DDOT: Bureaucracy Instead of Solutions

By K. Denise Rucker Krepp, ANC6B10 Commissioner

For the past several months, I’ve been lobbying DDOT to return the crosswalks they removed at the corner of 19th and A Streets, SE earlier this summer. First, they ignored me. Then they sent a bureaucrat to talk with me. I met with him today and he told me to seek an ANC resolution advocating for the crosswalk’s return. Residents are risking their lives everyday to cross 19th Street and DDOT wants me to paper the problem before they take measures to solve it?

Every afternoon, thousands of Maryland drivers zoom down 19th Street, SE on their way home from work. They speed through the yellow-almost-red light at the intersection of 19th and Independence Avenue, SE. They must get to East Capitol Street without hitting the brakes, it seems. They don’t stop for children or elderly residents.

Mornings aren’t much better.

The DDOT bureaucrat’s refusal to provide help today is remarkable given the agency’s push this summer to promote Vision Zero, to reduce traffic fatalities. According to their website, the initiative aims to improve pedestrian safety. I met with some of the Vision Zero representatives in July at Eastern Market to talk about the positive steps that the city is taking to protect Washington pedestrians from Maryland drivers who view our streets as a racetrack. Wow. Finally, someone understands the problem! But then I met the bureaucrat this morning and all I could think of was the thousands of DC taxpayer dollars wasted on a showy initiative that clearly lacks substance.

Stating that you want to improve pedestrian safety isn’t enough. If DDOT wants to accomplish this mission, it must take concrete steps to do so. One such step is to replace the missing crosswalk on 19th Street. Anything less is unacceptable.