Residents and representatives got together last week at a meeting aimed at fast-tracking safety improvements to the 16th St. traffic circle that connects DC to Silver Spring, MD. D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) spoke about the high number of reported accidents at the circle, and warned that they would only increase as the area becomes more developed. More pedestrians and bikers are using the traffic circle as well. Bowser and Councilmember Valerie Ervin of Montgomery County (D-District 5) have worked to promote new traffic lights and better safety features for years, but the project has been continuously bogged down by jurisdictional red tape–something residents from metropolitan DC, VA, and MD know very well.
To be successful, the project would require cooperation and communication between transportation departments in DC and MD, traffic lights would have to be coordinated and run by one entity in order to function efficiently. Questions over who will pay for what, and who will report to whom mar this essential safety project in bureaucratic red-tape, say Bowser and Ervin. They urge concerned residents and community members to write letters to their representatives to get things moving more quickly.
