Commissioner Green on Hard-fought Improvements Coming to Sheriff Road NE
After years of advocacy, direct organizing, and intense pressure by the Deanwood community, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced last week to Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 7C of the goal to implement a corridor-wide traffic safety improvement plan for Sheriff Road NE, from 44th Street to Eastern Avenue. DDOT stated they are currently in the process of designing a concept which addresses lane narrowing, parking adjustments, and extending pedestrian refuge island approach tapers. I anticipate this concept to be shared with the ANC and the community by the end of November 2021 for input and feedback.
In the last six years, there have been over 150 vehicle crashes on Sheriff Road. A majority of those vehicle crashes have been happening on the 5100 block, and that block has been the most dangerous block in my ANC-single member district. I can’t tell you how financially and emotionally devastating this has been for residents and business owners along this corridor. And for a long time, the only traffic safety measures we’ve received were the flawed placements of pedestrian islands and increased police traffic stops that have caused more trauma for community members. It is time we fix the entirety of our traffic infrastructure on Sheriff Road and I’m proud of our fight to deliver on this major priority for the Deanwood community.
When I testified earlier this year before the DC Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment, I echoed the voices of our mothers that have been crying out for solutions to our violent car culture and fought to fully fund the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act to prevent these horrible vehicle crashes from happening in the first place. After the Lane Street pedestrian bridge collapse over DC-295, I worked collaboratively with my ANC colleagues from across the city to elevate the need for key federal investments to address this historic inequity that has produced concentrated air pollution and increased traffic congestion on residential roads.
Investing in infrastructure helps spur economic growth in the areas in Deanwood we have long planned as a community to provide the necessary jobs and small-business opportunities. A new green infrastructure project that will bring traffic calming benefits to 49th Street and Just Street, while reducing water quantity impacts on the Anacostia River from stormwater and the effects of climate change. And I’m proud to be working closely with DC Water to soon put forth solutions to the complex water infrastructure issues affecting residents in the former Suburban Village properties. After the sinkhole that left two season citizens without homes three years ago, I worked hard to get targeted investments to improve our out-dated water infrastructure to improve water quality across the neighborhood.
At the end of April of this year, Edgar Isiah Delcid was fatally hit by a car while riding a scooter at 51st & Lee Street, just one street over from Sheriff Road. Our collective fight for safer roads must uphold the memories of people that have died due to the District’s failure to act, especially in Black and Brown communities that have fought for a very long time for vital traffic safety enhancements across our community.
