Challenge
Officials in Washington, DC wanted to reshape a roughly half mile segment of C Street NE, a street that has historically served heavy morning commuter traffic through residential area of Capitol Hill but has seen a significant decrease in motor vehicle traffic in the past few years.
Solution
Kittelson led a multimodal corridor study on C Street NE between 16th Street and 21st Street NE. The study represents a detailed approach to “right sizing” a minor arterial so that it more adequately accommodates all modes, effectively illustrating trade-offs of potential changes and providing developing analysis and design measures. This approach ensures that intended changes are measured and documented so that future studies can detail their impact. The Kittelson study included a detailed multimodal traffic operations analysis along with preliminary design, environmental documentation, traffic diversion analysis, and air quality analysis. The Kittelson team also spearheaded the public outreach effort.
The Outcome
Finding The Right Size For A DC Arterial
The team’s recommended alternative included a reduction in the number of travel lanes, physically protected bike facilities, increased tree canopy, shorter crossing conditions, and low impact development infrastructure to capture excess rain runoff. Proposed changes to the roadway addressed several key issues and concerns that Kittelson identified early in the project process through stakeholder and public engagement, including high motor vehicle speeds, uncomfortable and unsafe pedestrian crossing conditions, a significant decrease in traffic volumes since 2010, the need to maintain auto and freight mobility, a history of high-severity crashes, and a lack of protected bicycle facilities.
