Intersection at Fessenden Street and Belt Road

by | Jul 6, 2012

ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 3E

TENLEYTOWN     AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PARK     FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS

c/o Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home 5425 Western Avenue, NW Washington, DC  20015

www.anc3e.org

 

Resolution Regarding DDOT Notice of Intent 12-33-IPMA regarding the intersection of Belt Road and Fessenden Street NW

Whereas, the intersection of Belt Road and Fessenden Streets NW has been reviewed by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and found to have poor visibility due to tree brush and a fence, and

Whereas, at the current time this intersection is only controlled by a stop sign for traffic  travelling southbound and northbound on Belt Road, and

Whereas, traffic travelling westbound on Fessenden Street  approaches this intersection at a high rate of speed  due to the downward slope of Fessenden Street, and

Whereas, this intersection is traversed by many Alice Deal Middle School students on the way to and from school along with others, and

Whereas, currently many of the traffic control signs are obscured by landscaping and trees, and

Whereas, DDOT has proposed to add stop signs for eastbound and westbound traffic on Fessenden Street to improve the safety for both pedestrians and drivers, and

Whereas, current stop signs at the intersections of Fessenden and 41st Street and Fessenden and 39th Street appear to have only marginally improved the safety of those intersections due to  speeding on Fessenden Street and coasting through stop signs, and

Whereas, the DC Safe Routes to School Program works to:

  • Improve safety for students who walk and bicycle to school
  • Encourage students and their parents to walk and bicycle to school
  • Boost student physical activity, reduce parents’ fuel consumption, and reduce pollution and traffic congestion near schools.

Whereas,  Murch Elementary School has received national recognition, earning the 2009 James L. Oberstar Safe Routes to School Award, as an exemplar of how this program is to be implemented, and

Whereas, the current designation of signed Bike Routes on the DC Bike Map surrounding Murch School does not accurately reflect the 2009 then-current, or today’s actual, signage on the following routes:

  1. Jennifer Street east from Western to Nebraska;
  2. Fessenden Street east from Western to Linnean;
  3. 41st Street north from Wisconsin to Western;
  4. Nebraska Avenue north from Ward Circle; and
  5. Several other routes that are outside a 1/2 mile radius of Murch

Whereas, not only is the current Bike Map inaccurate, the absence of these designations creates an unneeded safety risk to children and adults who would use these routes on their way to and from the various schools in our area, including Murch, Janney, Deal Middle School and Wilson High School, and

Whereas, the Metropolitan Police Department has deployed limited resources in ANC 3E to address chronic issues around traffic violations and pedestrian safety issues, and

Whereas, in the most recent round of deployments of anti-speeding camera’s none were deployed within the boundaries of ANC 3E and vehicular speeding on Fessenden Street greatly contributes to the safety issues on Fessenden Street for both vehicles and pedestrians, and

Whereas, DDOT has additional traffic calming measures it could apply at Fessenden and Belt as well as at Fessenden and 41st Street and 39th Street to calm traffic and make these intersections safer for both drivers and pedestrians.  Among the traffic calming measures DDOT could deploy would be curb bulb outs, sharrows, better signage and raised crosswalks.

Now therefore be it resolved, ANC 3E supports the immediate erection of a stop sign for Fessenden Street traffic at Belt Road but ANC 3E urges DDOT to immediately consider and implement additional traffic calming measures on Fessenden Street  including but not limited to:

  • Maintenance to ensure better visibility of existing signage on and around Fessenden Street
  • Curb bulb outs
  • Sharrows
  • Raised crosswalks
  • Improved signage
  • Enforcement cameras for speeding
  • Speed humps or tables

Be it further resolved, ANC 3E urges DDOT to immediately review its current bike map designations to determine where existing signage does not exist despite numerous streets named above being listed as signed Bike Routes; furthermore, DDOT must provide appropriate signage on each of these routes on each block of these routes; and finally DDOT must also paint appropriate bike sharrows on each of these routes, including on 36th Street where signage does exist, to alert drivers and bikers that these streets are to be bimodal and shared by all.

ANC 3E approved this resolution at its meeting on June 19, 2012, which was properly noticed and at which a quorum was present.  The resolution was approved by a vote of 3-0-0.  Commissioners Jonathan Bender, Matthew Frumin and Tom Quinn were present.

 

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ANC 3E

By Matthew Frumin, Chairperson