The District is revising a proposed overhaul of Connecticut Avenue NW that includes bike lanes and reduces vehicle parking, a decision that will delay plans that divided the community.
D.C. transportation officials said they will work on design changes to address concerns about the loss of parking, effects on businesses, and access for people with disabilities and seniors along the busy commuter route in Northwest Washington. The District Department of Transportation was expected to settle on a design this spring, but officials now say work will extend through the fall on one of the city’s largest bike infrastructure projects.
“We want to make sure we get it right,” city transportation director Everett Lott said at a D.C. Council hearing this month.
The plan, spearheaded by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), has split residents and business owners along a corridor that carries 32,000 cars daily and serves as a critical link from Maryland and upper Northwest to downtown D.C. Critics cite concerns about fewer vehicle lanes and on-street parking options while supporters say a proposed bike lane would provide a safer route for cyclists and encourage more bike travel.
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The planned transformation of Connecticut Avenue includes a northbound and southbound bike lane, new left- and right-turn lanes at some intersections, the relocation of bus stops to safer spots, pedestrian refuge islands, curb extensions and the prohibition of right turns on red lights. The city already removed reversible rush-hour lanes that had confused drivers.
Lott said the city is working to determine how best to change the existing plans, adding that he didn’t know when the project might be open to drivers and other road users.
The proposed 2.7-mile bike lane would stretch from Calvert Street NW in Woodley Park to Legation Street NW in the Chevy Chase neighborhood. The design concept announced by Bowser in December 2021 would cut lane capacity for vehicles in half during the peak direction of travel and significantly reduce parking availability. A protected bike lane would be added in each direction, with parking and loading zones removed on one side of Connecticut Avenue. More than 300 parking spaces would be eliminated, according to a DDOT analysis.
Concerns have centered mostly on disruptions to parking, traffic and loading zones. DDOT said it is conducting an additional analysis to assess whether to add a two-way cycle track on one side of the street in place of a protected bike lane in each direction. So far, agency officials say research hasn’t indicated that option is preferred.
Officials said the city probably will stick with its original plan of a bike lane in each direction, with adjustments that include better loading access and parking alternatives.
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The city has already taken steps to mitigate some effects, including the addition of loading and pickup and drop-off areas throughout the corridor. While there would be reductions in parking under the plan, DDOT officials say commercial areas would have round-the-clock parking on one side of the street. The city is also considering changing parking time limits to increase turnover on Connecticut Avenue and side streets. Two-hour parking would change to 30- or 60-minute maximum durations.
“While there are many perspectives, it is widely agreed that improvements are needed to make this major corridor safer which includes slowing down traffic and improving access and safety for all roadway users,” DDOT said in a statement.
D.C. has budgeted $7.7 million for construction, while it has spent $1.5 million on planning over the past three years and expects design will cost an additional $1.7 million, according to DDOT. The agency had previously estimated the overall cost at $4.6 million.
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Officials said major improvements such as the relocation of bus stops, reconstruction of intersections and signal modifications at up to 25 locations have increased costs. The project also would include moving the curb at several locations, while including work on utilities, storm water management and traffic-calming measures, such as the addition of medians and curb extensions.
City officials say the overhaul would mean less vehicle traffic and better access for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. About 100 bicyclists use segments of the route daily, according to project documents.
Adams Morgan resident Ezra Deutsch-Feldman said he is disappointed about the latest delay. He bikes frequently from Calvert Street to his parents’ home in Van Ness, an area that — even for an experienced rider, he said — is “extremely dangerous and unsafe now.”
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“I know that for every rider brave enough to ride on [Connecticut Avenue] now, there are dozens more who want to ride on it but don't feel safe doing so,” he said.
Cleveland Park resident Mark Rosenman, who helped to collect signatures last year for a petition against the project, said residents and business owners worry the bike lanes would create hazards for pedestrians, exacerbate a parking shortage and send more traffic onto neighborhood streets. He has called for ending the project.
“Their initial idea is flawed,” he said. “You cannot put a bike lane or bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue without having a profoundly negative effect on businesses along Connecticut Avenue.”
Because vehicle travel capacity would drop, city officials estimate as many as 7,000 cars would use other routes, including Broad Branch Road NW to the east, and Reno Road NW and Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues NW to the west.
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Montgomery County residents also have tried to derail the plan, citing effects on commuters and traffic near the county’s boundary with the District.
In a Nov. 7 letter to Lott, Montgomery County transportation director Christopher R. Conklin said the county had heard “numerous concerns about implementing additional road-diet measures on Connecticut Avenue south of Chevy Chase Circle.” Those concerns, he said, were heightened by the National Park Service’s decision to keep Beach Drive closed to vehicular traffic.
Conklin asked DDOT for support in developing mitigation strategies to address “unintended consequences” on county residents and commuters.
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