Aesthetic and Safety Improvements Planned for Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park

Plans put in motion in 2006 to improve the Glover Park Streetscape will soon be implemented to change the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue from Cathedral Avenue in the north to Whitehaven Parkway in the south.

The proposed changes would reduce the number of lanes for traffic from three to two during peak hours and from two to one during non-peak hours; select intersections will have left turn lanes. A center median will take over the remaining space and will range in width between eight and nine feet depending on the overall width and curvature of Wisconsin Avenue and the presence of a left turn lane.

During peak hours there will be no street parking, creating two main lanes for traffic with a third lane for left turns at intersections. During off-peak hours, parking will take over one lane, leaving one primary lane for vehicles and a second lane for left turns at intersections.

According to the DDOT report on the project, the turn lane was proposed to reduce accidents: "high numbers of vehicle crashes throughout the corridor are indicative of an environment with higher operating speeds with no provisions for left turning traffic which led to sudden lane changes by motorists."

Wider sidewalks will improve the pedestrian experience, as will proposed bump-outs at pedestrian crossings. In some areas, such as the section near Holy Rood Cemetery, the sidewalk is as narrow as four feet. The sidewalk there will be widened to seven feet to meet disability access standards.

The plan does not include bike lanes for Wisconsin Ave., despite community support for them, because the street was not wide enough to include them along with the other higher priority changes.

Several members of the Georgetown community have raised questions about how the Glover Park project will impact neighbors to the south. The Georgetown ANC added the project to a public comment period on its agenda Monday and the Burleith Citizens Association emailed its listserv asking neighbors to attend the meeting to comment on the possible "ripple effects on traffic" the project will have.

But officials familiar with the streetscape project both locally and at the District level are confident that the measures will be an improvement for all with little "ripple" effect.

"The primary goal of the streetscape study is not necessarily to slow down traffic or to get traffic off of Wisconsin Avenue," said Andrea Limauro from the Office of Planning (OP). "The project might slow down the speed a little bit and might be more of an unintended consequence," he added.

The Glover Park community with the OP initiated the project to find a way to improve the aesthetics of the commercial core, which in the eyes of many in the community was "underperforming" Limauro explained. In 2006 the OP released a far-reaching plan with many elements that have not ultimately found their way into being. Bike lanes were part of that.

"There were a lot of things on that plan that were very aspirational. When you throw in those long-term plans with near term realities...you end up with a lot of things in that plan that aren’t going to happen," explained Commissioner Brian Cohen of Glover Park's Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3-B.

Other improvements like new parking meters, more traditional style streetlights like those in Georgetown and lane adjustments are among the changes that made the cut. 

Once the OP issued its report, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) reviewed the proposals and evaluated their feasibility and any impact they might have on the community. 

"You always have those issues where you have prioritize between the safety of the pedestrian and how quickly people can get from A to B in their cars," said Limauro, "the District tends to prioritize pedestrian safety."

A DDOT model determined that the street will be able to hold its normal capacity and that traffic will not increase, but will probably be slightly slower, according to Cohen. The DDOT official in charge of the plan did not return several requests for information, however, the plan is available online (see PDF).

DDOT analyzed the impacts of three proposed level of changes to Wisconsin Ave. and preferred Alternative 2, which is what the community ultimately chose as well (see PDF). According to their calculations with the exception of the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Garfield Street and Wisconsin Avenue at the Whole Foods, the "vehicular service level will not drop" and at those intersections the only impact is on Saturdays.

"All other peaks and directions of travel are projected to perform within one minute of existing travel times and without residual queuing," according to the DDOT report.

DDOT currently has three bids for the $5 million project and will select a contractor to begin in the near future. Construction is expected to last an estimated 12 months.

"I think everybody is looking forward to seeing what the changes are going to bring," said Cohen.