At ANC 4B’s meeting on February 24, 2020, DDOT shared updates about a couple of projects that have been on the backburner.

Rehabilitation of Eastern Avenue NE

The long-awaited rehabilitation of Eastern Avenue NE between New Hampshire Avenue NE and Whittier Street NW has been delayed. DDOT tweaked the design to add a few items to the scope of the project. Construction is now anticipated to start in summer 2021. The project website is https://ddot.dc.gov/page/rehabilitation-eastern-avenue-ne. View DDOT’s handout here.

Metropolitan Branch Trail Fort Totten to Takoma

DDOT is working on the design for the extension of the Metropolitan Branch Trail from Fort Totten to Takoma. According to DDOT’s handout, DDOT expects to complete the design in spring 2021 and for construction to start in summer 2021.

DDOT will be back to visit ANC 4B to give fuller updates on both of these projects later this year.

Catching up on posts, starting with a few updates from the DDOT Ward 5 Open House held on February 8, 2020.

Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) Fort Totten Extension

DDOT’s Metropolitan Branch Trail Project Manager Nannette Bowles shared a few updates about the MBT extension from Brookland to Fort Totten metro station (see handout here). DDOT has finally gotten the necessary easements and rights-of-way from various property owners (Metro, National Park Service, Aggregate Industries) in order to proceed with work on the middle portion (Phases C-D) of the extension, which is also the most complicated part.

As spring approaches, there will be more activity along 1st Place NE by Fort Totten metro station. Replacement of the existing trail alongside the Mamie D. Lee garden and Mary’s Center/Briya/Bridges is nearly done.

After a long pause in posting updates after March 31 of last year, DDOT has started updating the two-week look ahead reports (the weekly progress reports are still a work in progress). They have also revised the timeline again so projected completion is now expected in winter 2020 rather than September 2020. It is entirely possible that this date will change again, but at least it sounds like progress is being made.

Sidewalk on South Side of Galloway Street NE

DDOT’s Ward 5 liaison Kelly Jeong-Olson shared that DDOT and NPS are working to finalize an MOU to construct a trail on the south side of Galloway Street NE between South Dakota Avenue and 4th Street (where there is not a sidewalk). NPS is responsible for design, which DDOT will need to approve. DDOT hopes to have a design finalized by the middle of this year. Once the design is done, DDOT will present it to the community for feedback, likely at an ANC meeting.

This project has been delayed because the original trail NPS designed was not done to proper specification, with NPS designing a 6-foot wide trail rather than a 10-foot wide trail. There will need to be a retaining wall. The design team was also working out how to work around all of the deep tree roots. Stay tuned for an update from your ANC.

Also, folks probably noticed the sidwalk leading from South Dakota Avenue to the bus stop on the south side of Galloway Street was repaved. In addition, the broken sidewalk on Galloway leading to the metro station was finally repaired last week, thanks to attention from two residents, Deborah Grimstead and Robert Oliver.

Crosswalk 400 block of Galloway Street NE

In December 2019, DDOT installed an off-sidewalk parking corral in a portion of the no parking zone near the crosswalk in the 400 block of Galloway Street NE. People still park cars directly behind the crosswalk though so visibility of pedestrians attempting to use the crosswalk is still a problem. At the open house, DDOT said they would investigate placing a second corral behind the crosswalk so that cars are not parked there.

This has been an ongoing issue since fall 2017 when The Modern at Art Place opened. The crosswalk was removed during construction of The Modern. Once the building was completed in 2017, no one thought to put the crosswalk back in and there were conflicting reports about whether DDOT expected the crosswalk to be replaced. It took months for the crosswalk to be replaced and then cars were being parked in the crosswalk and directly surrounding the crosswalk because there was not a curb cut. It took another couple of months for a curb cut to be installed. DDOT piecemealed improvements and repeatedly declined to put in additional signage to indicate that cars should not be parked directly behind the crosswalk.

This is one example of why there needs to be a better method to address the pedestrian safety impacts of development (see also the Ingraham Street NE hawk signal saga). When development projects are completed, there needs to be a more effective way to ensure that the developer has addressed issues in its transportation demand management plan instead of making residents jump through unnecessary hoops to have basic things addressed that should have been addressed during the development and construction process.

The other issue that will need to be addressed here is that a daycare center is scheduled to open in the 400 block of Galloway later this year. Children will undoubtedly be dropped off in cars so there will need to be some accommodation to handle dropoff and pickup around this area that also gets a lot of bus and vehicle traffic.

Path between Gallatin and Galloway Street NE

The saga that is the informal trail between Gallatin Street and Galloway Street near Fort Totten metro station is not something I spoke with anyone about at the open house, but I am putting information about the path here that was shared in a comment by resident (and blog contributor) Robert Oliver on my post with 2020 development updates. Construction of a paved, lit path is scheduled for spring of this year.

Assaults have occurred from time to time on the existing informal path. For decades, residents have requested Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to get NPS to do something about this informal trail. When the paved path is finally installed, people should still be aware of their surroundings. After all, there is a fully paved trail just west of Fort Totten metro station and people still complain about assaults happening there (not to mention the muggings that happen on sidewalks across the city in broad daylight).

Metro is soliciting feedback on its proposed budget until March 2, 2020. You can fill out a survey, submit written comments, and attend an open house and public hearing. There will be an open house at Metro headquarters in DC (600 5th Street NW) on February 26, 2020, starting at 4:00 pm.

There are a number of proposed changes, including a peak fare increase, a flat fare weekend rate proposal, adjustment to service routes and hours for metrobus (including for the 80, E2, and E4 routes in this area), and adjustment to service hours and frequency for metrorail. If you are a metrobus or metrorail user, it is worth visiting Metro’s website to view the proposed changes.

DDOT Ward 5 Safety Improvement Open House

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will host an Open House for residents in Ward 5 to learn about current and future safety improvement projects that are advancing Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero and infrastructure goals.

At the event, DDOT project managers and staff will be available to discuss safety and infrastructure projects in Ward 5, including the Florida Ave NE project, Florida/New York Ave intersection (also known as “Dave Thomas Circle”) project and the Metropolitan Branch Trail (Brookland – Fort Totten) project among other improvements in the Ward.

This Open House is an opportunity for residents to engage directly with DDOT staff to facilitate one-on-one conversations and receive answers for specific questions. There will not be a formal presentation, so residents can come and go when they are able without missing any of the content. Residents should click here.to register for this event.

WHAT:       DDOT Ward 5 Open House
WHEN:      Saturday, February 8, 2020
                  12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
WHERE:   Trinidad Recreation Center
                  1310 Childress St NE
                  Washington, DC 20002

DDOT Ward 4 Open House
December 7, 2019
12:00 pm-2:00 pm
Roosevelt High School (Gym)
4301 13th Street NW

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will host an Open House for residents in Ward 4 to learn about current and future safety improvement projects that are advancing Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero and infrastructure goals.

Registration is open for the 2020 visitor parking pass program. If you live on a block zoned for residential permit parking, visit https://vpp.ddot.dc.gov/vpp to obtain your pass.

NBC Washington has a nice two-minute video featuring contributor David Kosub on the new HAWK signal that was finally installed at South Dakota Avenue and Ingraham Street NE on September 26. The new signal is really helpful in helping pedestrians cross this busy intersection, but a few residents have reported that drivers sometimes do not stop when the signal is red. Also, the signal has malfunctioned a couple of times already, so if you see that it is flashing yellow constantly, please submit a 311 request so that it can be fixed. Please continue to contact your Ward 5 MOCR Malik Miller and ANC Commissioner Gordon Fletcher (5A08) with concerns about how this signal is operating.

Temporary Lane Closures on Eastbound Riggs Road  between North Capitol Street and First Street NE Begin October 12

(Washington, DC) – The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is scheduling lane closures on Riggs Road eastbound from North Capitol Street to 1^st Street NE starting on Saturday, October 12, 2019, weather permitting. At least one lane will be open to traffic in each direction.

The closures and restrictions are needed for roadway repairs. The contractor is authorized to work Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Construction is scheduled to be completed by October 15, 2019, weather permitting.

Parking restriction signs will be posted at least 72 hours in advance at locations where parking will be prohibited. These signs will notify the duration and dates of the parking restriction and provide contact information of the engineer in charge. 

Traffic controls will be in place to warn drivers approaching the areas. Motorists should anticipate moderate delays due to the lane closures. Drivers are advised to stay alert while traveling through these locations and to be observant of the work zone.

By David Kosub (Contributor)

The HAWK signal at South Dakota Avenue and Ingraham Street NE is now operational! This is a wonderful step forward to strengthening pedestrian safety and encouraging walkability in Riggs Park.

I want to personally thank all the residents who devoted many person hours to ensuring we got to this point. You wrote letters of support. You spoke with the ANC. You reported many issues with 311. You worked behind the scenes with DDOT. Your dedication will not go unnoticed.  

DDOT was also a valued partner in this endeavor, and I want to recognize them too. They worked with us throughout the spring and summer, providing updates on their progress and hearing our multiple concerns.

If you encounter any issues with the signal, crosswalk, and/or drivers failing to stop, please contact 311 right away.

For bus riders, from WMATA:

Bus Bay Reassignment: Routes E2 and E4 at Fort Totten Station, June 23

Advisory Effective: 6/22/19 – 7/31/19
Effective: Sunday, June 23, 2019

Routes Affected: E2, E4 

In response to customer requests, routes E2 and E4 will be assigned to new bus bays at Fort Totten Station beginning, Sunday, June 23. 

E2 Ivy City-Fort Totten southbound toward Ivy City 
E4 Military Road-Crosstown eastbound toward Riggs Park 
• Current Bus Bay Assignment: Bus Bay G – Stop ID 1003439 
• New Bus Bay Assignment: Bus Bay D – Stop ID 1003237

By David Kosub (Contributor)

The following lines strive to remember where we were, how we felt, and what has happened since the Fort Totten metro train accident ten years ago. Though not meant as a singular story, this is more so a collective communal story woven together with memories shared from neighbors, news coverage, quotes from surviving family members, and a walk through Legacy Memorial Park.

June 22, 2009
Rush hour
Sitting on a red line train
Don’t remember how long it took me to get home
Don’t remember the alternate route I took
I do remember the delay
and wondering why is this happening
I just wanted to come home from work

When above ground and with access to the radio
I was  like, “Oh my”
That’s when I heard the commotion about the crash
And also Feeling selfish for those earlier thoughts

Curiosity leading me to the FIRE-EMS staging area
Realizing how bad the accident was
Just imagine being on the scene and imagine what you may have witnessed

Doolittle, DuBose, and Fernandez
Hawkins, King, and McMillan
Wherley, Wherley, and Williams
Nine lives lost
Many others injured

Looking back
Being grateful to be alive and prayerful for the victims
 “I miss my mom. I miss her laugh”
“Cuz I’m [now] at a place of healing. A place of accepting”
“This is our national capitol, people should feel safe to get on metro”

Every day, we can commemorate this tragedy
Through a plaque on a metro station pillar  
We recognize “those whole lives that were forever changed”
And also understand what the first responders experienced
Coming to “our aid in our time of greatest need”

Through a nearby memorial park
While ringing with the sound of children playing
Mere steps from where a community grows together
We are also encouraged to meditate, remember, reflect, and hope

Words are found etched in stone
“The space inhabits the hearts of nine uncommon Souls.
They were put here to leave eternal love.
In stillness…embrace love, peace, courage, and strength.”

Guest post by David Kosub

After seeing the Riggs Park profile published by the Washington D.C.  Economic Partnership, the Fort Totten Metro Station data intrigued me. And, yes, before you ask, there is nothing wrong with being intrigued by looking at administrative data held within public agencies! All the cool kids do it.

While searching the Public Records available on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA’s) website, I did find a few nuggets of ridership data related to Fort Totten metro that I’d like to share (see the original source data here and my manipulations on this Excel sheet here). WMATA publishes historical ridership figures for each station going back to 1977, with Fort Totten coming online a year later (read these articles here and here to see how residents felt about it back then). Figure 1 displays the average number of weekday boardings per year at the Fort Totten station from 1978 to 2018 (data for 1983 were not available). Note, I assume “boardings” in Metro language refers to those who passed through a faregate, not simply transferred to another train (e.g., red line to green line). Boardings grew from 2,969 on an average weekday in 1978 to 7,842 four decades later. Note, these data represent actual average weekday boarding counts and not normalized to population change.

For kicks, let’s take a look at how Fort Totten compared to other stations across the system for average weekday boardings in 2018.  As the table below shows, we clock in at number 25—not too shabby, especially when considering some of those other stations our weekday boarding numbers beat!

I next wondered how much of the total Metro daily boardings Fort Totten represented. To answer this, I looked at the proportion of Fort Totten boardings on an average weekday compared to (1) the system as a whole or (2) only those stations in the District. Please keep in mind that not every metro station open today (n=91) was around at the beginning (n=24), so ridership data can change substantively with each new station opening (amongst other factors).

Figure 2 displays these results. As a percentage of all of the stations in the system (lower line), Fort Totten started around 2.2 percent of all Metro boardings in 1978, fell to below 1 percent between 1992 and 2010, and began climbing thereafter rising to 1.3 percent in 2018.  When focusing on only stations in the District (higher line), the trends are the same, starting at 2.8 percent in 1978, dipping down in the 1990s and 2000s, and rebounding thereafter to 2.3 percent in 2018. 

So, what do these limited data tell us? Well, we can see the growth over time in the number of riders beginning their trips at Fort Totten on an average weekday. And, that is likely commensurate with multiple factors, such as changes and growth in D.C.’s population over time and more residents preferring public transportation to personal vehicles. Further, as compared to the system as a whole, it is exciting to see our numbers creep up in recent years, even when considering how many stations are open now compared to in 1978. To me, this shows a healthy use of the Fort Totten metro station on a daily basis—providing additional evidence that the nearby vicinity is ripe for robust transit-oriented development as called for in the 2009 Small Area Plan. My hope is that, when recruiting shops, restaurants, and other potential business owners to the neighborhood, we can use the additional evidence that our community is worth the investment.

h/t Gavin Baker

ANC Commissioner Evan Yeats (4B01) plans to offer a resolution in support of extending Metro service on the Yellow and Red Lines. Metro’s proposal was previously covered in this post. The draft resolution is here.

Metro’s Finance Committee approved the proposal on March 14, 2019, and the full board is scheduled to vote on March 28:

Guest post by Gavin Baker

More trains could soon serve Fort Totten metro station, if approved by the Metro board.

In October 2018, Metro’s General Manager released the proposed budget for fiscal year 2020, which includes service improvements. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) board is expected to approve a final budget within the next few weeks. WMATA’s Finance and Capital Committee is scheduled to consider the budget proposal on March 14.

The proposed budget would benefit Fort Totten by adding Yellow Line service during rush hour and increasing direct connections on the Yellow and Red Lines.

Currently, Yellow Line trains end at Mt. Vernon Square during rush hours and at Fort Totten at all other times. Under the proposed budget, all Yellow Line trains instead would run to Greenbelt – to and through Fort Totten.

From 2012 to 2017, Yellow Line trains ran to Greenbelt under Metro’s “Rush Plus” program. The FY 2020 budget proposal would restore that service at all times.

For Fort Totten, the proposed budget would add new service during rush hour to downtown DC, Arlington, and Alexandria (toward Huntington) and to Prince George’s County (toward Greenbelt). Outside of rush hour, there would be additional trains toward Greenbelt.

The proposal would also add more direct connections on the Red Line. Currently, some Red Line trains turn back at Silver Spring. Under the proposed budget, all Red Line trains instead would run to Glenmont, providing more trains from Fort Totten to Forest Glen, Wheaton, and Glenmont.

WMATA estimates these changes would benefit 12.4 million Yellow Line and 3.4 million Red Line trips overall next year.

For now, this is only a proposal. The WMATA board has to give final approval, and board members have criticized some aspects of the proposed budget. However, the Yellow and Red Line changes seem to have broad support among the board, according to the latest reports. If approved, these service improvements could be significant for our neighborhood, and not only in terms of more convenient transit service. In addition to adding more service generally, it would also offer a one-seat ride from Fort Totten to the future Amazon “HQ2” in Arlington and Alexandria. Amazon’s expected 25,000 jobs in Northern Virginia will make it the largest private employer in the DC area, and those employees will have to live somewhere. With direct Yellow Line service from Fort Totten to “National Landing,” maybe some of them will choose to call Riggs Park home – or at least check out Meow Wolf.

Guest Post by David Kosub

In case you were not able to make the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association meeting on February 4, DDOT announced they will install a HAWK signal, a controlled pedestrian signal, at the intersection of Ingraham St NE and South Dakota Ave NE. This is a great step forward in strengthening pedestrian safety here in our community.

DDOT has a handy video explaining how HAWK pedestrian signals work on its website. When a HAWK signal is activated by a push button, yellow lights will flash to warn motorists to slow down for an impending red light. When the light turns red, motorists will be required to stop, just as with traditional traffic signals, to permit pedestrians to cross the street.

Work is expected to be completed around late summer/early fall 2019. We will provide regular updates on DDOT progress as they are received over the coming months.

DDOT committed to take the following actions:

South Dakota Avenue NE and Ingraham Street NE Intersection

•  Install a HAWK signal in accordance with the MUTCD and DDOT guidelines.

South Dakota Avenue NE and Jefferson Street NE Intersection

• Install in-street pedestrian crossing signs (R1-6a) at both sides of crosswalk located at the southbound approach of South Dakota Avenue NE. 
• Install advanced pedestrian crossing sign (W11-2) along both directions of South Dakota Avenue NE.
• Remove the pedestrian warning sign on the northwest of Jefferson Street.

Mid-block (between Ingraham Street and Jefferson Street)

• Update redundant parking regulation signs on the eastern side of South Dakota Avenue NE.

Please pat yourself on the back for this outcome. Without your letters of support, many reports to 311 and 911, outreach to elected officials, submitting traffic studies, direct engagement with city agencies, and so much more, we may not be in the position we are today.