NOI 23-109-TESD: DDOT’s Proposed Changes to 17th Street NE
In response to neighborhood petitions for DDOT to install an all-way stop sign to address on-going traffic safety issues at the 17th and Monroe Street NE intersection, DDOT has proposed converting 17th Street NE between Monroe Street and Newton Street NE to one- way northbound and converting 17th Street NE between Monroe Street and Lawrence Street NE to one-way southbound.
Concerns have been raised that this intervention does not necessarily slow cars down on Monroe Street NE, which appears to be the heart of the issue. In response, DDOT has said that the 1700 block of Monroe is in the queue for an Automatic Traffic Enforcement (ATE) camera.
The ANC 5B Community has until July 7th to submit comments to DDOT about these proposed changes.
If you have feedback for DDOT on this Notice of Intent (NOI), please enter your comments in the field below or mail your responses to DDOT directly at:
District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Project Delivery Administration at 250 M Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.
If you have any questions or would like any additional information, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Comments from DDOT re: NOI 23-109-TESD:
"AWSC(All Way Stop Control) was reviewed for both 16th/17th St as well as Monroe St but was not warranted due to volume imbalance between the side streets of Monroe. Based on our data, Monroe carries ~700 vehicles in the peak hour vs ~50 on 17th ~20-40 on 16th.
Installing AWSC at an unwarranted intersection like this with severe traffic imbalance would create more serious safety hazard, such as stop sign running. Also, I would like to clarify that AWSC is not a traffic calming solution. To address speeding issues on a corridor line Monroe, DDOT is focused on utilizing ATEs where vertical traffic calming devices (speed humps or tables) are not feasible. As you are aware, an ATE camera is in queue for the 1700 block of Monroe.
As indicated previously, DDOT is currently evaluating one-way conversion away from Monroe at 17th St. The majority of movements on 17th approaches at Monroe are through movements, which suggests the use of 17th to bypass the signal at the 18th St intersection. We would prefer the use of 18th St for through trips as it is classified as a Collector Rd and is signalized – through volumes should be on the broader connections like the 18th St where 17th St should serve for local access.
Our team also evaluated the crash patterns at the Monroe and 17th St intersection. There are multiple factors related to crashes at 17th St. There are sight distance challenges due to the standing queue for the 18th St signal and sight distance challenges related to the existing environmental conditions. These combined with the diversion volumes, which are willing to accept smaller gaps as they are diverting around traffic on 18th, to lead to crashes. The conversion away from this intersection eliminates all of these challenges. It will also serve to eliminate the use of 17th St as a diversion route generally as the connectivity is broken. This should result in lower overall volumes on 17th both to the north and south of Monroe, which eliminates the vehicular conflicts with Monroe."
