Dangerous intersection: New Hampshire Ave., 22nd & L St., NW

[Tim Kelley]

DDOT has an active twitter account: https://twitter.com/ddotdc

You might want to try there if you don’t hear back over email.

[Bilsko]

Agreed that this intersection is a mess – I work a block away and usually try to find ways to avoid it when on foot. The problem for pedestrians crossing the 22nd st. crosswalk are just about the same if you’re crossing NH ave (also on the North Side of L). Cars driving down L just have such a large radius for that turn that they probably don’t associate those crosswalks as being part of the same intersection. The construction certainly doesn’t help either. Its also not clear how the new configuration with 2-way traffic on NH will improve or worsen the situation for pedestrians.

[PotomacCyclist]

They may need to extend the street corner out into the intersection, in effect chopping off the piece of New Hampshire Ave. on the NW side of the L St./22nd St. intersection. Or re-time the lights so that pedestrians have more than 3 seconds to get across 22nd St. before the rampaging drivers turn from L St.

Ultimately, the blame belongs to L’Enfant, for designing so many of these diagonal roads. It might look neat on a map, but it makes for very difficult intersections or confusing circles. It’s just not practical.

[mstone]

@PotomacCyclist 43441 wrote:

They may need to extend the street corner out into the intersection, in effect chopping off the piece of New Hampshire Ave. on the NW side of the L St./22nd St. intersection. Or re-time the lights so that pedestrians have more than 3 seconds to get across 22nd St. before the rampaging drivers turn from L St.

Ultimately, the blame belongs to L’Enfant, for designing so many of these diagonal roads. It might look neat on a map, but it makes for very difficult intersections or confusing circles. It’s just not practical.

It was fine before cars.

[PotomacCyclist]

There are too many cars, but I don’t think banning all cars is the solution.

[bobco85]

In addition to putting up “Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk” signs, they could adjust the angle of the pedestrian crossing and make it perpendicular to 22nd St. You wouldn’t be able to walk corner-to-corner (on the west side you’d have to walk north about 20-30 feet on the sidewalk to get to the crossing), but the crossing would be shorter and I think it would be easier to see vehicles as they would be coming directly from your right instead of over-your-shoulder on the right.

A quick example for this would be the NW corner of the Lee Hwy/Quincy/Old Dominion intersection: http://goo.gl/maps/qOoxU. See how the pedestrian crossing doesn’t run from corner-to-corner and is shorter (although I would prefer it to be at a right angle to Old Dominion).

[dasgeh]

@bobco85 43465 wrote:

A quick example for this would be the NW corner of the Lee Hwy/Quincy/Old Dominion intersection: http://goo.gl/maps/qOoxU. See how the pedestrian crossing doesn’t run from corner-to-corner and is shorter (although I would prefer it to be at a right angle to Old Dominion).

It’s funny you would point to the “Five Points” intersection of a positive example of anything. I live very close to it, and I think it’s one of the worst intersections around, especially for pedestrians.

[bobco85]

@dasgeh 43608 wrote:

It’s funny you would point to the “Five Points” intersection of a positive example of anything. I live very close to it, and I think it’s one of the worst intersections around, especially for pedestrians.

Oh, no, no, no! I did NOT mean for that to be a positive endorsement of that intersection! I only meant to point out that the NW corner of that intersection is an example of the placement of crosswalks away from corners in order to reduce the distance a pedestrian must cross on asphalt.

I’d be crazy if I thought that intersection was safe

[PotomacCyclist]

Since DDOT still hasn’t put up a sign or re-timed the traffic lights and signals, my temporary solution is simple, although not ideal. Instead of crossing 22nd St. via the diagonal crosswalk, I’m just going to go directly across 22nd St. slightly to the north of the crosswalk. The cars are still rampaging through the double left turn, but taking a shorter path across the street means that it’s easier to make it in time before the turning cars arrive. That path also gives me a few more seconds before the cars reach that point on the road.

The intersection still needs to be fixed. Until then, I will have to cut across the street north of the sidewalk in order to maintain my safety.

[PotomacCyclist]

I received a response from DDOT:

“We at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) have received your concerns about traffic safety at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue, 22nd Street, and L Street NW.

Officials from DDOT’s Traffic Safety Team have received your email and plan to investigate this location to evaluate what types of signage, signalization, and/or pavement marking improvements can be added to further enhance pedestrian safety.

This evaluation is scheduled to be completed by early April and safety upgrades — if found to be needed — will be installed shortly thereafter.

Thanks for alerting us to this matter. For further questions regarding this matter, please contact DDOT at 202-673-6813.”

[Author]

Posts