Transportation Planning thoughts

Went to the Capitol Hill Transportation Plan session last night and ran into a bunch of the people who are working to build better neighborhoods, including

1. Dea Varsovczky who is heading up the new ANC6A Transportation Committee, which will provide a venue for organized citizen involvement in the streetscape reconstruction of H Street as well as the development and implementation planning for the H Street Streetcar project. I have suggested that ANC6A open up this committee to ex-officio members from ANC6C and the impacted ANCs in Wards 5 and 7 that joined in with ANC6A's effort to get DDOT to install streetcar tracks during the upcoming reconstruction, rather than installing tracks later.

The "big" issue is the catenary. As a preservationist, I like that the streets aren't mucked up with wires. As a transit advocate I want the streetcars to happen earlier, not later. The Portland system, or even the system in Philadelphia, doesn't really negatively impact the streetspaces that much.

The "new" streetcar line on Girard Avenue in Philadelphia. Photo from RailPictures.Net. Taking a tour of Girard Avenue during the 2003 Urban Forum led to my piece in the Philly Daily News comparing DC and Philadelphia. The Girard Avenue line finally started running last fall, after being delayed for more than one year over strife about losing a handful of parking places in the trolley turnaround area.

2. Nick Alberti, an ANC6A commissioner, and I talked for a bit. He posed an interesting suggestion that hadn't occured to me (even though I am pushing for G and I Streets, and 7th Street south of H Street to Maryland Avenue to all become two-way streets). He says make Independence Avenue SE a two-way street, with one-way for rush hour, the same way that Constitution Avenue NE works. Interesting idea.

But he mentioned trucks, which reminded me of two things which I then raised.

3. Businesses and/or commercial districts need to work on developing delivery management plans that time-shift deliveries to hours when the streets are under-utilized. I frequently mention the example of Yes Organic Market or the Au Bon Pain chain. Both get the majority of their deliveries at night, after the stores are closed, but when street traffic is light, and the impact of a big 18 wheeler is minimal.

Photo from Hank's Truck Pictures.

4. And then, my thought recently that churches should be required to develop and implement traffic management plans. I am not so bothered by Sunday church parking, but it needs to be reduced in any case, because urban churches don't come with big parking lots, or at least they shouldn't.

Plus I had a nice conversation with a blogreader who mentioned some things that I'll be writing about later, and others.

Index Keywords: mobility