Traffic Lights and bad Federal policies

Traffic Light
Originally uploaded by jordhiebert.

One of my campaigns these days is the idea of signalized mid-block crosswalks on blocks that are atypically long, such as the 600, 1200, and 1300 east-west blocks in the eastern quadrants of the city. (I know that the 1300 block on east-west streets in the western quadrants are wider, but I am not sure about which others might be long also.)

There is a signalized mid-block crosswalk in the 1300 block of F Street NW, by the National Press Building.

I have advocated for such on the 600 and 1300 blocks of H Street NE, and some DDOT people I've suggested this to haven't been supportive.

I might have some sense of why ...

Apparently, the Federal Highway fund reimbursement protocol will only pay out towards the installation of traffic signals if they are a minimum of 1000 feet from another signal.

How such a policy is appropriate in a city with short blocks is beyond me.

H Street blocks are roughly 300 feet wide (except for those mentioned above). There are traffic signals installed at the 300, 400, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, and 1400 blocks.

Apparently the cost of a full installation of traffic signals at an intersection is $160,000, so you can see why "highway" departments want the reimbursement.

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking