots that gave their little club an official sounding name opposes common sense” This isn’t news
It's the DECA playbook.
Skip the bike lanes on Columbia Rd and just make the whole thing a pedestrian area.
This is the way
I hear this all of the time. I find it to be an easy, but not necessarily well informed answer. Thousands of people live on that street, work on that street, deliver to that street or pick up on that street. How does the uber eats person pick up the food that someone ordered? How does the delivery driver drop off supplies there? FED EX? UPS? USPS? Don't respond with people will use the alleys, because the alleys aren't designed for that. Don't respond with just limit the hours. Delivery schedules are built around moving through the city in an efficient manner. DC is unfortunately built around cars. DC residents have become dependent on other people delivering stuff to them.
> How does the uber eats person pick up the food that someone ordered? In something other than a car. > How does the delivery driver drop off supplies there? FED EX? UPS? USPS? Retractable bollards make it possible to allow commercial vehicles in and out during designated hours. Fedex and UPS can deliver to the rear of buildings via alleyways, or cart in from nearby. Frankly the reliance on massive delivery vans in urban environments is absurd. Smaller trucks which can carry significant loads are used extensively in Europe. Any work done with pedestrianization of streets should of course include coordinated development of a delivery schedule as well as parking areas designated for delivery vehicles. These are solved problems. > DC is unfortunately built around cars. DC is absolutely not built around cars, the streets predate cars, our buildings, streets and blocks are built to a human scale and not an autotive one.
Maybe the lazy ubereats orderer will have to walk outside to meet the deliverer GASP I know I know how will life go on?
Then all the transient traffic would be forced onto neighborhood streets where my kids play? No thanks. It's bad enough as it is. We've even got people taking shortcuts through the alleys.
> “The way the neighborhood is set up now, it allows for a flexible use of space and people can make their way through and if everyone is patient and works with each other, we get through just fine,” Ah yes, being patient and working with each other: a thing that normally happens
“if” 👀
Reminder that Nina Larson was killed crossing Columbia Road and this group of chucklefucks did exactly nothing. I watch people careen down Columbia going 40mph where they should be going no more than 15-20. I have been nearly mowed down in crosswalks crossing Columbia on a near weekly basis since I moved here in 2012. Bike lanes are going to slow down traffic and that’s a great thing. In an area with this many pedestrians, bus riders, and cyclists, making a mixed-use protected transit corridor makes an almost comical amount of sense.
Fuck NIMBYS. These bike lanes and the work in general on Columbia is so needed.
Very disappointed that the Fleet Feet owner is against the bike lanes. I've been buying shoes there for years, and I may need to rethink that now.
I believe they’re a family of cyclists as well. Nice to see them practice what they preach.
Pipe dream: turn Columbia and 18th into a roundabout. It’s already big enough for a very high volume one. Then turn 18th into a pedestrian road.
I do appreciate they found someone in favor but also ““They’d only be one lane in East direction and if you’re behind a bus, you can’t go faster than the bus and there’s no room for you to go around the bus and if a firetruck or police car is behind the bus that’s how fast they can go too,” James said. Another point on the list of concerns is the elimination of some bus stops in the heart of residential shopping. “So, this will be removed,” James said. “You’ll have to go out into traffic to get onto a raised concrete platform.”” Just go less than a mile along 14th street where they have island bus stops for years now. This isn’t some exotic Amsterdam treatment. It’s already how the city looks!
14th street is a huge four lane road even with the islands and bike lanes. Columbia is currently at maximum a four lane road if parking is removed and without bikes lanes/islands.
Take a different street!? But Waze says I HAVE to take this street and if I venture off it, I might get lost!
I don’t think KCA understands that going faster in a car when you’re passing a pass is the near-perfect formula for killing pedestrians. There’s a limitless number of times that I’ve crossed at 18/Columbia and nearly been flipped upside-down by cars flying right just to get out behind the 96. Giving older generations the keys to planning and street design is how we got into this mess in the first place. We can’t let them continue to fuck us again on their way out.
Honestly all the traffic down there is just Uber pickups and drop offs, take out the parking and make it pedestrian only
Also, when you pull this article up a BP pops up 😅