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Constitution Avenue Two Way, All Day |
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Written by Charles Allen
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Monday, 25 June 2007 |
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This morning, neighbors on Constitution Avenue stepped out their front doors to witness only half of the normal morning commute driving by. The transition of Constitution Avenue from a one-way rush hour street to a two-way, all-day neighborhood street went into effect today. I don't live too far from where the switch was being made, so Councilmember Wells asked me to check out the traffic impact this morning. DDOT has had light boards along the route announcing the change for several weeks, and this morning, MPD officers were on hand to help remind commuters. Traffic on Constitution Avenue was pretty calm and there were not any major back-ups. It appeared as if some cars had diverted up North Carolina Avenue toward Lincoln Park and around to Massachusetts Avenue or East Capitol Street, but from what I could tell, there weren't any major snags on this first day of the switch. What did you see or experience? Since the announcement about the change, we've heard overwhelming support from the neighbors as well as some concerns about traffic diverting to side streets. We'd love to hear from any of the neighbors along Constitution Avenue about what they saw and experienced this morning.
Readers have left 4 comments. (1) Untitled
2007-06-25 08:58:03 I had a completely different experience.
I live at 10th and Constitution and it was chaos at 7:30 AM. Both lanes of traffic were packed with people heading Westbound toward the Capitol (disobeying the new directions.) Cars were coming Eastbound and people were getting out of their cars yelling at each other. From 10th to the Capitol I didn't see a single MPD officer or car. (2) Untitled
2007-06-25 09:44:15 I was there at 7:45 am and the MPD cruiser was in the eastbound lane at the corner of 11th and Constitution Ave. They must have responded to the problems you described after too many drivers were ignoring the new lanes. At least from what I could tell, between 7:45 and 8:00 am, the transition was working relatively smoothly. Understandably, I think it'll take at least a week or so before the commuters become familiar with the lane assignments. (3) Untitled
2007-06-26 08:43:15 There was an MPD cruiser at Tennessee Avenue and East Capitol monitoring in-bound traffic. The result: we finally got the "DC Law: Stop for Pedestrians in Crosswalk" sign there. We had requested that sign 3 years ago but got a warning sign - not even a yield sign - instead. Now if DDOT could only fix the speed bump - it is after the crosswalk, not before. (4) Untitled
2007-07-27 13:42:48 I commute from MD and from my perspective it is a mess. Traffic backs up close to the stadium at 730 and my commute has increased by 10-15 minutes per day and this is the summer when traffic is lighter than normal. I see very few cars going eastbound. |
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