On the 16th St NW bus lanes proposal

It’s the last day to submit comments on DDOT’s proposals to add peak-hour-and-direction bus lanes on 16th St NW. Here is the District’s page on the project, and here is the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s take.

Here are the comments I submitted:

As a resident of upper 16th St and frequent rider of the S2 and S4 buses, I am strongly in favour of dedicated bus-only lanes the full length of 16th St (or, at least, the full length of the study section of 16th…). I am also in favor of consolidating stops where possible and where there is not a significant grade between adjacent stops–a more frequent stop spacing may in fact be appropriate for steep areas where the linear distance is not the only difficulty in getting from one stop to the next.

I join Coalition for Smarter Growth’s support for Option 2, but with the additional northbound bus lane between P and U St. The full-length bus lanes should be the first priority, with the reversible lane added north of U street where there’s room for it, instead of continuing to prioritize private cars and squeezing in public-bus lanes where possible.

I support closing the left turns from NB 16th to Mount Pleasant and instead routing traffic via 15th to Irving (“Option 2C”), provided that this routing is very well signed to minimize confusion, especially for those not used to driving 16th. (I also suggest similarly forcing those wishing to turn left from 16th NB to Park WB to instead make a right onto Pine St to do so.)

I hope also that the signals at Irving can be re-calibrated so that two lanes of northbound 15th and two lanes of northbound 16th aren’t all receiving a green light at the same time and then trying to merge a dozen yards later. I’ve seen several near-collisions while waiting for buses at this intersection, and have been terrified to drive it myself.