I-95 Traffic Camera Article

Byline: Douglas Noble

Washington Post faculty writer Del Quentin Wilber reports in Thursday's Post that a new study shows the number of neighborhood intersections deemed uncommonly dangerous by traffic engineers nearly doubled last year. The city-funded resolution endow that 330 intersections had at minimal 10 crashes, up from 176 in 2003, Wilber reports.

decipher the Full Story: Hot Spots for Crashes extend (Post, Oct. 6)

List of Dangerous Intersections in the District (Post, Oct. 6)

Douglas Noble, chief traffic engineer for the . Department of Transportation, was online Thursday, Oct. 6, at 1 . ET to discuss the study and upcoming traffic projects in the Washington, ., area.

Noble has seventeen years of background in the transportation engineering field and has been the Chief Traffic Engineer for the locale office of Transportation for relatively two years. In this job he is conscientious for the traffic asylum, operations, parking, traffic signal systems and control center, plan review and streetlighting in Washington, .

The transcript follows.

____________________

Douglas Noble: Hello,

Thanks for your questions today. I may not get all of them, there previously a lot in the line. I will have the transcription of the session I will refer anything I don't get to.

If you have a office request please call 727-1000 or on the web at .gov

acknowledgment,

Doug

_______________________

Washington, .: acknowledgment for taking my question.

I am planning to leave town tomorrow around to head toward 270/70 North. What time should I leave by? I was thinking 2:00. What is the best way to get there with the minimal amount of traffic? GW Parkway to 495 or Connecticut to 495?

Douglas Noble: I would suggest Canal Road to Clara Barton Pkway to the Beltway

_______________________

Douglas Noble: Yes, I am. Lights are re-timed on a rotating three year cycle. As mention in the article today, DDOT runs a "pre-timed" signal system theory. This works pretty well in rush hour in and out. However, mid-day and weekends it is tricky. DDOT has a project budgeted (about $10M) over the next several years to invest sensors to allow us

to dynamically change the traffic signals based on the traffic that is on the highway.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: What is your grand plan? What do you bear in mind that will really texture a aberration, on a scale of the Wilson Bridge, Mixing Bowl or even bigger? A new 14th way Bridge, completion of I-95 through the city along the Amtrak direction, an E Street tunnel under the Ellipse? Anything really exciting, or just nibbles along the edges.

Douglas Noble: The East Washington Traffic balm Project which reconstructs the 11th road Bridges and provides the ample connections to 295 at that location. The complete replacement of the South Capitol Street Bridge. Environmental documentation is threshold now with designs

beginning next year.

_______________________

Washington, .: Has the community considered making some lanes in the congested downtown area "no stop/no pickup" lanes? For exemplar, in Hong Kong there are certain sections of roadway distinct with a double profile along the curb. Not even cabbies (who are always looking to make a buck) will stop to pick up or drop off a fare where there is a double direction, because that is a "fluent" lane and stopping there is subject to stiff fines. I think they call them Red Routes in London and the same is true with them -- no stop, no pick up.

Any chance of them coming here?

Douglas Noble: Some portions of I way are already signed in this deportment. As part of the on-going work stemming from the Congestion Management Task force, DDOT is completely re-examining the use of curb extent downtown -- for parking, loading, entrances, traffic lanes, everything to make it more efficient for competing uses.

_______________________

Washington, .: The WWII memorial has become a traffic tie up with cabbies and others dropping off folk all the time on what is a fairly limited (but highly salient) section of 17th road. I've seen Park Police there yelling before, but it seems to no avail.

Why isn't the neighborhood pushing the Park Service to open up the bus/handicap area to taxis and allowing for a taxi rank to be established, instead of having cabs stop in the middle of a extensive road?

Douglas Noble: bless you for your observation. We will observe the issue and ventilate possible solutions with the Park Service.

_______________________

Washington, .: Why doesn't the District use 'Yield lines' painted on the roads (as many surrounding jurisdictions do). At a number of traffic circles, a double line indicating a yield would be highly beneficial, instead of a petty yield sign usually mispositioned and ignored.

Has the vicinity considered this? It's just a bit of paint.

Douglas Noble: Yes -- we have. As we are updating the pavement markings you will see more installation in the tone you represent. The civic traffic control devices was updated with new direction on roundabout and traffic circles. We in turn updating our manuals and installation practices.

_______________________

Suitland, Md.: At what point does a red gentle camera take the picture? I'm worried occasionally when I go through a yellow small that changes to red. Or do the cameras only take pictures of flashy red light runners?

Douglas Noble: The red insignificant camera turns on when the mild changes to red. In event, it is consecutive to the electric load switch that turns on the red portable on that approach to the intersection. It is not pertinent to the traffic signal controller in any appearance.

_______________________

Woodbridge, Va.: I was a . tenant for five years but I tolerate recently moved to Virginia. I think that d. feels traffic signals unfold all problems and that naturally is not the case. For example on New York Avenue (surprise) you have an interstate entrance controlled by a signal with multiple streets intersecting in the immediate vicinity. It is a recipe for disaster. Apart of the mystery is that the highways in DC were made fractional and while that was good for retaining urban fabric, traffic is suffering as a result. Honestly there is no real solution fresh than get more cars off the road. . doesn't procure billions to do something like run I-395 to I-95 under the city, make a NY outlet expressway or any fresh extensive infrastructure project. I expect the resolution ultimately lies in telecommuting and making the undesirable part of the city eligible again. Thank you.

Douglas Noble: acknowledge your for your comment. In truth telecommuting, movement usage, bicycling, walking, and shorting the expanse of trips population take are all key elements of our long range transportation plans for the District. We cannot build our way out of congestion. Our job is to provide people the most efficient way to compose their trip safely by managing the existing philosophy and making targeting diplomatic investments.

_______________________

Washington, .: My question is as a pedestrian who has had many close calls in her seven years in the city. I am very precise not to cross against the nimble or in the middle of the crossing. The biggest problem for pedestrians are drivers making lefts and rights. They look for cars, but not for walkers. I know the city tickets jaywalkers on a normal basis but I'd like to see more ticketing of failure to yield strict of way to pedestrians. Actually I take it back on not crossing against the light. There's a couple of intersections where you're better off waiting for the car traffic to go first. One is at 15th and I. Cars turning westbound onto I will turn even though pedestrians are in the crosswalk. It's safer sometimes at sunrise rush to wait until the cars clear the intersection. Another problem is some walk signs don't always confer pedestrians enough time to cross the passage. They might be fine for people who are fit, but, as I conversant when I injured my leg and had to walk slowly, they sure don't job for the aged or weak. Just my two cents. Thanks.

Douglas Noble: The District is a partner in the regional road Smart campaign at focus on discipline and enforcement of pedestrians and motorists on the rules of the boulevard for crosswalks. as part of job to emend pedestrian safety DDOT has an ongoing program to induct countdown pedestrian signals city-wide and add pedestrian signals were they do not presently exist.

If you obtain a site that you feel is mis-timed enchant call the service request line 727-1000 and DDOT will look into each request

_______________________

Washington, .: I hope when the traffic signals are upgraded to use sensors, some stipulation is made for pedestrians and bicyclists. There's more than just cars out there. I used to bear a signal in Tyson's Corner a block from thing that was totally controlled by the car traffic sensors. If I was benign I could trigger the soft to change for me with my old "cast iron" bicycle, but it was hit or miss. If I was walking, I was totally at the mercy of the car traffic. If no cars came in my direction, I was stuck. These sensor signals should be overridden by a timer at some point, and at this crossing, they weren't.

The fresh issue I undo is with cross walk signals and the "call buttons" that control them. Why don't you traffic engineers appear clean with the public and introduce these are just "placebo buttons"? At the majority of intersections, they have no effect whatsoever, fresh than to amuse or puzzle the pedestrian during the wait. They certainly don't change the light cycle in any perceptable way. Another variant, commonly used in Virginia is a walk call button that has no effect on the timing of the signal. The only thing it does is turn on the walk signal during the normal cycle, which otherwise will not illuminate.

The ONLY walk call buttons I use now are the ones that have an effect on the small era, and these acquire signs indicating one "MUST" throng the button to get a red airy on the cross street. The main examples of ones of this type are on 17th Street at the World War II Memorial.

So, on the non-functional walk call buttons, is this by design ... are they in fact "placebo buttons", or is it lack of maintenance? The effect is the similar, they are totally worthless. Check out the one at 4th and N Sts. SW for a good example.

Douglas Noble: Yes, pedestrians and bicyclist will be provided for in the upgraded timely that will attend the sensors. Today the District has very few pedestrian call buttons of varying age and operability. The ones on 17th Street are newer technology and have had changes to how the push button feign the signal timing.

Sometimes the push buttons do becomes "placebos" because they're broken. I will undo the one you mentioned checked.

_______________________

Washington, .: How much does the Federal regulation budget for Washington . traffic/road work? Considering that a gigantic part of DC's traffic problem are directly germane to the phenomenon that the federal politics is here, I'd think we'd be getting substantial amounts of money from them for improvements. However, I surely wouldn't be surprised if they give us nothing. If we don't get anything from the Federal management, is there anything that we as residents can do to get the government to pay up?

Douglas Noble: We do accept through the Federal Highway enforcement our apportionment as a "state" for roadway projects. (Puerto Rico is likewise a "state" for this purpose). There are some estoric federal financial stipulation winding, however we do entertain over $110 Million for projects. And this year

received an additional $7 Million in redistributed money because DDOT had thoroughly committed its program.

_______________________

fuzzy Bottom, Washington, .: One of the consistently bad retard points along the Anacostia is the 295/S Cap way/ Suitland Parkway interchange. I find that it takes always to inch along the Eastbound Suitland Parkway in the afternoon due to the Stanton Road signal. Can't this signal be lengthened to save the flow moving here? Any plans for an overpass to eliminate this at-grade intersection?

Douglas Noble: This issue is too much traffic for the available capacity of the roadways. Adding additional time to one road will adversely affect the other. The signal already runs the long cycle in the morning and evening rush hour.

This whole area will be redesigned and reconstructed in the coming years with the South Capitol Street Bridge project. The environmental process and maiden engineering design get begun.

_______________________

Washington, .: During Hurricane Rita, I saw all sorts of craziness at gas stations and grocery stores that were on the evacuation routes, with cars gridlocking themselves, mankind filling up gas cans and accordingly doubling the price to cars in line, etc.

Has your office worked with suburban jurisdictions to help deal with some of these problems in a sizable city evacuation?

Douglas Noble: This type of racket is coordinated on an on-going basis with DDOT's emergency preparedness coordinator, the District's exigency government Agency, and the regional partners.

_______________________

Waldorf, Md.: Speaking of signals, I notice each afternoon that the signal at the crossing of Chesapeake Street SW and Overlook Ave SW (the avenue that runs parallel to 295 near Blue Plains) is poorly timed. There is precisely ZERO traffic coming off Chesapeake or Northbound on Overlook, yet the Southbound guidance gets a 10 second green followed by a 2 minute red signal. The backups onto 295 and out of the military bases get really sappy, for no overt reason. Can you look into this signal?

Douglas Noble: Yes, we will. Sounds like a detector is off line. I will get our staff look at this.

blessing

_______________________

Washington, .: What is the purpose of the cameras on Benning passage near the Langston Golf Course? They seem to be absolutely impeding traffic flow.

Douglas Noble: The are two types of cameras in the area. One - traffic

monitoring cameras on the traffic signals for the DDOT

traffic administration center to view traffic conditions. There is again and cosmopolitan police automatic Photo Enforcement site which electronically issues tickets to motorists traveling over the speed limit

Douglas Noble:

_______________________

Bethesda, Md.: A natural sociological question here. With recent technological revolutions giving people uncommon power to tele-transform and for employers to geographically spread out their workforce, one would have expected folk densities to dissipate from the big metro areas. Yet it seems (anecdotally) that the opposite is happening. Do you see metro areas continuing to be the "hives" they are today -- which presumably would justify pressure on traffic management, or will the new "constructive workplace" at some cape arise to alleviate the problem?

Douglas Noble: I the middle on this, so the answer would be -- yes. I presume you will see a split with some people emotional into the civic fabric to be closer to activities -- pursuit and everything else. Another group, will move further out and they're will be virtual work places. You are already seeing some of the west and intermountain states with joyful tech. One can program a computer, maintain a Web site, perform financial analysis from pretty much anywhere you see access to a computer. Billings, Missoula, Boise, Jackson cavity, northern California, Willamette Valley all bear their share of entrepreneur doing this.

_______________________

intimacy Heights, Washington, .: Mr. Noble:

It seems as if traffic lights throughout the city are not properly synchronized.

In upper NW the lights on both Reno artery and Wisconsin entry seem to procure no rhythm or pulse to them. This leads to nonessential delays, air pollution and letdown on the part of suburban drivers and the residents who know to endure the corresponding congestion and racket.

This seems like a pretty basic function of governance and traffic engineering but the city really is not seem up to the task of even the simplest of metropolitan responsibilities.

And three years ago citizens in harmony Heights participated in a city funded traffic study of the neighborhood. But nothing has eternally come of any of the recommendations from that study even though many of them would have improved the functionality of many of the roads and intersections in the territory for only a marginal cost.

Is this city just not capable of action its job?

Douglas Noble: First of all please see my earlier answer on the sensors that we will be installing the next several years. That will help this significantly.

Yes, we do implement recommendations. However, the as latter intimacy demonstrates with the median restraint on River Road, acceptance of the implementation of a study recommendation is not generic.

DDOT is working through the disparate implementation items on the the transportation and traffic calming has definite implementation timelines.

_______________________

Washington, .: I am a department 7 resident; more specifically I live on 38th St SE. My neighbors and I embody been troublesome for some time to get our councilman and DDOT to take action against the ugly speeding problem we bear on our block. Parents and children cross that highway frequently throughout the day, on the way to metro stops, the surroundings library and Anne Beers initial, and we are all so hesitant that an contingency is just waiting to happen. It is not extraordinary for drivers with DC/VA/MD tags to fly down our street at 40 mph or faster, particularly during morning rush hour and later in the evenings. We met with a DDOT representative not too long ago and it seemed like every overtone we made, from implementing a speed bump to getting a traffic patroller to sit on our block with one of those speeding flash cameras, were all turned down. Why is it so unthinkable to get DDOT to help our company fight this very thoughtful traffic problem? What will it take for your department to act on this complication? What do you recommend we do?

Douglas Noble: It is a ugly traffic conundrum. And I would like to see us work through the issue with you and your community. regale e-mail the with your contact info. I will be following up.

_______________________

Maryland: The Post reports that red sunny cameras do not engender intersections safer, in incident they do the opposite. I'm not sure why though. It appears that these cameras are merely revenue generators and the enigma is really with engineering, possible yellow bright timing. Any city pressure to keep the cameras?

Douglas Noble: We welcome the Post's investigation of the camera program. We are looking in more detail at the camera location (on which leg of the crossing) vs. crashes not easily intersection vs. crashes. The issue is more complex than that, like peeling back on onion.

Yellow light timing conforms with the national-accustomed practice for signal timing to allow a vehicle to fully clear an intersection (crosswalk to crosswalk) In event, it exceeds this minimum standard in most cases. In addition, DDOT adds 1-2 seconds of all-red to the timing to assure intermediary clear the intersection

_______________________

Takoma, Washington, .: A few years ago d. did a traffic study in Takoma, ., but d. took very few steps after the study. Why does d. do studies, and again ignore the recommendations? None of the recommendations were very costly ...

Douglas Noble: I beg to diverge but many "dull" recommendations from the study have previously been implemented. A number of items required programming into the roadway program and are scheduled for implementation

_______________________

Washington, .: Is the Michael Baker Co. study on . accidents at . intersections available on the DDOT Web site? Thanks.

Douglas Noble: Not yet. Please hurl an e-mail to the address and we can prepare a PDF file.

_______________________

Washington, .: Will Pennsylvania way ever open repeatedly past the White House? How about E Street?

Douglas Noble: The District would promote that these blocks be reopened. However, we are not the only parties at the table on the issue. Both closures have had a significant effect on the diffusion of traffic downtown.

_______________________

Douglas Noble: A active closing note on the question I did not get to today. I will have a transcription of this chat and will activity to address each issue. If this a specific service request. Please call the Mayor's Call Center at 727-1000

or on the web at .gov

Douglas Noble: In appendage, if you have a specific issue about an ongoing traffic request or project please use the e-mail and leave your contact info.

If you are initiating please use the Call Center number

Thanks for all your questions.

Doug

_______________________

Editor's Note: moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and elect the most admissible questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.