A SAFER SOUTH DAKOTA IS POSSIBLE

Bottom Line Up Front

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT), in partnership with Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker, kicked off a South Dakota Avenue Corridor Safety Project with two initial meetings on May 30 and June 1, 2024.  Here is DDOT's Presentation on the project.

DDOT is going to study a 3-mile segment of South Dakota Ave from Bladensburg Road to Riggs Road NE, develop and analyze concepts, and then select a final concept to design and build.  This project intends to reconfigure the road and make South Dakota Avenue safer.

Feedback for Round 1 of the project is closed.  We are now waiting on DDOT to assess the feedback and move to Round 2.

What Are The Issues on South Dakota Ave?

According to DDOT's Presentation on the project, they include:

South Dakota CAn Be Safer For All

I believe folks using South Dakota to drive to work or Costco, walk to school or church, or bicycle to nearby errands just want to get to their destinations safely.  I also believe the design of South Dakota Avenue unfortunately incentivizes UNINTENTIONAL bad behaviors from people -- drivers in particular.  Americans, and people in the DMV in particular, are experts at saving time.  We actively look for ways to shave a minute off our daily commutes.  However, we are also human and fallible, so even though a rolling-stop may be safe 90% of the time and save a few seconds, there will be one day it results in "driver error."  It does not have to be this way.  It is proven streets can be redesigned to be much safer.  

• Will redesigning South Dakota, such as through a road diet, magically stop every wreck?  No.  

• Can it make wrecks fewer in number, with less injuries, and possibly zero deaths?  YES!

• Does it trade off a bit of driver inconvenience for safety?  Yes, let's be honest, it does.

On the last point, however, how often are you inconvenienced from a wreck?  Think about it.  Wouldn't it be nice if your commute didn't get thrown off from a wreck closing the street?  Wouldn't it be nice to not suddenly have massive amounts of cut-through traffic because drivers are looking for ways around a crash?  Wouldn't it be nice for the people in the wreck not to have their lives inconvenienced or in some cases, shattered?  I think so.

The Plan is a Road Diet

What Do You Do With The Extra Space?

While DDOT presented 3 possible options, no solution is without tradeoffs.  The point of the study is to work out all the details and considerations to return in the Fall to discuss the options more in depth.  Keeping in mind the technique planned is a road diet, which is a reconfiguration of a 4 lane roadway to 3 or 2 lanes and repurposing the extra space.  Rebuilding the street, reconfiguring the sidewalks and curbs, would be prohibitively expensive and a major reason other past huge efforts in DC ended up failing.  We do not have $30 or $40 million dollars on the table, we have $1 to maybe $3 million for this.  

It's either take advantage and gain safety or stick with the status quo for years.

In the meantime, the 3 options are:

Ah Hah, It's a Bike Project?

Okay, I ask you: what should the extra space be used for?

Sure, you could use it for parking, planters, or just let it go fallow.  However, if it isn't parking -- which is likely to be underutilized along South Dakota Avenue -- why waste the space?

DDOT themselves state, "Research shows that protected bike lanes significantly improve the safety of bicyclists and increase safety for pedestrians and drivers."  This has also been noted by Forbes, the Urban Institute, and WUSA/Channel 9.  DDOT further defines a PBL as, "having a physical separation between motor vehicle travel and the bike lane. This can be a row of parked cars, a concrete curb, and/or flex posts and wheel stops." 

It makes sense to me to repurpose the space that needs to be reduced to meet the goal of a road diet -- safety -- in order to facilitate transportation alternatives.  Feedback for Round 1 is closed.

Here is the joint letter I signed with the other Commissioners representing a large segment of the South Dakota Avenue Safety Study road diet target area on August 15, 2024.

Project Schedule

HOW Did We Get Here?

While I did what I could as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and resident of the District of Columbia to move this along, I am incredibly grateful to the continued, sustained efforts by Councilmember Parker to secure the funding and ensure it was used for this project.

It would be difficult to include all the individual efforts, advocacy, and work many have done to reach this point, so I am happy to include more if you'd like to Contact Me.  

I am immensely appreciative of everything its taken to reach this point and want to emphasize: IT IS NOT YET OVER.

Note: in the below statements, emphasis has been added to key statements.

• February 16, 2023: Councilmember Parker transmitted his FY24 budget priorities to the Mayor, drawn from the community where he said he is, "eager to partner with DDOT to improve many other dangerous arterial corridors in Ward 5, including South Dakota," and asked the Mayor to direct DDOT to "leverage existing operational funds to improve safety" on South Dakota.

• March 15, 2023: I sponsored a Commission 5B Resolution in Support of Councilmember Parker's FY 2024 Budget Requests and Transit and Traffic Safety Priorities which passed unanimously which supported and called upon the Mayor and Council to adopt Councilmember Parker's budget priorities including to improve safety on South Dakota Avenue.

• April 27, 2023: DC Council Committee on Transportation and The Environment released their Report and Recommendations of the Committee on Transportation and the Environment on the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Agencies Under Its Purview and:

  • Established a new sub-project within DDOT's Safety & Mobility master project to fund tactical safety improvements on South Dakota Avenue NE, saying, "South Dakota Avenue is one of the most dangerous corridors in Ward 5."

  • Placed $1M in the new sub-project to fund efforts to improve safety on the corridor in the short term, preferably by constructing a road diet on a segment of the corridor to calm traffic, reduce injuries, and improve connectivity along the corridor.

  • Empowered DDOT to determine which segment of the corridor would be a suitable starting point for safety improvements.

• April 28, 2023: Councilmember Parker, in his weekly newsletter, rightfully took credit for this big win and announced Progress on Traffic Safety, specifically, "$1 million for a tactical road diet to slow down dangerous drivers on South Dakota Avenue in FY24"

• May 11, 2023: I participated in Councilmember Parker's Traffic Safety Walkthru on South Dakota Avenue with DDOT Director Lott and members of the community.  Councilmember Parker expressed his excitement saying (on X/twitter), "This morning’s Traffic Safety Walk along South Dakota Ave was energizing. I’m excited about the possibilities for improvements, secured through $1 million in funding for this Ward 5 arterial corridor in the FY24 budget. Healthy communities have safe streets—let’s make it happen!"

• May 19, 2023: Councilmember Parker, in his weekly newsletter, stated, "As a member of the Transportation and Environment Committee, I have worked closely with the DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE) to elevate Ward 5 residents' concerns. I am proud to have secured significant investments in this year's budget that will improve street safety and advance environmental justice in Ward 5."  He then called out the, "$1 million in FY24 for road safety improvements to slow down dangerous drivers on South Dakota Avenue."

• July 20, 2023: Councilmember Parker wrote DDOT Director Lott expressing, "appreciation for the agency's efforts to reduce traffic deaths and injuries in our corner of the District," and noted, "road safety in Ward 5 is one of the most frequent concerns raised by my constituents."  Specifically on South Dakota Avenue NE, he stated, "I appreciate you and your team joining me and neighbors for a safety walk on South Dakota Avenue this Spring.  I look forward to working with you to leverage the $1 million I secured in the FY 2024 budget to install quick-build safety enhancements on the corridor, such as a road diet.  I am eager to work with DDOT to develop a concept for corridor-long safety improvements once those funds become available in the fiscal year that commences on October 1, 2023."

• September 29, 2023: Councilmember Parker, in his weekly newsletter, stated, "The $1 million Councilmember Parker secured in the FY24 budget for a tactical road diet along South Dakota Ave will become available. This is one of the most dangerous roads in Ward 5. This will help calm traffic, reduce injuries, and improve connectivity."

• October 4, 2023: Councilmember Parker in his opening statement at the Committee on Transportation and the Environment and Committee on Public Works and Operations' joint hearing (starting at 25:26) stated:

Thank you, Councilmembers Allen and Nadeau for holding this hearing on these important bills. And thank you to the many neighbors and advocates who will provide testimony. As a member of the transportation and the environment committee, I accept the challenge alongside my colleagues of facing the devastation playing out on our streets head on. We are all here because we know the district faces urgent traffic safety issues. Issues that are quite literally a matter of life and death. And we must redouble our efforts to create safer streets. According to MPD's reported traffic injuries and fatalities from 2017 to 2021, wards 5, 7 and 8 have faced the most devastating consequences of the district's failure to implement vision zero, and hold dangerous drivers accountable.

A combined 19,767 people were injured in traffic incidents in just those three wards in that time frame and a combined 116 people in those three wards alone died. That means 65% of traffic injuries and 62% of traffic fatalities occur in three wards, with the highest African-American populations in the district. Our ability to meaningfully enforce traffic laws, build safer streets through infrastructure, and hold accountable the agencies responsible for these efforts, as well as reckless drivers, is not just a matter of traffic safety, but also a public safety, racial equity, and environmental justice. So far this year, traffic fatalities in D.C. have increased by 52%.

Today the Council continues to do its part to improve traffic safety by holding a hearing on several proposals to improve traffic enforcement, as introduced the fraudulent vehicle tag enforcement amendment act will make it easier for DPW to boot and tow cars operating in and with fraudulent tags. The steer amendment act would allow us to hold reckless drivers accountable without reliance on fees and fines creating a more equitable system, and a stronger enforcement standard. I look forward to learning today about how all four of the bills we have introduced can be improved to ensure that we make the most of this opportunity to advance road safety in the district. But let me be clear, the council cannot legislate safer streets into existence. There is no replacement for robust leadership from the Executive which, quite frankly, is lacking at the moment. In a year when traffic deaths are on track to reach a 15-year high in the district, we currently have no Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure or Director of DDOT. I join Chair Allen in calling on the mayor to consider candidates from across the nation with a proven track record of transforming urban corridors, and expeditiously implementing proven safety solutions. We desperately need to treat the district's road safety crisis as the public health crisis that it is. Thank you.

• February 28, 2024: Councilmember Parker, in his FY25 Budget Letter to the Mayor, called for investments to, "Establish a neighborhood corridor transformation team at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT)," due to DDOT lacking staff to design and implement quick-build corridor projects such as road diets.  He stated, "Yet if DDOT fails to find ways to scale and speed up delivery of these projects, the District will never reach its safety, equity, and climate goals," and then requested funds for 3 FTEs.

• May 15, 2024: DDOT issued a Public Meeting Notice for the South Dakota Avenue Corridor Safety Project.

• May 22, 2024: Councilmember Parker's Office provided an update to Commission 5B at it's public meeting on South Dakota and let attendees know of the meeting times.

• May 24, 2024: Councilmember Parker, in his weekly newsletter, announced, "Many of you have interacted with my office as I have worked for much needed improvements along the South Dakota Ave corridor. Whether through our traffic safety walks, South Dakota Ave Safety Survey, or testimony during oversight as I secured and followed up on dedicated funding for improvements, we have fought together for traffic safety. I am excited to share that DDOT is now moving forward with the launch of the Safety Study for this critical Ward 5 corridor. Join us virtually (May 30) or in person (June 1)!"

• May 30, 2024: DDOT in partnership with Councilmember Parker, launched the South Dakota Corridor Safety Study, which I attended.  Councilmember Parker in his newsletter (May 31) said, "Based on years of traffic data, we know that South Dakota Ave is among the most dangerous roadways in Ward 5. What's more, Wards 5, 7, and 8 routinely lead the District in traffic violence and fatalities. Out-of-state commuters speed through our communities and the status quo simply isn't acceptable. The launch of this safety study is an exciting opportunity for our community to give DDOT feedback on what changes we would like to see."

• June 1, 2024: DDOT in partnership with Councilmember Parker, held an in-person meeting on the South Dakota Corridor Safety Study, which I attended.

• June 7, 2024: Councilmember Parker, in his newsletter, summarized the project saying, "Community engagement has kicked off for the beginning of the South Dakota Corridor Safety Study, conducted by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). Based on years of traffic data, we know that South Dakota Ave is among the most dangerous roadways in Ward 5. What's more, Wards 5, 7, and 8 routinely lead the District in traffic violence and fatalities. Out-of-state commuters speed through our communities and the status quo simply isn't acceptable. The launch of this safety study is an exciting opportunity for our community to give DDOT feedback on what changes we would like to see."