Dupont Circle traffic lights will be off for several hours on Tuesday. (Luis Gomez Photos)

The traffic lights around Dupont Circle will be off today for several hours this morning, according to the DC Department of Transportation. The traffic lights are expected to be turned off around 10 am this morning.

DC officials said the lights will go off for several hours while city crews do maintenance and make upgrades. There will be officers to direct traffic, but be prepared for delays around the area. WTOP has more details.

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Starting Monday, Oct. 26, DDOT will install the south-bound bicycle lane on the west side of 15th Street NW between U Street and Massachusetts Avenue. It will be between the sidewalk-curb and parked cars. (Image: DDOT courtesy of TheWashCycle.com Web site.)

We were just talking about this… we had been wondering if/when the city was going to install the south-bound bicycle lane on the west side of 15th Street NW (which is one-way north-bound). This morning there was a message in the Logan Circle News group on Yahoo! Groups (below).

DC Department of Transportation (DDoT) will begin work on the bike lane—which will run from U Street to Massachusetts Avenue NW—this MONDAY, October 26, and be completed the following Monday. DDoT is distributing a flyer to 15th Street residents today.

About the Bike Lanes

• The south-bound bike lane on the west side of 15th will be next to the curb-sidewalk.
• Parking will still be allowed on the west side of 15th, but you will park between the south-bound bike lane and the north-bound traffic lanes.
• A north-bound bike lane will also be installed on the east side of 15th Street—but the lane will be between parked cars and north-bound traffic, the more traditional type of bike lane.
• There will still be three north-bound traffic lanes when all work is completed.

For those of you not in-the-know, there was discussion (a lot of it) on whether to turn 15th Street north of Massachusetts Avenue into a two-way street (I personally would have preferred it, many neighbors did not and opinions varied). DDoT kicked around several different configurations for 15th Street and finally decided to implement Alternative 5.

Previous Postings

• Reconfiguration of 15th St. NW: What We’re Getting
• Survey Says: 15th Street Traffic

From DDoT: Read the full story

The north side of the 1400-block of Corcoran Street NW on Sunday morning. (Photo: Luis Gomez)

Looking west down the 1500-block of Corcoran Street NW on Sunday morning. (Photo: Luis Gomez)

The work on the new brick sidewalks on 1400 to 1600 Corcoran Street NW is moving along rapidly. But, it will still be interesting to see if the DDoT meets its promised October 4 deadline (which is a Sunday, by the way).

Bricks are already going down on the north side of the 1400 block. And, yes, the bricks are being laid down over a foundation of new concrete. I can’t tell, though, whether the bricks are being set down or will have mortar to seal them down on the concrete.

This may seem picky, but it matters. All too often new brick sidewalks were put down on nothing more than a layer of sand with no mortar. The result, after a few months, is sometimes pretty bad.

There will be a public meeting on February 17 at which the final plans for the 17th Street NW Streetscape will be presented. Read the full story

For Borderstanians, 15th Street NW is essentially our Main Street. It cuts through the middle of Borderstan—dividing the area between two neighborhoods (Dupont and Logan), two police districts and two PSAs (208 and 307) and two Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (2B and 2F).

Read the full story