The Streetcar Cometh? Study Kicks Off This Week

• November 4, 2013
• 5 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

This week, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is holding a series of meetings throughout the city to kick off their efforts to study the North-South transit corridor, from SW DC to Silver Spring and Takoma Park.

DDOT hopes to make improvements to the corridor, which is roughly bound by 16th Street on the west and 5th Street to the east (see image above), and the study could eventually lead to the recommendation of a streetcar or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line on Georgia Avenue, 11th Street, 14th Street or 16th Street.

While Metro’s Red Line already runs through a portion of the area in focus, DDOT hopes to connect several destinations that are not easily accessible to each other, like the Walter Reed Campus, Howard University, the National Mall and the Southwest Waterfront. And though bus lines run throughout the District, DDOT wants to improve “surface transit” to make it faster and more reliable, with larger vehicles and perhaps transit signal priority, according to their flyer.

A post on Greater Greater Washington last week noted that the study will consider topics such as dedicated lanes, fewer stops versus frequent stops, and the construction and operating costs of BRT versus a streetcar.

The first of four meetings is tonight at 6:30pm at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church at 600 M Street SW.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ddot_kicks_off_north-south_corridor_and_potential_streetcar_study_this_week/7777

5 Comments

1. Anna said at 9:40 pm on Monday November 4, 2013:
   Great idea! I wish they would start this project sooner!

1. markus said at 9:49 pm on Monday November 4, 2013:
   Another street car that brings nothing new to the table; these areas already have metro. How about expanding street car to neighborhoods not currently served? Hard to see how the investment makes sense just to provide an alternative mass transit.

1. 202_cyclist said at 9:52 pm on Monday November 4, 2013:
   Good post but tonight's meeting is in Southwest, not Northwest. Via GGW: "Buzzard Point to Downtown: Monday, November 4 from 6:30 to 8:30pm, St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, 600 M Street SW"

1. The Editors said at 9:57 pm on Monday November 4, 2013:
   202_cyclist, Thanks. We had the quadrant wrong. Change made. The Editors

1. Capitol_Riverfront_Resident said at 10:42 pm on Monday November 4, 2013:
   A rapid transit north-south link is a vital transportation need for the communities that host the 44 thousand person baseball stadium and the new 20,000 person soccer stadium. The Green line is at capacity and more people on the way. Today no connection to Union Station, this is a key element of making development at St Elizabeth and Capitol Riverfront competitive with suburban locations