Grant Circle gets another safety redesign proposal (for 2025)
/DDOT staff presenting to a pretty full audience about proposed changes to Grant Circle safety.
By Drew Schneider & Sacha Haworth
On Wednesday, November 8th, DC’s Department of Transportation presented a proposal to the community to make Grant Circle pedestrian and bicycle safety more prominent, while attempting to keep the flow of vehicular traffic moving in a safe manner.
Grant Circle, at the convergence of Fifth and Varnum Streets, Illinois and New Hampshire Avenues, is known for being a leafy dog-and-kid-friendly oasis that, together with Sherman Circle to the north, is one of only two traffic circles outside the boundaries of DC’s L’Enfant Plan that features the same scale and grandeur of those downtown.
However, it is also has a reputation as a dangerous spot for pedestrians and cyclists in Ward 4. More than 10,000 vehicles pass through the Circle every day, and experiences about one vehicle crash every other month (according to MPD), some of which involving cars crashing at such high speeds they flipped over. Pedestrians have often reported not feeling safe walking into or around the Circle, and many have stories of being struck, or nearly struck, by cars zooming around or turning off of the Circle.
Cars tend to enter at high speeds into and out of the Circle.
(This is a topic Petworth News has covered for many, many years. See list at the end of this article or view all on one page.)
In short, the DDOT’s new plan is to reduce the Circle down to one lane for most of the circumference, though keeping a “turning lane” from Illinois Avenue in the north to New Hampshire Avenue in the south. Concrete bumpouts will be installed at crosswalks, decreasing the distance pedestrians will have to cover to cross the circle, while a protected bike lane will go around the outside of the Circle. Parking inside the Circle will also be greatly impacted. Grant Circle definitely needs changes to make it safer, and having DDOT finally focus on this topic is welcome news.
(courtesy DDOT)
Most of the crowd seemed to approve of the proposed changes, with two people claiming bike lines make it more difficult for emergency vehicles, while others said pedestrian safety should be the primary concern.
DDOT has identified several “challenges” to resolve with these updates, including pedestrian safety while crossing the Circle, bicycles while transversing and turning into/out of the Circle, and traffic.
(courtesy DDOT)
At a high level, DDOT is planning to:
Reduce the number of circulating lanes from two to one for a large portion of the Circle.
Install concrete splitter islands/pedestrian refuges to reduce pedestrian-crossing distances.
Implement the features of a Dutch-style roundabout, (prioritizes bicycle and pedestrian safety over vehicle movement), and offers “improved conflict angles between entering/exiting vehicles and bicyclists.” (The Dutch love this style, but they also have a culture that loves bikes. The British tried this design recently and it seems to have increased vehicle collisions while simultaneously increasing bicycle and pedestrian traffic and safety.)
Provide pocket exit lanes at New Hampshire Avenue NW (South and North nodes) to reduce rear-end and other congestion-related conflicts.
Add a Rapid Flashing Beacon to improve pedestrian visibility and driver yielding at Varnum Street NW (West).
Install floating bus islands to improve transit safety and running times.
Remove 24 parking spaces to accommodate these changes.
DDOT proposes to reduce the driving lanes down to 1, except from Illinois in the north to New Hampshire in the south. (courtesy DDOT)
DDOT is proposing to reduce the traffic lanes down to one main driving lane, removing parking and installing protected bike lanes and pedestrian concrete bumpouts. The only place they propose two lanes is from Illinois Ave in the north to New Hampshire Ave in the south (DDOT identified this entrance and exit as the primary vehicular flow into and out of the Circle).
On the south side of Grant Circle, DDOT has suggested reversing the first block on 5th Street on the south side of the Circle to move northbound into the Circle and restoring Illinois Avenue next to it as a two-way street — in order to divert the significant traffic flow that 5th Street currently receives.
Changes to 5th Street vehicle direction (courtesy of DDOT)
Changes to Illinois Avenue vehicle traffic direction (courtesy DDOT)
Petworth News can’t seem to wrap our heads around this odd idea. 5th Street is currently one-way southbound from the Circle all the way south past Irving Street, so blocking egress from the Circle to 5th will just force cars to divert and exit on Illinois or New Hampshire. They will then stack up as they wait to turn left onto 5th or right, respectively. Plus, DDOT is already proposing to change Illinois to a two-way entrance and exit from the Circle. Therefore, forcing 5th to be one-way north only into the Circle from the south on Upshur makes no logical sense that we can understand from their presentation. The only people using it would be those on Upshur first deciding to pass by New Hampshire or Illinois Avenues, and then decide to enter via 5th.
On the north side of the Circle, DDOT is proposing to change 5th Street to one way out of the Circle.
DDOT’s proposed changes to 5th Street on the north side. (courtesy DDOT)
In this proposal, parking inside the Circle will be drastically reduced, impacting those homeowners who live on the Circle. (courtesy DDOT)
A proposed bike lane, part of the Dutch-style roundabout design, will offer a protected path around the Circle, with the goal of protecting bicyclists and giving them priority in exiting and entering the Circle.
DDOT’s proposed protected (courtesy DDOT)
This is the third or fourth major proposal for safety changes at Grant Circle in the last 15 years, starting with the DDOT Pedestrian Safety Plan in 2009, then the Rock Creek East Livability Study, and followed up in 2016 by the Rock Creek East 2 Livability Study. DDOT has come up with and thrown out multiple different ideas, modified traffic on the side streets (not always with an eye on how it impacted the other streets around it). Petworth News has been writing about this issue since 2015, and the community has seen minor to no real safety improvements in these last 8 years.
"The status quo of dangerous driving, daily near-misses, and repeated crashes at Grant Circle is unacceptable,” said Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George. “Since taking office — together with our ANC Commissioners and neighbors — I have urged DDOT leadership to make major traffic safety improvements at Grant Circle that prioritize the safety of all road users. DDOT's proposed plan is an encouraging start and addresses many of the issues we face on Grant Circle. I will work with our community and DDOT to make improvements to the initial design and ensure that the agency follows through. There is too much at stake for Ward 4 families for us not to take strong action."
DDOT is currently gathering feedback from the community and plans to finalize the design next year, for construction in 2025. To weigh in, neighbors are encouraged to contact DDOT directly, or DDOT’s Ward 4 representative, kornelius.anderson@dc.gov.
Next Steps
Review of Community Feedback (2023)
Preliminary Design (2024)
Final Design (2024)
Construction (2025)
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