The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is soliciting public comment on the 30% design of the Riggs Road NE two-way cycletrack (NOI #23-75 PSD; 30% design plan). This is the proposed cycletrack on eastbound Riggs using part of the existing dedicated right-turn only lane between South Dakota Avenue and 1st Place NE that DDOT mentioned at ANC 5A and ANC 4B meetings last year. The project sits in ANC 5A09. Send comments to sean.burnett@dc.gov by May 22, 2023.

Rendering of proposed cycletrack from NOI

According to the notice of intent (NOI), “DDOT proposes to reconfigure the 100 block of Riggs Road between First Place NE and South Dakota Ave NE to remove the curbside eastbound travel lane for 800 feet, and convert that space to a two-way protected bike lane (aka cycletrack).” DDOT says the purpose is to “create a dedicated and safer connection for people biking under the railroad tracks to reach the Metropolitan Branch Trail. This will reduce conflicts between people walking and people biking on the sidewalk.”

The cycletrack is less than 800 feet in length, about 0.13 miles. Traveling eastbound Riggs from 1st Place, it looks like the cycletrack would take up the right-turn only lane to just past Food & Friends’ main entrance/driveway, leading to a bike ramp that DDOT proposes to build that would take the rider to the sidewalk before reaching South Dakota Avenue. So there would still be a dedicated right-turn lane from Riggs to South Dakota Avenue, just a shorter one.

Section from Riggs Road/1st Place NE

Section leading to South Dakota Avenue

I cannot say I have strong feelings either way about this cycletrack. (I really want DDOT to completely overhaul the South Dakota Avenue/Riggs Road NE intersection because it was poorly reconfigured in 2011. This cycletrack is so short I am not sure how useful it will be. And a good chunk of the MBT extension from Fort Totten to Takoma is largely on the sidewalk anyway, including the part leading from 1st Place & Riggs to 1st Street and Riggs).

(Edited to add 5/4/2023: A reader emailed a good point regarding east-west connections to the MBT in Riggs Park. If DDOT is interested in making safe east-west connections, DDOT should work on constructing the Avondale segment approved in the National Capital Trail Network. Also the reader stated DDOT should look at other neighborhood streets to make an east-west connection rather than what is proposed for Riggs.)

But I absolutely think that without any barrier, drivers will “accidentally” drive in the cycletrack to get to South Dakota Avenue. There is a dedicated right turn lane on eastbound Riggs to turn onto 1st Place NE. This right turn lane is useful for all of the buses that go to Fort Totten Metro station. Non-bus drivers, however, often get in this dedicated right turn lane and just keep driving straight to continue on Riggs to turn onto South Dakota. I do not think this practice will change at all just because DDOT puts in a clearly marked cycletrack.

I think DDOT really needs to be careful to have clear signage and road markings directing vehicle traffic on this stretch so that drivers do not use the dedicated right turn lane leading to 1st Place to continue straight onto Riggs only to run into the cycletrack and then have to either keep going (because why not), or swerve into the travel lanes at the last second. It is easiest to see what I am talking about by looking at the Riggs Road/1st Place section in DDOT’s plans.

There is an ever so slight downhill descent on eastbound Riggs from 1st Place to South Dakota Avenue, but it is enough for drivers to pick up quite a bit of speed along this stretch (which is why there is a speed camera on the southeast corner of 1st Place & Riggs). Anyone familiar with this area knows that weekday evening rush hour sees a lot of cars on this stretch and drivers feel entitled to take all sorts of illegal actions and drive at whatever speed they want to get to where they want to go. DDOT really should consider having concrete barriers.

Also, I do not have any data on how often delivery vehicles enter and exit Food & Friends, but I do know that adding this bike facility here will introduce one more thing for delivery drivers to have to watch out for as they enter and exit. Food & Friends drivers have to watch out for pedestrians and bike riders using the sidewalk now. While there is a sign warning drivers not to block the Food & Friends driveway, people often do, so I can see delivery drivers deciding to pull out into the cycletrack and sitting for a bit in order to enter the travel lanes.

All that to say, let’s help DDOT get this right by sending constructive feedback to DDOT.

Send comments to sean.burnett@dc.gov by May 22, 2023.

Metro’s yellow line will reopen on May 7, 2023, but it will not go to Fort Totten. Yellow line service will operate only between Huntington and Mt. Vernon Square. Metro has offered reasons for this change, the main one being to support better headways for the southern end of the green line. Color me skeptical. Maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised if Metro does in fact operate six-minute headways on the green line. We do know those promised six-minute headways will not happen during planned summer construction on the green line.

Metro is planning a long shutdown of green line stations north of Fort Totten from July 2023 to September 2023, for installation of fiber optic cables.

There will be no green line service at all at Fort Totten station July 22-23. Red line service will be available.

From July 24 to September 4, green line service will operate only between Branch Avenue and Fort Totten. Metro says green line trains will operate with eight-minute headways during this time.

Shuttle bus service will be available. Details at https://www.wmata.com/about/news/2023-Major-Construction-travel-alternatives.cfm.

Metro recently released a draft visionary network of redesigned bus routes called the Better Bus Network. Better Bus is just an aspirational vision for redesigned routes. No changes would go into effect before 2024, if at all. Read the fact sheet and FAQs. View the draft Better Bus maps & route profiles for DC, Maryland, and Virginia and play around with the Better Bus trip planner.

Metro is seeking input on the draft redesign and is holding a pop-up Better Bus event at Fort Totten Metro station on April 25, 2023, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Metro is also holding informational webinars focusing on specific jurisdictions (MD is April 27; Virginia is May 4; DC is May 9).

You can submit comments online on particular routes or fill out an online survey. Visit https://betterbus.wmata.com/share.

The Share Input page is probably the best way to get a handle on how specific routes could be impacted. Using the “Comment on Your Route” tab, you can enter a particular route and see how the redesign compares to the existing route. It is not completely accurate, but if you know your bus routes, it is still a fairly easy way to see how routes may change. For example, the current E4 route has two route options, one ending at Fort Totten station and one ending in Riggs Park. The existing route shown on the Better Bus comment map shows only the route that ends at Fort Totten station. In any case, on the “Comment on Your Route” tab, you can comment on specific changes and also see comments from other riders.

I have not looked at impacts to all neighborhood bus routes in any detail just yet, but neighbor Gavin has and passed along some info. You will notice routes are renumbered for purposes of this redesign; Metro is also seeking feedback on this renumbering/renaming. I have not double checked everything but this is a great start to looking at the network so that we can talk to the Metro team tomorrow. Note, the information below does not include routes that only come into the neighborhood via 1st Place NE and end at Ft. Totten, or the routes north of New Hampshire.

• There would be three routes roughly equivalent to the E2, which currently runs between Ft. Totten and Ivy City. One routing (provisionally called DC208) would still go to Ft. Totten. Another (DC209) would go on Sargent, Eastern, Chillum Pl., and Riggs to West Hyattsville. Another variant (DC207) would go from Ft. Totten to Deanwood (rather than Ivy City).

• Aside from losing the Riggs Park loop, there would be changes to the E4 outside our neighborhood. There would be two routes roughly equivalent. One routing (DC203) would still go to Friendship Heights, but staying on Missouri/Military the whole way for a more direct route. The other routing (DC200) would keep the detour onto Kennedy St. NW, and turn left when it reaches Nebraska to go to Tenleytown and Sibley Hospital.

• There’s also a new route, provisionally named DC302, which would go to Fort Totten through the Riggs/South Dakota Avenue intersection (unlike all the other Ft. Totten buses which either go on Galloway or 1st Pl.), which would give a bus connection to residents near that intersection and to the Walmart and library. From there, it goes west on Riggs to North Capitol, then south on Harewood to Edgewood and eventually Eckington and Union Market, more or less overlapping with part of the current P6 route on the southern end.

• The K6 and K9 currently take different routes through the neighborhood: the K9 currently goes from Ft. Totten to the east on Riggs, whereas the K6 goes on 1st Pl. west to North Capitol, then north to New Hampshire. Their routes in the neighborhood would be consolidated into the current K6 route, and instead would have two different routings on the Maryland end (MD 144 and MD243).

• The R1 and R2 would be consolidated into one route (MD 244) very similar to the current R2, with the same routing through our neighborhood (from Ft. Totten to the east on Riggs).

• The 80 equivalent (DC110) (goes from Ft. Totten east on Galloway, then turns south on South Dakota) would take the same routing through our neighborhood, and keep a similar route until some changes past Union Station.

• The F6 equivalent (MD245) (from Ft. Totten to Gallatin, then north on Sargent) would take the same routing in our area, with some changes later, ultimately ending at College Park rather than New Carrollton.

Be sure to let Metro know what you think!