18th Street in Adams Morgan was a pedestrian zone for one weekend in June. What happened?

On the last weekend in June, 18th Street NW was fully closed to vehicle traffic to create a pedestrian and bike-only space between Kalorama and Columbia Roads. The pedestrian zone proved popular, and it was the first time we saw the District completely reallocate street space to allow for outdoor dining and social distancing as a response to the pandemic. The pedestrian zone made 18th Street feel safe and vibrant, and proved to be a benefit for both residents and businesses.

Between the end of June and now, neighborhood leaders and businesses have asked for the pedestrian zone to continue, but nothing has happened. Why?

How the pilot came to be

Opening 18th Street for pedestrians has been a topic of conversation for many years. It came up in conversations around the intensive streetscape redesign in 2011 and 2012, which eliminated diagonal parking, expanded sidewalks, planted new trees and upgraded utilities.

But of course, that conversation changed drastically this summer, when many saw a pedestrian zone and expanded outdoor seating not just as a nice-to-have but a must-have to continue the safety of pedestrians and the survival of small businesses.

Large-scale transmission of COVID-19, thought by many experts to be the key driver of the pandemic’s spread, has been shown to occur almost entirely in poorly ventilated, crowded, indoor environments. (One report noted that more COVID cases were tracked to a single indoor restaurant in Michigan than all of the outdoor Black Lives Matters protests across the country throughout the summer, underscoring the risk differential between indoor and outdoor activity). So managed outdoor activity on 18th Street presents a significantly lower-, possibly minimal-risk alternative to the indoor recreation and services that people still clearly want to do. In Adams Morgan especially, most service-focused businesses are in old row houses converted into commercial spaces with tight interiors and little to no outdoor seating, which makes creating additional space even more essential to their survival.

Business interest was not the only reason to limit motor vehicle traffic on 18th Street. It is one of the most dangerous corridors for pedestrians and cyclists in the surrounding area, and the rise of ride-hailing services has created intense congestion on 18th during peak nighttime hours.

As the intensity of the COVID-19 virus’ initial lockdown accelerated the need for businesses to be able to utilize more outdoor space, a group called Imagine Adams Morgan led by the Adams Morgan Commercial Development Coalition, in partnership with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C and the Adams Morgan Partnership BID (AMPBID), the Reed Cooke Neighborhood Association and the Adams Morgan Community Alliance (Adams Morgan Day organizers) began talking about the idea of a motor vehicle-free zone.

The Adams Morgan Commercial Development Coalition hired architects Perkins Eastman to develop a variety of different plans to provide for use of public and private space in Adams Morgan to accommodate business and pedestrian traffic. Public charrettes were organized on May 14, May 22 and May 31. A modified version of one of the consultants’ designs was approved by ANC 1C and the Adams Morgan Partnership BID, but it took several weeks of advocacy for the plan to be implemented by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), which originally planned only for parklet seating.

At the last charette at the end of May, a representative from the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs joined the Zoom call and unexpectedly announced that they wanted to close 18th Street and presented some preliminary plans to the group. Since there had been a community-driven process started a few weeks before, the sudden interest from DC government was welcomed and participants were hopeful the process would continue to be collaborative.

Three days without cars

During that weekend the absence of drivers on 18th Street made the roads wonderfully quiet with only laughter and voices - no honking car horns. Hundreds of people used the space for recreation while social distancing, and of course eating and shopping over the three days.

The parking garage to which drivers were directed with signage remained under capacity, and there was little to no increase in traffic on adjacent streets. As has been reported, traffic has an uncanny ability to vanish when you close streets and provide sufficient direction to drivers on alternatives. Directing drivers to the garage with signage rather than allowing them to circle for street parking, likely cut down on traffic.

As reported in the DCist, District officials seemed pleased with the event and spoke about working with businesses in the future.

What happened after

While the pilot appeared to be a success from a transportation management standpoint, businesses, their staff and the AMPBID were given less than a week to prepare for a total reconfiguration of the street, not to mention the additional mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines that were just being figured out (this was the same week the District moved into Phase 2).

The call was made to pause the pilot for the next weekend because of limited DC government resources, due to the Fourth of July holiday, but there was every intention to continue it afterwards. To that end, the Mayor’s Office requested a detailed public health plan to address mask compliance and social distancing but gave a 12-hour turnaround time to produce the plan. The Adams Morgan Partnership BID had collected data on mask-wearing by users on 18th Street and found very high compliance — 90% or better most of the time.

After that plan was submitted to DC Health, the Mayor’s Office informed the Partnership and ANC1C on July 10 that the pilot would not be allowed to continue during the Public Health Emergency, with no further explanation.

The Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture (MONC), told the Adams Morgan groups on July 10 that DC Health had objections, but the plan’s proponents have not been allowed to talk with DC Health throughout the whole process. The administration has allowed bars and restaurants to reopen since the end of June, with some associated health risks and economic benefits, including at 50% indoors.

Another concern expressed was about public drinking in the pedestrian zone. The jersey barriers provided by DDOT lent themselves to making easy benches for gathering — especially since not every business had its permits and insurance ready for the initial pilot, leaving many of the parklets empty. The public safety plan submitted to the government included a full roster of volunteers, staff, signage, permanent hand sanitizer stations, free mask distribution, etc… to educate and prevent public consumption in the pedestrian zone, but that plan has not yet been allowed to be tested.

This probably shouldn’t be so hard

This process has revealed how much the District’s tactical urbanism efforts are frequently hamstrung by agencies that may not directly deal with transportation. Many of the businesses weren’t initially able to utilize outdoor seating because of onerous insurance requirements from the Office of Risk Management (ORM) — which in turn encouraged close gathering and public consumption.

There was also the matter of the intensive staffing and physical infrastructure it took to enforce the pedestrian zone. Large dump trucks were parked at every major entrance and had to be constantly staffed. This is far less difficult in other jurisdictions. San Francisco has closed similar streets to traffic with little more than cones and water-filled barriers. New York City has been using wooden sawhorses to close streets for festivals for many years.

Much of this comes from the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) and the Mayor’s Special Events Task Force. HSEMA is effectively DC’s local Department of Homeland Security, and part of its mission is safety during large events. Alongside ORM, the intense liability culture at many these local agencies has been difficult to overcome.

The administration justified the concrete jersey barriers largely because 18th is a non-local road that sees more vehicle traffic. Some of the street closures in Dupont Circle, for instance, are local roads and only require water-filled barriers. But even within DC these requirements don’t seem to be implemented equally. M Street in Georgetown, for instance, is an even more high-traffic arterial than 18th, but has allowed businesses to implement outdoor seating with little more than temporary metal fencing.

The frequent excuse for this dynamic is that DC is the nation’s capital, and as such needs more careful security guidelines when it comes to things like street festivals.

What now?

Though DDOT left most of the jersey barriers in place on 18th Street after the initial pedestrian zone to create parklet seating space, continuing to allow vehicle traffic on the street has created crowded spaces on the sidewalks and perhaps less safe sidewalks if residents want to continue following social distancing guidelines — many people live on 18th Street too, above or next to various bars, restaurants, and retail stores.

The on-and-off nature of the street intervention in Adams Morgan has kept some businesses from capitalizing on the parklet space, not wanting to call employees back in while the situation feels uncertain. Right now, 18th Street is confusing for drivers and, as a result, unsafe — again — for pedestrians, people on bikes, scooters, unicycles, diners and shoppers. This limbo is inconsistent and is probably slightly worse than the original status quo. Consistency is important for all users.

Resident and business groups continue to push for a dialogue with the Mayor’s Office and DC Health as well as other involved agencies about how to make this work. Whether that’s with sand trucks and security at a higher cost but perhaps much lower than the pilot, or a less costly system more like in other cities, that can bring health and economic benefits to Adams Morgan without a heavy police presence.

The proponents would also simply like the opportunity to understand concerns and work to adapt the plan to solve them. Otherwise, Adams Morgan businesses will be more at risk of closure, and more people may turn to riskier indoor environments for dining or recreating, if these opportunities are not allowed to continue.