Navy Yard residents clash with city over a new bike and bus lane on M Street

Nine months after its initial request, members of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Navy Yard are waiting for the District Department of Transportation to explain why the city’s plan to add bike and bus lanes to M Street is necessary. 

At an Oct. 24 meeting, members of ANC 8F questioned why the city was proceeding with changes to M Street, highlighting the lack of metrics presented to the commission. The ANC made its original request to the department in February.

At a time when crowding at bus stops and buses has become a notable issue, according to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), the city has launched moveDC, a long-term plan to revitalize transportation in the District by making it “safer, cleaner, faster and easier” through various means, including redeveloping streets. 

Along one of Navy Yard’s busiest streets, M Street SE, the city will replace about 14 blocks of parking and car lanes between 11th and Half streets SE with a corridor for bikes and buses. The project would halve the number of lanes for vehicles on M Street SE.

The move, originally planned to start in March, has sparked controversy among some Navy Yard residents like Navy Yard Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner 8F Nic Wilson, who said the corridor will take away much-needed parking space that is usually occupied by outsiders visiting the Nationals Park during baseball season. 

DDOT delayed the project, which would have coincided with the peak of the baseball season, but started it on Aug. 7. 

What bothered Wilson and other Navy Yard residents most about the project is that the city hasn’t provided a clear answer for why they chose M St SE in any ANC meeting. In February, the commission passed a resolution asking for more details, which are still unclear, Wilson said.

DDOT did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

“One of the answers that we got [from the city] early on is… we have concerns about the street, and we want to make it safer,” Wilson said. “At times, we get answers along the lines of… we’re doing it because there’s a need for biking [lanes]. No one bikes on M Street.” 

Former DDOT transportation planner Sean Burnett, at a January ANC 8F meeting, said “our attempt here isn’t to create more traffic, though congestion may occur. Our hope is to slow traffic down so that traffic drivers can be more vigilant so that they can see more of what’s around them, including vehicles, including pedestrians, including bicyclists.” 

Abraham Diallo, a DDOT Ward 6 specialist, noted at the October meeting that the project would introduce less transformational street changes that could have a big impact on safety. The installation of signals, for instance, could reduce interactions between bicyclists and cars, thereby mitigating accidents, he continued.

At the January meeting, Burnett compared the M Street project with a prior K Street redevelopment project completed in February 2022, which he said brought positive safety benefits and received good community feedback, though he acknowledged it was too soon to gauge metrics. 

“K Street is nothing like M Street during baseball season,” said one Navy Yard resident who spoke on the condition his name not be used for privacy reasons. 

Wilson, in the January meeting, drew comparisons between the M Street project and a similar plan on the New Jersey Street NW project. “How is this going to work when… the New Jersey Avenue project still has a lot of issues where delivery drivers are not pulling off onto the side streets to make deliveries?” 

Many drivers on New Jersey Avenue, Wilson noted, now park on the streets, congesting traffic. “We’re creating a complete bottleneck to the rest of the city.” 

Will Hansfield, the M Street project manager, said DDOT does not expect this to be a major issue, saying that many institutions at Navy Yard do not accept deliveries. As such, he’s doubtful M Street will experience any traffic congestion from idle delivery workers

DDOT, in several ANC 8F meetings, also said it received positive community feedback for the plan. 

However, other Navy Yard residents questioned the city’s plan in conversations with The Wash. 

“Just about any street but M Street would be better,” said Cindy Chen, who has lived in Navy Yard for two years. “If you look at L Street, which is a block away, it’s so much less busy. Why can’t they find a way to divert… or encourage bikers to go there?”

Some Navy Yard visitors were also surprised by the move. 

“It’s always a pain to park along M Street. I’m not sure why they’d get rid of more parking space for this project,” said Blake Smith, a driver who frequents Navy Yard. But, Smith acknowledged, “a bus lane could lower traffic and the need for parking in the first place. Maybe I wouldn’t need my car to get here.”