The rise and fall of a safer 8th Street NE

Last September – after nearly a decade of planning and engagement – plans to improve school traffic safety on a ½ mile unprotected on-street portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Edgewood came to a halt.

For months, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), the agency that oversees and implements projects like this, residents, and business owners in the neighborhood seemed supportive of adding protected bike lanes in some fashion on this street.

And while there are now signs of progress as DDOT recently promised new designs and added 8th Street to its 2022 protected bike lane plans, the saga of 8th Street epitomizes the often-frustrating struggle to build safer streets throughout DC. And to figure out how we got here, it helps to see where we started.

A decade-long trek to the brink of success…

The MBT is one of DC’s premier trails – a conduit for Ward 4 and 5 residents – currently expanding to Ft. Totten, Takoma, and Silver Spring to the north, and growing through Edgewood, Eckington, and NoMa to the south. It’s one of DC’s few beginner-friendly, off-street, fully-protected urban trails.

Except on 8th Street NE where, for half a mile, cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers must contend with each other, traffic two new apartment buildings, a slew of heavy trucks, and daily pick-up/drop-off traffic at four (soon to be five) charter schools.

The effort to protect or re-route the MBT along 8th Street stretches back more than a decade. A parallel effort to improve school traffic safety goes back just as far.

When I became ANC Commissioner for 5E01 in 2019, DDOT had just nixed plans for a protected bike lane along the east side of 8th Street. Meanwhile, schools, parents, businesses, and residents were begging for help.

That spring, DDOT had completed its second school traffic safety study in five years. That study, like a 2014 study, recommended converting a portion of 8th St NE to one-way, northbound. The agency developed two compatible concepts for protected bike lanes on the west side of 8th Street. One proposal would convert all of 8th St to one-way but would preserve more parking; the other would keep most of 8th St two-way but remove more parking.

Based on feedback from businesses and residents, after a series of public meetings on its proposals in the summer of 2019, DDOT decided to further study the one-way option.

DDOT completed its analysis in September 2020, and officially recommended converting all of 8th St NE to one-way, with a west-side protected bike lane. I agreed: the one-way option improved school and pedestrian safety, minimized conflicts, and preserved more parking, with minimal impact on adjacent streets. As my ANC term ended in January 2021, DDOT continued to engage with businesses and residents in Edgewood.

Finally, in May 2021, DDOT announced that it was ready to move forward, improve school safety, and connect the MBT.

Then it all fell apart.

…Unravels in a matter of weeks

Two days after DDOT’s announcement, 13 businesses on 8th St sent a letter to DDOT Director Everett Lott and Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie opposing the one-way conversion. While the businesses “support[ed] DDOT’s proposal to add a bike lane,” they believed that a one-way 8th Street would “have a significant, detrimental impact on our existing businesses and economic development in the area.”

At first, DDOT held firm, with DDOT Director Lott stating in a letter that closing the gap in the MBT has been a longstanding goal of the agency and that the one-way proposal “strikes a balance of preserving access to businesses, providing dedicated space for bicyclists, and preserving on-street parking for residents and business customers where possible.”

DDOT met with the 8th Street businesses in late August. In early September, the businesses reaffirmed their opposition to the one-way plan, but expressed support for a protected bike lane, two-way traffic, and less parking.

By September 16, the entire project was dead.

The bureaucratic blame game

The 8th Street debacle is particularly frustrating because the public input process worked as it should. DDOT staff developed tangible proposals based on traffic safety studies. Residents and businesses provided feedback on those proposals at public meetings and through direct engagement.

DDOT incorporated that feedback, conducted additional analysis, and issued a recommendation. Voices were heard and considered, and a decision was made. And yet there are no protected bike lanes on that portion of 8th Street.

Hope on the horizon, and a path forward

The clock is ticking on 8th Street. Already overwhelmed by four charter schools, a fifth school will open next fall. A new, 360-unit apartment building will begin leasing this year; a 150-unit building opened last year. DDOT is expanding the MBT to the north and south as DC’s bike boom continues unabated. These factors invite a diverse array of trail users onto the MBT only to thrust them into an increasingly dangerous zone on an unprotected 8th Street.

DDOT has since confirmed plans to introduce a new safety plan this spring. It must follow through. The 8th Street businesses need to step up. Residents and trail users also need to keep up the pressure.

Meanwhile, DDOT and elected officials must deliver safer streets without requiring unsustainable persistence by residents, or outright tragedy. Years of engagement and study cannot collapse at the slightest pushback, taking safer streets across DC with it. 8th Street – an opportunity to protect five schools and close a gap in DC’s premier urban trail – is an important test.