Congress Heights road where driver hit two children is slated for traffic calming
Wheeler Rd SE in Congress Heights. Image from DDOT's Complete Streets page.
A driver reportedly hit two children and their father on Wednesday morning in Congress Heights. Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White said in an Instagram post that two children and their father were critically injured. The incident happened on National Walk to School Day.
WUSA9 reports that police say the children and their father will survive, and that the driver may be charged. All three pedestrians were in a crosswalk.
Further details about the incident are as of yet unclear. But we do know that the intersection at which the crash took place, at Wheeler Road and Mississippi Avenue SE, is a known crash hot spot.
More than a dozen crashes resulted in injuries at or near that intersection since 2017, according to DC Vision Zero data. A cyclist was killed there in 2015, DC data shows.
To address traffic safety issues, Wheeler Road is the subject of an ongoing Complete Streets project launched by the District Department of Transportation. It’s been in the works since at least 2019.
The project, which launched a public input process this spring, includes a proposed road diet as well as pedestrian islands, curb extensions, and automated traffic cameras.
A July 2019 fact sheet shows a diagram of proposed changes to the Wheeler Road and Mississippi Avenue intersection including two bike lanes and a turn lane. Today, that stretch of Wheeler is a four-lane road.