Survey about safety improvements at Sherman Circle, Grant Circle, and a neighborhood clean-up tomorrow!
(tl;dr - take this survey about how to improve traffic safety in Sherman Circle!)
Last week, as I was about to head in to my office, I looked outside my front window and saw this scene:
A cyclist traveling around Sherman Circle had been hit by a driver turning onto the Circle from Illinois Ave. Fortunately, the rider escaped with relatively minor injuries, but it was a scary incident and a stark reminder of the ongoing dangers to vulnerable road users here.
With that in mind, I want to re-engage with DDOT about continuing to improve safety around Sherman Circle, and I would love to hear from you. There are many potential safety improvements our community could seek at Sherman Circle, and it will be important for DDOT to know which ones our community does and does not support. If you are able to take a few minutes to fill out a very short survey about traffic safety at Sherman Circle, it will be a huge help in guiding engagement with the city about what to do here!
The four main options I’m asking for you all to share your thoughts on are:
Leaving Sherman Circle as it is rather than continuing changes to traffic patterns there;
Seeking to install raised crosswalks at the intersections leading into the Circle (e.g., across Kansas Ave and Illinois Ave) to slow traffic down on its way into and out of the Circle;
Seeking to install raised crosswalks within the Circle, to slow traffic down as it is driving around the Circle;
Re-visiting DDOT’s recommendation from 2016 to narrow Sherman Circle to one lane, preserving most street parking but shortening crosswalks in the Circle and building a raised bike path.
Grant Circle walkthrough, Wednesday Nov. 8 at 4:30pm
For those looking for a preview of how DDOT is thinking about traffic safety in Petworth’s circles, ANC 4C is hosting a meeting with DDOT about traffic safety at Grant Circle this coming Wednesday afternoon. I plan to be there to listen in (and maybe see if we can get DDOT inspired about similar work a few blocks north!), and any others who might be interested are welcome as well!
Sherman Circle cleanup tomorrow morning (Sat. Nov. 4)!
I know it’s late notice, sorry I couldn’t get my newsletter out in time, but our new neighborhood Friends of Sherman Circle group is kicking off its efforts this weekend with a community cleanup at Sherman Circle Saturday morning, starting at 10:00am.
I’m looking forward to beautifying our neighborhood together and chatting with some of you all in the morning!