WASHINGTON – One group is actively working to close down a specific bike lane mission, because the District continues so as to add more room for riders alongside roadways.

The crew known as “Save Connecticut Ave.” 

FOX 5 discovered messages from them on neighborhood listserves and at the very least one signal propped up outdoors a number of eating places close to Connecticut Avenue Northwest and Livingston Avenue Northwest.

From Calvert to Legation Avenue Northwest, the almost three-mile stretch of Connecticut Avenue will begin to see some vital modifications within the close to future. 

Pre-pandemic, the District’s Division of Transportation (DDOT) stated this space noticed round 30,000 automobiles a day.

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In December 2021, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Division of Transportation accepted “Idea C” because the redesign plan for that stretch alongside Connecticut Avenue.

As an alternative of getting 4 lanes in a single path throughout rush hour, the brand new plan for Connecticut Avenue is to have two devoted lanes in every path with one-way protected bike lanes. 

FOX 5 is instructed over 300 parking areas can be eliminated. The change would additionally restrict avenue parking to 1 facet of the roadway, and the velocity restrict can be lowered from 30 to 25 mph, amongst different modifications.

District leaders have all signed-off on the plan, hoping it would additionally deal with crashes and highway security in that space.

A Washington Put up article beforehand reported almost half of the crashes alongside the Connecticut Avenue Northwest hall occurred throughout occasions reversible lanes have been in place.

Garrett Hennigan, with the Washington Space Bicyclist Affiliation, tells FOX 5 the group has been working with DDOT on the plan for a few years now.

Cyclists push for safer bike lanes within the District

“We wish to get extra folks biking and strolling and out of vehicles for sustainable transit and all that,” Hennigan stated. “We have to design the roads otherwise. Connecticut Avenue, as it’s as we speak, is an especially hostile place for folks strolling and biking and the numbers really bear that out. So to really change that, we have to change the design of the road.” 

Hennigan additionally pointed to bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue and Okay Avenue as examples which have seen extra riders as a result of the correct infrastructure was constructed.

“Hey, I’ve been hit by a automotive on Connecticut Avenue earlier than, so I perceive considerations,” stated Scott Ingram, a neighborhood bicycle owner. “I need the native companies to do properly right here. I don’t need, you realize, patrons to be annoyed with not having the ability to discover parking.”

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Ingram says he’s a very long time resident of the Chevy Chase neighborhood and likewise expressed considerations concerning the visitors transferring into residential streets if Connecticut Avenue turns into too congested.

“I’m not a fan,” stated Paul Szostak. “I believe it’s going to actually decelerate visitors. I’m a biker and I commute to work as properly, usually by bike – or I used to – however I nonetheless assume that’s simply going to decelerate visitors on a serious hall within the middle a part of D.C.”

DDOT expects the mission to be accomplished by 2025. It’s a part of Mayor Bowser’s “Imaginative and prescient Zero” initiative to eradicate visitors fatalities by 2024.

In an emailed response to FOX 5’s, a DDOT spokesperson wrote:

“Right now, we can not decide what stretch of Connecticut Avenue will likely be accomplished first. Development phasing won’t be decided till the ultimate design has been accomplished. The following public assembly will happen through the design section.  DDOT will proceed to interact stakeholder teams, the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and others through the subsequent six months as we proceed to refine the Idea by optimizing parking availability and incorporating design components for ADA, Accessibility and the wants of older and disabled individuals. The mission has obtained assist from all affected Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANC 3C, ANC 3F, ANC 3-4G and ANC 3E) alongside the hall. DDOT won’t be canceling the mission.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh was unavailable for an interview on Thursday. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George’s Workplace instructed FOX 5 they have heard considerations from space residents and despatched some inquiries to DDOT about this mission associated to ADA accessibility and accessibility for seniors. The councilmember’s workplace is awaiting a response.

Learn extra concerning the metropolis’s proposed mission by way of DDOT’s web site.