An example of "counter-intuitive thinking" that ought to be a part of DC's master transportation planning process

This is one of the elements in the old "People's Transportation Plan" blog entry and is an example of ideas that could be included in the plan. I suggested this in the planning process that created the Brookland Small Area Plan, and it went nowhere.

16. Intra-city HOV requirements. (I forgot to include this before.) Alexandria has HOV-2 requirements on Washington Blvd. and Rte. 1 during rush hours.

Washington Boulevard, Alexandria.

This should be done within DC on certain roads during rush hour periods as well, to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicle trips.

Streets such as Rhode Island Avenue, New York Avenue, Constitution Avenue, Independence Avenue, etc., come to mind.

Traffic lined up on Rhode Island Avenue NE, east of 4th Street, during the evening rush hour.

This idea was first proposed by Patrick Hare in an op-ed in the Washington Post in the early 1990s.

Change takes a long time. And needs champions.