Study looks at eliminating rush hour lane restrictions on Rock Creek Parkway

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Lane changes could be on the way during rush hour on the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.

The Department of Transportation and National Park Service issued a study that looks at eliminating reversible operations along the roadway.

Currently, traffic is restricted to one direction from 6:45 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. The idea is to create a four-lane thoroughfare to quickly move commuter traffic in and out of the city. The reversible lanes were established in 1937, one year after the roadway was completed.

The study, released earlier this year, looks at the safety of the current system.

According to the findings, the existing reversible operations “present unusual challenges for drivers to safely navigate;” put Park Police officers who shut down and reroute traffic in “vulnerable positions on the roadway;” and have a “disproportionately higher” rate of crashes than during bidirectional travel.

The study found that the safety benefits of eliminating the reversible operations, “if implemented with proper mitigation measures, stakeholder engagement, and public communication, would outweigh the potential impact on commuting traffic.”

A spokesperson with the National Park Service told DC News Now that the agency is in the early stages of preparing an environmental assessment for safety improvements on Rock Creek Parkway.

Various improvements including replacing missing streetlights, rehabbing parkway pavement and widening multi-use trails between P Street NW and Virginia Avenue will be considered. The study examining the impacts of ending one-way traffic during rush hour was part of that assessment.

Public engagement is planned to start this winter.

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