Adams Morgan stakeholders grapple over road safety improvements

Adams Morgan community stakeholders are pushing for road changes that would increase safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, potentially shift bus routes, and limit vehicle access to major thoroughfares in the neighborhood.

To address growing pains in the area, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) began drafting the Columbia Road Bus Priority Plan in 2021. It aims to improve infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, and bus commuters by rethinking how street space is utilized by various modes of transit. Currently, this project is still in the investigation stage and construction is expected to begin in 2023.

In addition to the bus plan, Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Peter Wood is pushing for the dedication of Wyoming Avenue NW and Kalorama Road NW as one-way streets to allow for parking and bike lanes.

With safe multimodal transportation as a key agenda on his platform, he says his top priority is looking out for cyclists and pedestrians by “ensuring that a bad day doesn’t turn into a fatal day” for them.

Frustration from commuters

Both Maria Felenyuk and Daniel Abrams are DC residents who bike through Adams Morgan on a regular basis for work. However, they have conflicting thoughts on the best ways to navigate the shared roadways.

Felenyuk doesn’t mind the commute. “My only struggle is the uneven road surface on Columbia Road that pushes me close to the cars,” she said. “The streateries function as road narrowing which makes everyone go slow and forces people to share the road. It feels safer to me than it was before.”

Abrams, however, gets nervous biking through the area. “I have close safety calls almost every day,” he said. “As a city, we have to adapt to changing circumstances. More and more people are using bikes as their main option for commuting to work and school.”

Felenyuk and Abrams have at least one shared dislike about their travels: the sharrows on Adams Morgan streets. “It reinforces a bad concept that unless there are bikes spray-painted on the roads then we aren’t allowed to bike on it,” Felenyuk said. Abrams dislikes them for another reason. “They are understandably frustrating to both drivers and bikers,” he said. “Everyone would be better served and happier with fully segregated bike lanes.”

Ultimately, Felenyuk, Abrams, and Wood hope to see parts of 18th Street closed off to traffic for pedestrian-only use, which could be in the works.

The Adams Morgan Business Improvement District has been pushing for approval to repeat the pilot pedestrian zone program launched in 2020, according to Kristen Barden, the group’s executive director. It allowed for a portion of 18th Street to become a car-free zone for a weekend.

“We now have a grant from the Office of Planning to do just that one weekend each month between June and November. We hope to launch the first weekend closure June 10-12,” she said.

Though this isn’t a permanent solution to congestion and safety issues in Adams Morgan, it’s a start and it could influence future decisions about which modes of transportation are prioritized on 18th Street, according to Wood. “The city is dense and there’s a lot of conflicting uses,” he said. “It’s hard to squeeze everything together.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, streateries were introduced in many DC neighborhoods, including Adams Morgan. Currently, patrons of 18th Street and Columbia Road are adapting to their popularity, even as many of them push past parking spaces and into street easements.

To help distinguish between where streateries begin and the road begins, DDOT re-striped the popular strip of 18th Street in 2021 and added cement barriers.

Though most community members don’t seem to mind the squeeze caused by streateries, there are safety issues that arise due to narrow roadways and limited visibility caused by pop-up structures. After receiving complaints about streateries crossing over into bike lanes, DDOT relocated some of the barriers, according to a spokesperson for the transit agency.

In April, DDOT ordered a streatery near Nationals Park to dismantle its patio citing “safety concerns” but it’s unclear if any such orders have been issued for Adams Morgan streateries.

Moving forward, DDOT and Mayor Bowser’s office are expected to finalize permanent streatery regulations that further break down safety considerations.

Disclosure: The Adams Morgan BID is a member of DC Sustainable Transportation, a coalition run by GGWash.