16th Street NW Transit Priority Planning Study

Project Description:

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is undertaking a planning study of the 16th Street, NW, bus line between H Street and Arkansas Avenue to improve transit performance and reliability. The 16th Street line currently serves more than 20,000 bus riders each weekday, making it one of the highest in the region for ridership; more than half of the people traveling on 16th Street in the peak are bus riders.

However, the line suffers from reliability issues and overcrowding, resulting in bus bunching, pass-bys, and slow travel speeds. Motorists also experience significant queuing during rush hours. In addition, 16th Street often serves as a barrier between neighborhoods. Pedestrian crossings are difficult, especially at several complex intersections, and east-west connectivity is limited for vehicles.

Scope: Improve transit service reliability and travel times by identifying and addressing sources of potential issues (e.g., traffic congestion, signal timing, passenger boarding delays, bus capacity, number and location of bus stops, and/or parking enforcement

Study Area: The Study Area is a 2.7-mile stretch of the 16th Street NW corridor served by the 16th Street Line Metrobuses, as displayed in Figure 1. The Primary Study Area encompasses 16th Street NW between H Street NW and Arkansas Avenue NW. The Secondary Study Area maintains H Street NW as the southern boundary with the northern boundary extending to Taylor Street NW. The eastern boundary of the Secondary Study Area is 14th Street NW and the western boundary generally follows the north-south alignment of 18th Street NW. The Study focuses on the impacts to the Primary Study Area. The Secondary Study Area helps to provide context for the community and transportation network beyond the Primary Study Area