Building Resilient Streets in Washington D.C.
By: Debs Schrimmer (Senior Manager, Future of Cities) and Marisa Rodriguez-McGill (Senior Manager, Transit, Bikes, and Scooter Policy)
COVID-19 has transformed the country and puts cities at an inflection point for their transportation systems. At the peak of the pandemic, WMATA’s rail ridership declined 90%. The system is taking steps to promote public health and safety, such as requiring face masks and enhancing cleaning protocols for stations and vehicles. These efforts have helped increase ridership and WMATA is even planning to ramp up service to 70% of pre-pandemic levels. Despite the positive trend in ridership and emerging evidence that the transit system was likely never a major vector for the spread of the virus in the first place, thousands of people are still reconsidering their transportation options.
At the same time, the number of people biking and riding scooters has soared. Micromobility has become a preferred socially distant, open-air form of transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the D.C. metro area, Capital Bikeshare has become a means for thousands of critical workers to continue getting to work, a way for people to get fresh air and exercise, and is playing an important role in the District’s transportation network.
It’s more important than ever for Washington D.C. to help encourage sustainable transportation, and to make its streets a safe place for everyone using them.
In partnership with Sam Schwartz Engineering and Street Plans, we looked at how street design could further encourage Washingtonians to take more trips on foot and bikes.
Reimagining Our Streets
Before the pandemic, about 58% of all commuters in Washington D.C. were making trips on transit, foot, or bike every day. This amounted to 1.1 million sustainable commute trips each day- with 970,000 of them being made on Metrorail and Metrobus.
Given this, public transit can and must continue to be the backbone of Washington D.C.’s transportation network. But with no vaccine in place yet and social distancing being widely practiced, transit simply will not be able to move as many people as compared to pre-pandemic times.
At the same time, D.C. streets cannot handle a potential influx of former transit riders turning to car ownership and driving alone. Our streets need to be redesigned to make it safe and comfortable for walking and biking.
To better understand the experiences of people living, commuting, working, and owning businesses along the corridors, Lyft Transit, Bikes & Scooters hosted a design charrette and workshop with local organizations. During the workshop, the Anacostia Business Improvement District, goDCgo, WABA, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), and other community members shared feedback on local mobility needs, upcoming agency initiatives, and their ideas for the corridor.
The hypothetical corridor is separated by the Anacostia River, which runs between Ward 8, and Ward 6. The corridor highlights stark contrasts between household incomes (Ward 8 has a $36,697 median household income while Ward 6 has a median household income of $110,215), major disparities in safe transportation infrastructure and public health outcomes, and rising concerns about gentrification.
The corridor has potential to help reduce transportation barriers to healthcare, better connect residents with outdoor, recreation and civic spaces, drive economic development along the commercial district, and ultimately provide greater accessibility.
Martin Luther King Jr Avenue SE and Good Hope Road SE (Anacostia)
The Anacostia neighborhood is just south of the 11th Street Bridge, where the new 11th Street Bridge Park will begin construction in 2021. The Park is being designed to serve as an anchor for inclusive economic opportunity, re-engage residents with the Anacostia River, improve public health disparities, and foster civic connections.
During Phase 1 of COVID-19, Capital Bikeshare saw a surge in popularity among stations located along the Anacostia Waterfront, where three bikeshare stations increased by over 300 spots in popularity ranking, becoming some of the most highly used stations across the entire system. Pairing this growing demand for active transportation with safe and convenient places to ride will support Anacostia’s trajectory as a clean, safe and vibrant community.
Through workshops with local community groups, the following street design and infrastructure elements were proposed:
- Enhance Capital Bikeshare availability with additional stations that incorporate green infrastructure, mitigating stormwater and enhancing the streetscape.
- Add a ridesharing pick-up/drop-off zone on the south side of Good Hope Road SE.
- Consolidate westbound vehicular turn and thru lanes to accommodate a bi-directional, curb-protected micromobility lane designed to link up with the 11th Street Bridge entrance and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.
- Consolidate north and southbound vehicular turn and travel lanes to allow for the implementation of bus lanes, to be operational at peak hours and during off-peak hours used as metered on-street parking.
- Add bus shelters and shade trees along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE to support increased level of comfort for riders.
M Street SE and 2nd Place SE (Navy Yard)
M Street is the main thoroughfare for the still-developing Navy Yard, which has become one of the fastest growing centers of employment, entertainment, and residential growth in the District. At present, M Street is a six-lane, east-west minor arterial with excess road capacity that prioritizes the movement of cars over people. While the lots and parcels along M Street have largely been accounted for, many new developments are still yet to be built. This makes right now the perfect time to think about how the corridor can safely and effectively balance the travel needs of residents, visitors, and workers who will be coming to the retail, jobs, and housing that is planned for the area.
If M Street were to become a “Resilient Street”, community groups suggested that it might:
- Reassign two vehicular travel lanes to accommodate bi-directional Car-Free bus lanes.
- Create protected micromobility lanes that incorporate green infrastructure.
- Resolve bus boarding and micromobility conflicts with bus boarding islands that accommodate people on bicycles and scooters.
- Enhance Capital Bikeshare access with more bikes, and install stations that can charge ebikes and have green infrastructure to help retain stormwater runoff.
Resilient Street Corridor: Washington D.C. Case Study
Next, we studied the socioeconomic, mode shift, and environmental impacts of street design changes along a hypothetical corridor across Ward 8 and the Navy Yard. The corridor spanned the neighborhoods of Anacostia, Barry Farm, Congress Heights, Douglass, the Southwest Waterfront, and the Navy Yard.
The analysis considered both a “No Action” scenario, where the corridor remained unchanged from its existing conditions, and a “Resilient Streets” scenario, where the streets along the corridor were enhanced with street design and infrastructure changes proposed in the workshop.
When comparing the No Action scenario to the Resilient Streets scenario, the Resilient Street scenario uses space more efficiently to serve more people. It has the potential to accommodate 18,000 daily walking and biking trips, expanding transportation access for nearly 29,000 low-income households near the corridor.
Local Community Demographics
The proposed Resilient Street corridor is within one-mile of 110,000 Washington D.C. residents along the Southwest Waterfront and Ward 8. These residents are:
Transit dependent: The corridor is within one-mile of 17,000 zero-car households. About 39% of commuters rely on transit, though Ward 8 and the District as a whole experienced significant cuts in service this summer due to COVID-19. However, nearly 62% of households within one-mile of the corridor have access to a vehicle, which puts them at high risk of choosing to drive given COVID-19 conditions.
Mixed income: There are a range of income levels along the corridor, with massive economic inequality on either side of the Anacostia River. For example, Ward 8 has a median household income of $36,697, as compared to $82,604 for the District as a whole. There are 29,000 low-income households along the corridor, who may not have the options to increase transportation spending and depend on access to affordable transportation options.
Primarily Black and African American: The corridor serves predominantly Black neighborhoods. According to the Census’ American Community Survey data, about 69% of residents identify as Black, 25% of residents identify as White, 2% of residents identify as Asian, 2% of residents identify as other, and 2% of residents identify as two or more races. About 4% of residents ethnically identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Essential workers: 26,000 people work in education, healthcare, warehousing, transportation, and utilities industries, which represents about 55% of total workers in the study area.
Findings and Impact
Looking at the corridor’s current commute characteristics, and given the impact of COVID-19 on transit ridership, Sam Schwartz Engineering estimates at least 9,000 morning commuters who previously relied on A9, A2, A6, A8, W6, W8, P6, 90, the WMATA Green Line, and the DC Circulator will be looking for another commute option as the District reopens and more daily travel resumes.
If no action is taken and streets remain as they are today, Sam Schwartz Engineering’s analysis finds that only 1,200 of these displaced transit riders (about 15% of total transit riders along the corridor) would begin to walk or bike: potentially adding thousands of single occupancy vehicle trips to the transportation network.
The Sam Schwartz Engineering team then looked at the “Resilient Streets” scenario, which took into account a range of street design and infrastructure changes along the corridor to help support walking, biking, and transit — including new bike lane infrastructure, restricted vehicle access on certain streets, enhanced transit boarding stations, and the growth of Capital Bikeshare and the recent launch of ebikes.
Adding “Resilient Street” infrastructure and design changes along the Navy Yard and Ward 8 would generate demand and provide safe facilities for 18,000 daily sustainable biking and walking trips: saving 54,000 vehicle miles traveled daily and removing 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Resilient Streets are the Future
As the District thinks about the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on its transportation network, especially with the potential of thousands of former transit riders looking for new options, the District will need to take bold actions to provide sustainable transportation options for pre-COVID-19 transit users.
The District has taken some important first steps, starting with the creation of its Slow Streets program in June 2020, quick-build improvements that provide temporary space for walking and biking. DDOT has also expanded Car Free Lanes to promote efficient and reliable bus service and create additional space for bike and scooter travel on some of our busiest corridors.
However, effort needs to be put into transitioning the current Slow Streets and Car Free Lanes programs into something more long term: streets that don’t just allow for social distancing while walking and biking around a neighborhood, but networked streets that also allow for quick and safe transportation between neighborhoods.
We need to build on this momentum and take these concepts even further — thinking about permanence, about providing equitable access, and about expanding their reach to not only serve short local trips, but also to provide connectivity for medium-to-long distances for longer commutes. It’s time to embrace resilient streets and expand transportation access to help people get around the District in a variety of sustainable ways.
To support longer term change on the streets, you can get involved:
Community advocates at Washington Area Bicyclist Association are urging regional elected officials to start the future resiliency process right away. Sign their call to action to make sure that D.C. is set up for not only recovery, but for a new normal with expanded access to safe, affordable, and sustainable mobility choices for all street users!
