Wisconsin Avenue Changes Bring Cheh, Evans and Bellamy to Georgetown ANC

The Wisconsin Avenue lane reconfiguration and its impacts on north Georgetown and Burleith will be the focus of the first part of the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting Monday.

Councilmembers Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and District Department of Transportation  (DDOT) Director Terry Bellamy have all agreed to attend the discussion.

It is not common for council members to attend an individual ANC meeting, let alone two of them coming to the same meeting. And agency heads rarely make regular appearances at ANC meetings, usually deferring to staff for small gatherings and attending meetings with a wider audience themselves.

The ANC agenda says the discussion will focus on the "effects of the reconfiguration of traffic lanes on Wisconsin Avenue between Calvert Street and Whitehaven" on north Georgetown and Burleith.

As part of the streetscape project, DDOT widened sidewalks, improved crosswalks, installed new street lights and reduced the number of lanes dedicated to traffic.

The project reduced 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.

The Georgetown ANC "edorsed" the streetscape project in November 2011, but commissioners at the time raised concerns for the impact on traffic on side streets. They asked to be kept informed as the project progresses.

In recent weeks, the community has debated the impact the project has had on traffic on Wisconsin Avenue and on side streets.

DDOT has plans to improve stretches of 37th Street and Tunlaw Road by adding new stop signs, crosswalks and other street reconfigurations to slow traffic and deter cut-through driver. Construction will not begin until this spring.

The conversation will continue Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Visitation School, 1524 35th St. NW, in the Heritage Room on the second floor.

Read more:

• Is the New Wisconsin Avenue Working?
• 'Glover Park Traffic Jam' Facebook Page Collects Frustrations
• Wisconsin Avenue Construction 'Substantially Complete'