Development Overview: Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets Project
Map outlining section of Georgia Avenue included in project (courtesy of DDOT)
On May 17, 2010, work on the $7.9M Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project began. The project is expected to last approximately 18 months and will include the area between Webster Street and Otis Place, NW, and include Upshur Street between 8th and 9th Streets. As such, the project is primarily in Ward 4 with the lower few blocks crossing into Ward 1.
The District’s stated goals and objectives with their Great Streets projects are:
- Improve the quality of life in neighborhoods along the corridors, including public safety, physical appearance, and personal opportunity;
- Support local demand for goods and services through economic development;
- Expand mobility choices and improve safety and efficiency of all modes of travel; and,
- Attract private investment through the demonstration of a public commitment to Great Streets communities.
DDOT will implement these goals along Middle Georgia Avenue by upgrading the sidewalks, installing new trash cans and park benches, installing historically sympathetic street lighting and signals, creating textured crosswalks, and enhancing and increasing the public green space surface area.
View north of park between 9th and Georgia Avenue from Taylor Street, NW
The areas that will see the greatest changes will be the triangular park bordered by Georgia Avenue, Upshur, and 9th Street and the triangular park created by Georgia Avenue, Varnum, and Kansas Avenue. Both areas are to receive new landscaping and have sidewalk realignments. Most significantly, the plans show that the tip of the triangle between 9th, Georgia, and Taylor Street will be completely closed off to traffic and revert to community greenspace, including one of several bio-retention ponds.
The area between 9th Street and Georgia Avenue, south of Upshur (courtesy of DDOT)
The bio-retention ponds are not permanent water features. They will collect some of the storm water runoff to lessen the volume of water entering the city’s treatment system. In times of low precipitation, the areas are planned to serve as green space.
In examining the plans, in addition to the textured crosswalks, intersections will have the pedestrian area bumped out making the roadway narrower and giving walkers a less obstructed view of traffic. Ramps will also be installed.
Depending on location, sidewalks will consist of either brick, concrete pavers, permeable pavers, or concrete. The park areas will largely consist of brick walkways, whereas the high traffic area around the Metro located at Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues is designed to use two types of concrete pavers laid down in a decorative pattern. The Metro site, as well as the space on the northeast corner of New Hampshire and Rock Creek Church Road, is also one of several areas scheduled to get additional trees.
Proposed paver designs for the area around the Georgia Avenue/Petworth Metro station (courtesy of DDOT)
The project will consist of roughly three phases starting at Webster Street and working south. The first phase now underway is the conduit work. This is estimated to reach the southern end of the project in about three to four weeks. When it is completed, work will move to the east side of Georgia — starting again at Webster and moving south to Otis Place — constructing curbs, landscaping, street lights, and other enhancements. Then, the process will be repeated on the west side of Georgia Avenue once again at Webster. According to DDOT, working in this manner is the most efficient and the least disruptive to the community.
Tags: DDOT, Development, Georgia Avenue corridor, Great Streets, Park View, Petworth
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Park View, D.C. 
June 9, 2010 at 11:34 am
looks fantastic! just hope that DDOT has the budget to keep it looking nice for years to come.
(BTW, i think i saw you getting off a green line train at gallery place yesterday morning. would have said hello, but it was rush, rush, rush!)
June 9, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Looks great, but is there any chance DDOT can be convinced to continue South so the nice sidewalks extend past the new senior wellness center?
June 9, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Georgia Avenue between Otis Place and Florida Avenue is part of the Lower Georgia Avenue Great Streets project — which seems to be in a holding pattern.
Extending the current project isn’t likely to happen … but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be some community pressure exerted to get the Lower section moving along again.
July 9, 2010 at 7:05 am
[…] the street disturbed by recent utility work that clearly shows the old rails under the surface. As the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project moves further along in the ensuing months, more rails are sure to be […]
July 15, 2010 at 7:03 pm
So Now Can I Get A RPP Sticker.. ddot has rejected me and not given me a ward 4 parking sticker for 10 years ..but the city is still building 74 apt units and now 112 units in my area a yes market and I live in a 50 unit building and we all will be parking on the same streets not including the visitors.. So am happy F/k no !!!
January 11, 2011 at 7:05 am
[…] What is most disturbing about the Princeton Place incident is that it would appear to be at the hands of DDOT. The location that once supported the call box now has four new storm drains as part of the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets Project. […]
February 9, 2011 at 7:06 am
[…] Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets construction has finally reached the proverbial gates of the Park View section of the project (as […]
May 11, 2011 at 7:02 am
[…] has issued another periodic update for progress on the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project which runs between Webster Street, NW, and Otis Place, NW. You can read the outline of what DDOT is […]
September 9, 2011 at 7:04 am
[…] $7,906,624.05. The scope of this project is from Webster Street (north) to Otis Place (south) and began on May 17, 2010 — making the duration of actual construction for the section around 16 months. Similar […]
December 5, 2011 at 8:02 am
[…] on the 2011-2012 Tree Planting List — making me wonder if the extra trees were covered in the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project since they were within that section of the […]
December 28, 2011 at 7:02 am
[…] Street and Georgia Avenue and heading south, the most significant change to hit the Avenue is the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project. The project didn’t begin to impact Park View in earnest until early February 2011. […]
September 19, 2012 at 5:02 am
[…] the trees are about the last components of the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project to be installed, they were a planned part of the project from the beginning. Though […]
December 28, 2012 at 7:02 am
[…] saw the completion of the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Streets project. Construction began in May 2010. In addition to curbs, gutters, and sidewalk improvements the $8M project added more bike racks to […]
January 9, 2015 at 7:02 am
[…] of just how illogical the configuration of the crosswalk across that street is. I recall that the Middle Georgia Avenue Great Street project that these crosswalks were part of occurred in 2011. While the crosswalks themselves are nice and […]