Transportation Happenings - 38th Street SE

Over the years there have been several complaints about speeding and motorists not stopping for pedestrians on 38th Street SE between Suitland Road and Alabama Ave. In my recent memory there have been at least three petitions for speed humps floating around.

Excerpt from email from DDOT:

Speed Hump on 38th Street SE : As you know DDOT traffic engineers have been out twice to this location it is a hill and a bus route. It is dangerous to place speed humps on hills or streets with a steep incline. Some were place on a hill where 38th crosses at Suitland Road and the bus route does not exist.. Numerous cars have been hit on this narrow incline that does not level off until it reaches 32nd street. The segment is from Alabama Ave to the intersection of Suitland Rd The bus route would be placed into jeopardy due to extensive damages to their under carriage. WMATA [sic] We have a commitment from your precinct commander to move the remote speeding cameras to any location ( i.e. it sat for a year on Branch and Erie – mitigated all speeding) DDOT appeals to your organization to contact Commander Contee so he can begin the process of requesting this service to be in place in a timely fashion.

As another solution, we proposed is making the two intersection along 38th (intersection at W and V) three-way stops. Since the WMATA buses already stop at W and V St it would not affect their operations. DDOT is currently doing a speed study on 38th Street. I'll keep you updated.