Comments on: Fixing the Foot of Meridian Hill

By: neb

neb — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:22:59 +0000

Brilliant idea. Expected lukewarmness from DC agencies. Did you send this to the city council? Its graham in this area, right?

By: Eric Fidler [Editor]

Eric Fidler [Editor] — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:29:22 +0000

DC has several circles that are actually unsignaled roundabouts (e.g. Westmoreland Circle, Sheridan Circle, and Chevy Chase Circle). As for safety, the FHA has shown that roundabouts reduce the number and severity of accidents for cars, pedestrians, and cyclists at the traditional intersections they replace. That's a good observation about angle parking, though. I never thought about that.

By: Jeff P.

Jeff P. — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:16:11 +0000

I am curious: is the “circle” really intended to be a circle or a roundabout? This is an important distinction. D.C., to my knowledge, only has circles at present, and they are vastly less efficient than roundabouts. For those who don’t know, the main difference between a circle and a roundabout is that the latter is much smaller (usually not intended for pedestrians to walk on), and usually does not have traffic signals unless it is very high volume. Cars in the roundabout have right-of-way over cars looking to enter the roundabout, who must yield before entering. The biggest problem with roundabouts in the U.S. is that most drivers are unfamiliar with them and get confused, leading to slowdowns and/or accidents. In Europe, especially the U.K., they are very common.

The reason I ask this question is because in the rendering the “circle” appears more like a roundabout, as it looks small and appears to lack traffic signals.

By: Jeff P.

Jeff P. — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:05:59 +0000

The back-in parking would be even better if it were on the other side of the street. That way drivers have a clearer view of the travelling lane as they prepare to pull out of a spot, rather than having to look thru their own vehicle and out the passenger side. In addition, moving the driving lane of 15th St. to the lefthand side would allow a more naturally curved entry to the circle to be created.

By: David Alpert

David Alpert — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:55:58 +0000

PJ: Actually, back-in angle parking has been shown to be safer than head-in. By having the car drive just past the space and back in, you remove the danger of backing into a pedestrian, bicycle or other car when getting out. With many SUVs these days, in conventional head-in angle parking you often have bad visibility when backing out.

Also, then parkers can load and unload things from the trunk right from the sidewalk, and by having doors open toward the road, it’s easier to go right to the sidewalk and reduces the change of children in the car going into the road after getting out.

Here’s a report about it: http://www.hampdenhappenings.org/HCC_WEB/Zoning_Pdf/RAP/San_Francisco.pdf

I believe DC already has back-in angle parking on New Hampshire Ave at least between T and U.

By: PJ

PJ — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:12:54 +0000

If 15th St is one way going north, the diagonal blocks on the west side of the street (on-street parking, I assume) would make more sense pointed the other way — aligned southeast to northwest.

By: Tom Aloisi

Tom Aloisi — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:53:59 +0000

Brilliant. Do you care to tackle the cluster-f@#! that is the intersection of Florida, Rhode Island, New Jersey, 4th and S streets NW? It would be a larger project, as the LeDroit Park post office would need to be relocated to build a new traffic circle. I used to live right near by, and that intersection would be greatly improved by a traffic circle, especially for pedestrians!

By: Alexa W.

Alexa W. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:10:15 +0000

saw your link on DCMetrocentric, and I must say really great idea!

By: DC Metrocentric » Broken Intersections: Meridian Hill

DC Metrocentric » Broken Intersections: Meridian Hill — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:41:47 +0000

[...] 15th and W Streets AND New Hampshire and Florida Avenues is clearly a problem and Monumentality decided to come up with their own solution… very cool, hopefully someone in the District Department of Transportation is [...]