Berlin, a resident of D.C.’s Forest Hills neighborhood in Northwest, is heading up a grass-roots pedestrian safety initiative for IONA Senior Services called the Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action to improve walkability between Calvert Street and Western Avenue.
You’re an avid pedestrian?
I walk an hour every day for exercise. I can walk 20 minutes to Chevy Chase, 20 minutes to Cleveland Park and 20 minutes to Tenleytown. That’s where I do most of my shopping and errands. I hate to get in a car.
Do you feel safe on foot?
Not at all. We were crossing Connecticut Avenue at Veazey [Terrace] and the light changed for us and we were proceeding, and a car almost ran us down, ran a red light. It was within inches. That’s not an uncommon occurrence. I was just amazed.
Why is crossing Connecticut so challenging?
It’s getting across six lanes of traffic and dealing with turning vehicles. So let’s say you’re an older person whose reaction time is slowed and therefore when the light says you go, it takes you time to get your body off the sidewalk and into the street. It’s hard for people who have slowed down, who may have some disability.
What is CAPA’s goal?
We want to make the case that Connecticut Avenue is dangerous and make it very explicit what the barriers are for pedestrians. That is why we’re doing a pedestrian audit. By hiring a traffic engineering and consulting firm, they can help us collect the data in a way that is useful to planners. Then we can go to the [D.C. Council] and say we need a pedestrian plan for Connecticut Avenue and we need money for its implementation.
Doesn’t DDOT already have this data?
Oftentimes if you look at their studies, the focus is on traffic and not on the pedestrian. When you’re looking at a street with a view of a pedestrian, you’re taking in different kinds of information and putting it together differently.
– Michael Neibauer
