Category Archives: Transportation

May 19, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown Businesses and Residents Don’t Support Evans’ Meter Proposal

Today, GM turns over the reins of the Georgetown Metropolitan for a day to his friend and fellow Georgetowner Ken Archer to discuss Jack Evans recent parking proposals:

Councilmember Jack Evans’ proposal to roll back parking meter rates and hours of enforcement in commercial corridors is based, according to Evans, on the complaints and requests of businesses and residents in his ward. However, a survey of organizations representing residents and businesses in Georgetown fails to find anyone asking Evans for his proposal.

His proposal passed out of his committee by a 3-2 vote and Evans frequently points to these complaints in defending the $5.2 million measure.

Evans told the Washington Examiner, “I get consistent complaints about the parking meters everywhere I go in my ward from residents. I can’t go into a restaurant without the owner coming out to complain about the cost of the parking meters.”

Despite this, neither the Georgetown BID nor the largest owner of Georgetown restaurants support the proposal.

The Georgetown ANC and Citizens Association have passed no resolutions and sent no letters to Evans requesting reductions in either meter rates or enforcement hours. In fact, the ANC has been working with DDOT for a couple years to put in place a performance parking pilot that would increase parking turnover and availability by charging market rates at meters. Continue reading →

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May 16, 2011 · 10:00 am

Several Transportation Ideas Proposed Affecting Georgetown

Photo by CascadeFoto.

Recently several DC pols have issued some proposals that could significantly impact Georgetown’s transportation mix. Some of the ideas are good, others bad.

Let’s start with the good.

Up until Chris Ziemann left DDOT last year, Ward 2 had a dedicated DDOT planner. This position can coordinate transportation projects across the ward. Further it can lobby DDOT on the ward’s behalf and bring a unified vision across multiple projects and neighborhoods. Unfortunately since Chris left, the position has remained empty and Mayor Gray recommended it simply be cut completely. Councilmember Tommy Wells, however, proposed that this position–as well as the vacant ward planner positions for Wards 3 and 5–be filled again. This is a good proposal.

Additionally, Wells proposed creating a position titled Parking Czar. This individual would spend all his or her time addressing the parking issue. In particular, this person would bring life back to the stalled effort to bring performance parking to DC. This is something that GM has lobbied to bring to Georgetown for a while. In short: right now we price street parking too low and as a result visitors troll the neighborhood looking for free parking rather than simply driving to the pay garages. This increases traffic, encourages people to leave their car parked for as long as possible and makes it more difficult for residents to find a parking spot near their homes. By raising the price of parking enough that there is always at least 10-15% of the street spaces open, we can encourage more turnover. Plus, the additional parking fees will get plowed back into the neighborhood in the form of streetscape improvements, and the like.

Having a parking czar will make it much more likely that such a policy can come to Georgetown. Continue reading →

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May 11, 2011 · 10:00 am

Where Georgetown’s Alleys Are

 Detail of map courtesy of Rob Pitingolo.

Last week, using data from DC Data Catalog Rob Pitingolo published a map of all of DC’s alleys. GM’s cut and pasted above a detail of that map showing just Georgetown.

Take a look at Rob’s full map here and compare it to Georgetown’s. Georgetown appears to have fewer alleys than the rest of central DC. It’s interesting to speculate why that is. Presumably during the formation of the village’s grid, Georgetown was as dependent (if not more) on horses and stables as the rest of the historic city was. It’s odd that many large blocks don’t have any alleys at all (of course, larger homes had carriage passageways from the front to the back to allow a horse to be housed in the back without an alley). Continue reading →

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April 29, 2011 · 10:00 am

Signs Giving a Mixed Message on Canal Rd.

When you approach Georgetown from the west on Canal Rd., you’re faced with a couple of options. You can stay on Canal as it becomes M St. and enter Georgetown. You can, of course, hang a right onto the Key Bridge and head over to Virginia. And, finally, you can take a right on to the Whitehurst Freeway and quickly skirt around Georgetown to Foggy Bottom, where you can continue on to K St. or take the E St. Expressway.

So if your ultimate destination is downtown, not Georgetown, the best choice is normally the Whitehurst. And the first signs you see as you approach Georgetown tell you as much:

The problem is that shortly after these signs, you’re presented with another set of signs that sure seem to be telling drivers to stay on M St. if they’re heading downtown: Continue reading →

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April 8, 2011 · 10:00 am

River Taxi Finally Underway

Photo by Oblivious Dude.

Last year GM reported a couple false starts on the proposed river taxi, but now it looks like it’s finally happening. The American River Taxi has started making runs between Georgetown, the SW waterfront, and Nationals Park. According to their website, this is the company’s temporary schedule:

Limited Schedule For Season Startup (April Thru May):

Mon – Fri:
8am Commuter run to Georgetown
10am -6pm Regular Taxi trip

Sat:
10am – 9pm Regular Taxi trip

First trip departs from the Wharf.
Final Schedules will be posted soon.
In the meantime, we are working to adjust the transit time between stops.

The Dolley Madison travels from Gangplank to Georgetown to the Baseball Stadium. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2011 · 10:00 am

City Brings Ice Rink to Georgetown

A little while back, GM wondered whether it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring an ice rink to Georgetown. Well the city has taken him up on that idea. Just not exactly the way he imagined.

You see, while the city has plans to sell the Hurt Home to Argos Group to be converted into condos, it still owns the property. And ever since we started getting snow and ice storms a few weeks ago, the sidewalk outside the Hurt Home has been a solid slab of pure ice. Continue reading →

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January 25, 2011 · 10:00 am

TJ Street Bridge to Reopen; 29th St. Bridge to Close Next Week

The District is in the middle of a multi-year project to completely reconstruct the bridges over the canal on 29th, 30th, and Thomas Jefferson. The project began in August of 2009, when the city shut down the 30th St. bridge. While the original schedule called for each bridge to be out of service for one whole year, the schedule has move a lot fast than that. DDOT wrapped up work on the 30th St. bridge in June of last year, a couple months shy one year.

The next bridge was Thomas Jefferson St., which has been out of service since June. Next week, after barely eight months of complete reconstruction, that bridge will reopen.

Once that bridge reopens, DDOT will move to 29th St. and start the final phase of the operation. By the way things have been going, that bridge may be back in service even before the end of the calender year. Continue reading →

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January 11, 2011 · 10:00 am

Georgetown By the Numbers: Transportation

A while ago, GM wrote about the car situation in Georgetown and argued that a small amount of residents were having an outsized impact on the supply of cars in the neighborhood. In writing this article, GM relied on the census data from 2000. Now that the American Community Survey five-year estimates are out, GM can circle back and see whether the stats he relied on are still holding up.

So without further ado, here’s how Georgetown gets around:

Car Ownership

When GM first looked into this, GM found a surprising amount of households in Georgetown without any cars. That number has increased.

Here are the numbers from 2000:

  • Total Households without any car: 20%
  • Total Households with just one car: 57%
  • Total Households with two or more cars: 23%

Here are what the ACS was the average from 2005-2009:

  • Total Households without any car: 22%
  • Total Households with just one car: 50%
  • Total Households with two or more cars: 28% Continue reading →

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September 29, 2010 · 10:00 am

Wisconsin Ave. Needs a Major Overhaul

Does anyone actually like Wisconsin Ave.? Whether you’re walking on it, biking on it, driving on it, it’s almost guaranteed to be an unpleasant experience.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, particularly for pedestrians. Some simple changes to the way Wisconsin Ave. is shaped could dramatically improve the pedestrian experience, without significant affecting the traffic flow. These changes could even add parking.

Impossible you say? Not at all. Follow GM as he takes a stroll down Wisconsin Ave. highlighting where the worst problems are, and how to fix them:

Between R and Reservoir:

Let’s start at R St. and head south. Looking down the street, what do we see?

A dragstrip, that’s what. From R down to Reservoir, Wisconsin Ave. is a wide two lane road. There is parking on the west side, but it is not frequently occupied. Due to the fact that this is a long stretch of road and downhill, cars drive way too fast on it.

Solutions: This road is way too wide. When drivers drive on wide roads, they drive faster than if the same road were narrower. Since parking is not scarce on this stretch, we ought to install one or two bulb-outs from the west sidewalk. Continue reading →

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July 22, 2010 · 10:00 am

The Wheels of the Bus…

Two pieces of news relating to buses in and out of Georgetown to report. First, a few more details on the Circulator takeover of the Blue Bus. Second, a report by WMATA on just how slow our buses are.

As reported yesterday, the last remaining Blue Bus route will be replaced with a Circulator route starting September 1st. All monthly Blue Bus passes will no longer be valid. Normal Circulator fares will be in place (i.e. $1 for adults/50 cents for senior or disabled riders). Free transfers from other Circulators will be allowed for three hours. Free transfers from normal Metrobuses will be allowed for 2 hours. Transfers from Metrorail will by 50 cents. Continue reading →

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