Testimony of MPNA on the Mount Pleasant Columbia Heights
Transportation Situation
by Leslie Blakey
We thank Jim Graham for his leadership on this
important issue and appreciate the opportunity for citizen input. We
want to encourage more outreach to
Mt.
Pleasant (Mt. P) residents
as part of the process. We hope dDot will refrain from making any
changes or implementing any "solutions" without a minimum comment
period of 45 days with a scheduled public meeting at the end to hear
community reaction.
2.
Mt.
P is a closely-knit,
historic neighborhood with characteristics and qualities that
distinguish it from most of the rest of DC. Residents value this
sense of community very highly. Bisecting our neighborhood with
commuter traffic adversely affects this community. Fast moving
traffic acts as a barrier to the unity of the neighborhood, while
road vibrations are deteriorating our historic structures and
exhaust emissions are threatening our air quality both outdoors and
in.
3.
Many Mt. P residents are bicyclists and
walkers; many use public transportation exclusively; many are
families with children and pets. All these are put in jeopardy by
aggressive, speeding cross-town drivers.
4.
Speeding on our streets has outraged many residents and is very
closely tied to commuter traffic (e.g.. there is much less trouble
with speeding on weekend days). Many of the measures put in place
thus far to calm speeding have not worked. The universal 25mph speed
limit in DC does not recognize the difference between a road like 16th Street
and one like Lamont, and all too frequently drivers – especially
those from outside the neighborhood – do not recognize the
difference either. The difference in going ten mile s over the speed
limit on these two streets is enormous.
5.
There are 3 schools either on or within a block of Park Road in Mt. P with many children who
walk to school. This street is already too heavily used by
cross-town traffic, including speeding trucks and buses. According
to the transportation study data, there are more crashes on
Park Road than any other stretch of road
in Mt. P. Only 3 weeks ago, there was a terrible crash at 18th and
Park that knocked the bus sign and a utility box completely out of
the ground. An emergency vehicle was involved in the accident and I
passed that accident scene – roads were blocked – and they EMR
vehicle was careened across the road blocking both lanes of Park Rd…. This speed
problem is unacceptable and measures need to be taken to improve
safety and reduce the risk to children.
6.
Similarly, Irving
Street has been the site of many crashes
and near-misses -- there was a boy on a bike hit by a taxi cab a
couple of years ago -- and has been a source of citizen complaints
for years, without adequate mitigation.
7.
Therefore, to the maximum extent possible, commuter and cross-town
traffic should be routed around Mt. P
and no changes should be made that encourage through-traffic.
Alternative routes that circumvent the bounds of Mt. P should be
found, such as Piney Branch, which is much underutilized, to the
north and Harvard Street to the south.
8.
Furthermore, although Mt. P is bordered on 3 sides by Rock
Creek
Park and the many trails
and recreation facilities it offers, there is practically no safe
pedestrian / bicyclist access. The bike trail down Park to Pierce
Mill ends abruptly at the bridge where the park land begins and
cyclists must navigate very dangerous traffic and blind curves after
that. Walkers are routinely cutting through the woods and across
Beach Drive
or Piney Branch to access the trails along the creek. This dangerous
problem needs attention.
9.
Parking in Mt. P is a
nightmare. At a minimum, a street by street parking audit, whose
goal would be to identify unnecessary and misapplied restrictions,
should be undertaken.