New Traffic Light Timings

[notlost]

Lights have changed up on M Street as well…

[bentbike33]

The timing for the lights on 15th between the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Holocaust Museum (usual red did not happen) and at 7th and Maryland SW (unexpected red) were different this morning as well.

[Greenbelt]

New timing seemed quite adverse for my preferred morning route from Union Station to PA ave to WH.

[DCLiz]

When I first got on PA Ave going westbound from the Capitol, I was cranky. I ended up stopping at all the lights. But then I road from 7th St to the 15th St cycle track and from there almost all the way to my office (15th to M to 18th) almost without stopping! It was a beautiful thing.

The real test in my mind is whether it does anything to alleviate PM gridlock. Especially at 15th & I, where cars love to block the intersection making it difficult/dangerous for bikes to cross.

Definitely less honking outside of my office this evening, so maybe???

[DCLiz]

UPDATE: No gridlock last night!

[83b]

@DCLiz 114618 wrote:

UPDATE: No gridlock last night!

Agree, but the new timing for bikes down Penn Ave from 15th to the Capitol is just brutal. I didn’t count yesterday, but I know I stopped at least 5 times for full light cycles and had a long line of cyclists built up by the time we all split up at the Grant memorial.

[dasgeh]

Was there a city-wide retiming? Virginia Ave near State has new light timing as well. And it sucks for my commute.

[jrenaut]

Pretty sure there was a citywide re-timing. R NW sucks for me – I used to be able to catch one of the three lights, and now it’s not even close. Level of traffic through there wasn’t noticeably different, but there isn’t usually much, so that doesn’t mean much.

[notlost]

http://wtop.com/dc/2015/04/new-traffic-light-timing-seeks-unclog-d-c-intersections/

[83b]

@dasgeh 114628 wrote:

Was there a city-wide retiming? Virginia Ave near State has new light timing as well. And it sucks for my commute.

Seems to be just about everything in the major commuter corridors in NW. My East Capitol timing didn’t seem to change noticeably.

[jopamora]

Made it from Columbia Heights to Thomas Circle without stopping this morning. Even made the light at I St.

[scoot]

Note to DDOT: Improve traffic flow for cars, and you will then just have to deal with more cars. If you want people to leave their cars at home, you should redo this and instead optimize for 15MPH traffic.

[Steve O]

@gibby 114563 wrote:

Anyone figured out how to catch the lights on Jefferson Dr SW? Seems the traffic light overlords have taken away the 7th St – 4th St morning adrenalin race..

Long ago in 1998-2000, I rode Jefferson on my commute. It was possible to go 15th to 3rd all on the green. That was pre-Strava, and my speedometer had broken, but you had to truly fly–probably north of 25mph–to pull it off.

[83b]

Going 15th to the Capitol Building yesterday evening on Penn Ave I got stopped at 14th, 13th, 12th, 10th, 9th, 7th, 4th, and 3rd. There were a lot of riders out and they weren’t all making great time, but I’m not sure going faster would have made much of a difference. I’m not one to ever run reds, but this sure had me thinking about it.

This morning’s inbound commute was a bit wonky since the Capital grounds were closed. So still TBD whether that’s as big of a pain.

[jrenaut]

Westbound O NW sucks in the morning. From the light at 6th, spinning the longtail about as fast as I could go, I missed the light at 7th only to see 64 seconds come up on the walk timer. Maybe 10 cars went through the light in that time.

[Author]

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