It's been a drawn out process, but DC is in the process of creating transitways on 16th Street NW

It's been a drawn out process, but DC is moving on creating dedicated transitways on 16th Street NW, which is home to the S bus line between Downtown and Silver Spring. The line has upwards of 25,000 daily riders, which is the highest ridership bus line in the Washington metropolitan area.

-- 16th Street Bus Lanes Project website
-- 16th Street NW Transit Priority Planning Study, DC Department of Transportation
-- "D.C.'s 16th Street on track to get a bus lane," Washington Post, 2016
-- "Bus lanes coming to 16th Street, but it could cost you some parking," Post

July 27: Public Meeting
What: 16th Street Bus Lanes Project (Design Phase) – Public Meeting
When: Thursday, July 27, 2017 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: Columbia Heights Educational Campus - Cafeteria, 3101 16th Street NW

August 1: Public Engagement Event
What: 16th Street Bus Lanes Project (Design Phase) – Public Meeting
When: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Where: Two Locations: 16th Street NW at U Street and 16th Street NW at Irving Street

More recently, DC has introduced transitways painted red on a few blocks of Georgia Avenue, near Howard University and U Street, and recently extended this by one block between T and U Streets on southbound Georgia Avenue.

-- "Dedicated bus transitway on Georgia Avenue NW," 2016

Before the automobile completely dominated the DC metropolitan area's mobility paradigm, there were transitways. They were dropped around the time that Metrorail was implemented.

-- "We had bus lanes a half century ago and we can again, PlanIt Metro blog, WMATA, 2014

Dedicated transitways need to be considered a basic element within the urban mobility toolkit.

DC should take heart from similar kinds of very transformative projects elsewhere, and make sustainable mobility the priority, taking transformative measures here.

San Francisco.  Over the weekend, I came across a vintage postcard of Market Street in San Francisco, showing four tracks-- two (!!!!!!) streetcar tracks in each direction.

Although motor vehicle traffic was still allowed there is no question that streetcars dominated the landscape, and moved far more people than a typical two track set up.

A four track set up has the capacity to move more than 100,000 people per day, even with comparatively slow streetcars.


A long time ago, that was been slimmed back to two, and two streetcar tracks--one in each direction--is the typical set up across the US, as it is on Market Street today.


More recently, SF has introduced transit priority lanes on Market Street, and there are a variety of proposals for rebalancing throughput towards sustainable modes.

This and previous photo: SFMTA.

-- A Better Market Street, SF County Transportation Authority

King Street, Toronto.  More recently, Toronto has begun the process of changing the traffic configuration to prioritize streetcar traffic on King Street.  They will test for one year a change that disallows through traffic by motor vehicles.

Streetcars at Yonge and King Streets, Toronto. Photo: Steve Russell, Toronto Star.

The line there, the 504, is the busiest in the city, moving more than 65,000 people daily.  It makes sense to prioritize the streetcar, which moves far more people than cars, which make 20,000 trips on the street each day.

-- "King St. streetcar plan is a cautious first step with room to grow," Toronto Star

Imagine what streetcar throughput could be if there were four active tracks, and no motor vehicles, not even taxis.

Oxford Street, London.  Oxford Street is one of London's main shopping streets, which pedestrian traffic greater than that of the King Street Streetcar.  The street is clogged with buses and taxis--London's congestion charge does a reasonable job of reducing motor vehicle traffic.


Oxford Street Shopping.  This and next photo: Getty Images.


The diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus is Europe's largest.

Images of buses on Oxford Street from the One London Rat blog.

The proposal is to fully pedestrianize Oxford Street.  Today, 500,000 people on average patronize the street each day and this number will only grow when the Elizabeth Line of the Crossrail project opens next year, adding two more transit stations to the area.

Already, Transport for London is working to reconfigure bus service to move bus trips off the sections of the street with the most pedestrian traffic, and taxis will be banned as well.

-- "Oxford Street transformation to get underway by December 2018 as TfL and Westminster City Council launch consultation," City A.M.
-- "Four changes that need to happen before Oxford Street can be pedestrianised," City A.M.
-- "London's Oxford Street bus routes cut by 40%," BBC News

Not everyone is convinced it is the way to go.

-- "Oxford Street stores call on Mayor Sadiq Khan to tone down traffic ban," Evening Standard