Making Traffic Circles Safe for Pedestrians

"Many people in Petworth lament how dangerous it is to cross the street and get to Grant Circle, one of their neighborhood parks. DDOT has an initial plan for addressing the problem, but pedestrian advocates say the real way to make the circle safer is to make the streets narrower and add more crosswalks," according to a post by Kelly Blynn.

Grant Circle, like other circles in Washington, D.C., has conflicting priorities: it's designed to "[invite] people to use the interior space as a park but, more recently, has made moving traffic between its several intersections a major priority."

Blynn goes onto examine the current condition of the circle; the District Department of Transportation's plans for making it safer for pedestrians to access the circle, as part of the 2009 Pedestrian Master Plan [pdf]; and proposals by the local advocacy group All Walks DC to go even further to improve safety around the circle.