WASHINGTON — “No right turn on red” signs will start going up in dozens of new D.C. locations starting Feb. 19, as long as weather permits.
The District Department of Transportation is banning right turns on red at about 100 new intersections throughout the city, and the signs will be installed over the next six months by the end of July.
The effort supports Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Vision Zero Initiative that was launched in 2016, aimed at eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries in the nation’s capital by 2024.
“We have taken a number of approaches to make intersections across the District safer, and banning right turns on red in over 100 intersections is one of those approaches,” DDOT Director Jeff Marootian told WTOP.
The public comment period for the plan ended Feb. 5.
“We take the public comments very seriously, and in some cases they help us identify new areas and new locations where we can do a similar installation. They also help us identify things that we can do in addition to posting the signage,” Marootian said. “In some cases that means that we will be adding a crosswalk or refreshing a crosswalk or posting additional signs to help clarify any of the other components of the intersection.”
AAA Mid-Atlantic came out against the plan, arguing that it could lead to more car vs. pedestrian crashes, among other things.
Marootian disagrees.
“We believe that this will help make intersections safer for pedestrians that are crossing, and we were thoughtful in selecting locations to choose those that had a higher volume of pedestrians, in particular young people and senior citizens,” he said.
The signs will be installed as quickly as possible, and will not go up in any particular order.
Some intersections will get more than one sign in order to make sure drivers get the message.
The first 25 locations where signs will be added are:
- 22nd St. NW & Pennsylvania Ave. NW
- 1st St. NE & New York Ave. NE & O St. NE
- 21st St. NW & K St. NW
- Georgia Ave. NW & Randolph St. NW
- 22nd St. & I St. NW
- 17th St. NW & H St. NW
- 17th St. NW & Pennsylvania Ave. NW
- 7th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. NW
- 9th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. NW
- 14th St. NW & K St. NW
- Maryland Ave. NE & 15th St. NE & Benning Rd. NE & Bladensburg Rd. NE & H St. NE
- 7th St. NW & Constitution Ave. NW
- 19th St. & Independence Ave. SE
- New Hampshire Ave. NW & M St. NW
- 17th St. NW & Connecticut Ave. NW & K St. NW
- 22nd St. NW & L St. NW & New Hampshire Ave. NW
- 7th St. SE & Pennsylvania Ave. SE
- Rock Creek Church Rd., Blair Rd. & Riggs Rd. NE
- 1st St., C St. & Washington Ave. SW
- 11th St. NW & M St. NW
- 13th St. NW & K St. NW
- 3rd St. E St. NW
- Georgia Ave. & Otis Place NW
- 6th St. & Independence Ave. SW
- 11th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Below is a map of the locations:
