I sort of feel duty-bound as a pretentious hyper local blogger to comment on the new 15th Street reconfiguration plan, recently decided upon by the city and dutifully reported by Borderstan.
The new 15th Street will have:
- Three north-bound lanes for vehicular traffic.
- One north-bound bike lane, not separated from vehicular traffic.
- One south-bound (counter-traffic) bike lane, positioned between the parked cars and the sidewalk.
- Our favorite house in the District of Columbia.
I think this new configuration could be pretty good. Presumably removing one north-bound lane will take a little of the Speedway feel away from the street, making it nicer for those living right on 15th. And I like the idea of more bike lanes, although I’ve never personally ridden in a counter-flow lane separated by parking like this one. Hopefully car doors or pedestrians not expecting bikes from the left aren’t a problem.
That’s pretty much all I’ve got. Probably Greater Greater Washington or others with more expertise will weigh in soon with more refined opinions. Woo city planning!
Photo from Flickr.
i really wish ddot would stop pussyfooting on this one and bite the bullet. make the road a two-way street like it should be.
i know that’ll inconvenience the commuters, but honestly—tough.
the road isn’t built for people from silver spring who want a quick bypass of a few blocks of 16th street.
now, i don’t have the numbers to back this assertion up, but i’m sure someone out there does…traffic moves faster on a one-lane, one-way street (like R) than it does on a two-lane, two-way street (like S).
when drivers know that they don’t need to pay attention to oncoming traffic, they just pick up the pace a little, becoming more dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians here in an urban environment.
make the road two-way, ddot!
Yeah, I would definitely support making 15th a two-way.
you guys HAVE to watch this!
I heart that house as well!!! I lived at 15th and Swann for several years (04-06) and loved walking by that cool green convent like house. What’s the story??
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