That was my fear¡ªthat pushing more traffic to 11th st was the goal. Just re-surfacing the street would help with the shaking and noise. That¡¯s probably a somewhat reasonable goal. We talked with someone at DDot a while ago and re-paving wasn¡¯t in the schedule any time soon.?
(Btw Martha, when Sophie was in high school she carpooled with Andrew DeFrank for a year or so!) ??
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On Feb 19, 2021, at 3:05 PM, Martha Stracener Dantzic <martha.dantzic@...> wrote:
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Hey Laurie -?
I agree there seems to be more heavy vehicle traffic, especially early in the morning. ?Since the National Guard has been here, I notice there are lots of buses transporting soldiers via 11th St. ? And as noted by other threads, there is also a huge increase in residential construction on our block on both sides of 10th, 11th C and Independence streets. ?And, of course there seems to be somewhat regular, water main fixes, gas line fixes, Verizon upgrades and PEPCO updates that just add to the mayhem.?
I am not exactly sure why there has been an increase of late, but always, 11th St has been the ¡°traffic corridor¡¯ on the south side of the park. ?Years ago, way before my time, there was talk of building the freeway to connect the 395 with the 295 (I think) and the CHRS shut that down. I would bet Robert Pohl can give more history behind it¡ but for as long as we¡¯ve been here, 11th St has been more of a highway than a residential street. ?
Also, as I¡¯ve been digging around on how to calm traffic in the ally - I learned more about the traffic calming pilots you¡¯ve seen around the Hill (and across the city). ?Seems that the city is pointing more traffic TO 11th St than away from it. And trying to keep ¡°THRU¡± traffic off of streets like 10th and 12th¡ I am no expert, but this seems to be the theme/goal. ?
Steve H our ANC rep has been great with answering questions and he put me in touch with?
Andrew.Defrank@... ?with DDOT who has also been helpful but works within the constraints of DC Gov. (Side note he grew up on the Hill so he¡¯s sympathetic to concerns). ?That is one reason I just hung SLOW signs in the alley b/c he said it could take a year to even get signs, let alone speed bumps ?¡ª and b/c we are an alley - we may not be eligible for traffic calming measures. ?Now, if we can become an official ¡°street¡± through Haley¡¯s efforts that could help with getting more traffic calming measures in place.?
Soooo not sure if I¡¯ve been helpful, but I agree that there is more heavy truck traffic on 11th Street ?- but I fear that is part of the ¡°plan¡±.
Love to hear others thoughts, insights as well. ?And I¡¯d be happy to take our concerns forward with Steve and Andrew¡?
Cheers to the BEST alley on the Hill! ?As Jonathon Gillibrand said the other day - there are some RAT alleys and some CAT alleys, but ours is a DOG alley - meaning, we are lucky to have the alley we do!?
Martha Stracener Dantzic
213 11th. St. SE
202-669-3818 cell
Hello neighbors,
It¡¯s Laurie Gillman at 255 11th (corner of 11th and C with the tall hedge). ??Over the last few years since the 11th st ramp to the freeway opened, the traffic on our street has really increased. The last couple of years seems to have brought on a huge increase in large trucks and construction vehicles. Am I imagining this?
I assume I notice as we¡¯re home more often during the pandemic, but the increase in construction vehicles seems to have grown during this time. It starts very early, and our house shakes regularly due to the large, rattling vehicles. Does anyone know why this increase may be? Is 11th a cut through to the freeway from...I don¡¯t know where?
With all the traffic slow down measures elsewhere in the neighborhood , I wondered if there¡¯s a path for including 11th st in any of these programs, ?as we are part of the residential neighborhood. Even though it feels like we live on a highway at our house!
Thanks for any ideas, insights, and
observations.
Laurie Gillman
