A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Rebuilding Place: Mid-Block Crosswalks
Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space features this post suggesting mid-block crosswalks on H Street. The 1300 block, being a particularly long block, does seem especially conducive to jaywalking.
13 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I brought this up a while ago, but DDOT has indicated these cross-walks are a no go for H Street. I thought it would be a great addition to the streetscape design, but DDOT was adamant about not going in this direction.
What about diagonal crosswalks? There were diagonal crosswalks on F Street downtown until perhaps the late 80s. They are a great symbol of hearty pedestrian and commercial activity.
I don't think anyone would pay attention to mid-block crosswalks and people would be routinely run down by speeding, veering cars. H St has a way to go before it's Vermont or Austria.
What good would it do? Nowhere in the city will cars slow down or stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The police don't help: I've seen more jaywalkers ticketed than cars that have nearly run pedestrians down.
F street, in the 1300 block downtown has a mid block cross walk and it's great. I use it daily and haven't been run down by a speeding or veering car yet...last time I checked the 1300 block of F St isn't in Vermont or Austria.
The 1300 F St NW crosswalk has a traffic signal. Rather a different kettle of fish.
But there are 1 or 2 mid-block crosswalks (sans signal) where traffic actually stops. As I commented yesterday on Richard's blog, the 400 blocks of E and F NW (north and south of the police memorial) have mid-block x-walks. Amazingly, I find that traffic (on E St, anyway) invariably stops for me even if I'm standing at the edge of the x-walk waiting to see what the cars will do.
Yes, the midblock crosswalk on F does have a light - that's the only way to do it on a busy street such as F NW and H NE. I don't think anyone would stop for a midblock crosswalk on H Street if it wasn't controlled with a signal.
The traffic in the 1300 block of F St NW is actually pretty calm, thanks to the Treasury Building & the White House. IMHO, H St -- a through street used as a commuter corridor -- is a hell of a lot busier & more dangerous for pedestrians.
I jaywalk the 1300 block all the time. No cars have hit me! haha. But seriously, a traffic light mid-block would definitely do the trick. Luckily, when the 14th St southbound traffic has the green, relatively few of them seem to turn right onto H (because that is where Florida headed eastbound dumps into H, hence traffic turning right off of 14th essentially just made a U-turn). In light of this, a wary crosser has little to fear from oncoming traffic if the 14th St traffic has the light.
When I wrote the post, I specifically mentioned the midblock crosswalk on the 1300 block of F St. NW , which has a light. Same with the photo I show from Seattle. Yes, on H Street, where the cars routinely drive very very very very fast, having a midblock crosswalk without a traffic signal would be like screaming "make me roadkill."
Oh, wrt DDOT. I don't know, I didn't query. Plus I am trying to "manage" how vocal I get with them, to be able to use social capital on other issues.
I suspect they have some standard rule that disallows such. I guess the issue would be why did they do it on the 1300 block of F St. NW, which likely is the same long distance (although it seems shorter) than the 1300 block in the eastern quadrants.
13 comments:
I brought this up a while ago, but DDOT has indicated these cross-walks are a no go for H Street. I thought it would be a great addition to the streetscape design, but DDOT was adamant about not going in this direction.
I got the same reaction. However, given the forthcoming PUD application for the 600 block, it could be revisited there...
Why doesn't DDOT want to go in this direction?
Why doesn't DDOT want to go in this direction?
What about diagonal crosswalks? There were diagonal crosswalks on F Street downtown until perhaps the late 80s. They are a great symbol of hearty pedestrian and commercial activity.
I don't think anyone would pay attention to mid-block crosswalks and people would be routinely run down by speeding, veering cars. H St has a way to go before it's Vermont or Austria.
What good would it do? Nowhere in the city will cars slow down or stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The police don't help: I've seen more jaywalkers ticketed than cars that have nearly run pedestrians down.
F street, in the 1300 block downtown has a mid block cross walk and it's great. I use it daily and haven't been run down by a speeding or veering car yet...last time I checked the 1300 block of F St isn't in Vermont or Austria.
The 1300 F St NW crosswalk has a traffic signal. Rather a different kettle of fish.
But there are 1 or 2 mid-block crosswalks (sans signal) where traffic actually stops. As I commented yesterday on Richard's blog, the 400 blocks of E and F NW (north and south of the police memorial) have mid-block x-walks. Amazingly, I find that traffic (on E St, anyway) invariably stops for me even if I'm standing at the edge of the x-walk waiting to see what the cars will do.
Yes, the midblock crosswalk on F does have a light - that's the only way to do it on a busy street such as F NW and H NE. I don't think anyone would stop for a midblock crosswalk on H Street if it wasn't controlled with a signal.
The traffic in the 1300 block of F St NW is actually pretty calm, thanks to the Treasury Building & the White House. IMHO, H St -- a through street used as a commuter corridor -- is a hell of a lot busier & more dangerous for pedestrians.
I jaywalk the 1300 block all the time. No cars have hit me! haha. But seriously, a traffic light mid-block would definitely do the trick. Luckily, when the 14th St southbound traffic has the green, relatively few of them seem to turn right onto H (because that is where Florida headed eastbound dumps into H, hence traffic turning right off of 14th essentially just made a U-turn). In light of this, a wary crosser has little to fear from oncoming traffic if the 14th St traffic has the light.
When I wrote the post, I specifically mentioned the midblock crosswalk on the 1300 block of F St. NW , which has a light. Same with the photo I show from Seattle. Yes, on H Street, where the cars routinely drive very very very very fast, having a midblock crosswalk without a traffic signal would be like screaming "make me roadkill."
Oh, wrt DDOT. I don't know, I didn't query. Plus I am trying to "manage" how vocal I get with them, to be able to use social capital on other issues.
I suspect they have some standard rule that disallows such. I guess the issue would be why did they do it on the 1300 block of F St. NW, which likely is the same long distance (although it seems shorter) than the 1300 block in the eastern quadrants.
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