East Side Solution: One-Way Streets?
By • November 22, 2017 0 426
By Don Crockett
I have lived in Georgetown since 1973 and have seen many negative changes in the ease of driving on many of our narrow streets , which were not designed for modern-day vehicular traffi c. Let me respond to The Georgetowner’s Nov. 8 editorial on traffic.
Many new SUVs are much wider than the station wagons of yore. When two such vehicles are parked across from one another, it becomes very difficult to pass an oncoming vehicle (car, SUV or truck), and both vehicles must slow to a creep to avoid knocking rear view mirrors off the parked cars.
There are also many more wide service and delivery trucks that must both drive and park on our residential streets. Many of those trucks are so wide that they cannot pass an ordinary sedan coming in the opposite direction, which forces one vehicle to either wait at the intersection or to pull into an open space to allow the other vehicle to pass.
There are several very difficult areas that need immediate attention, such as the 1200 block of 28th Street NW and the 3100 block of N Street NW.
The “narrow street” problem on the west side of Georgetown was solved many years ago by making 33rd and 34th Streets one-way. I believe that it is now past time to finish that traffic-calming job on the east side of Georgetown.
Accordingly, a traffic study should be conducted to determine whether the following streets on the east side of Wisconsin Avenue should be converted to one-way: 29th and 31st Streets to one-way north; 28th and 30th Streets to one-way south; and N Street to one-way west.
