The District is advancing a $123 million project that promises to turn a busy stretch of K Street NW into a haven for public transit and bicycle users while altering traffic patterns for motorists.
Design of the K Street Transitway between 12th and 21st streets NW is on track to be completed this fall, followed by construction beginning early next year, city officials said. The redesign of the mile-long corridor will eliminate K Street’s decades-old service roads, which transportation officials say confuse motorists, slow traffic and leave pedestrians scrambling between medians.
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Transportation officials and experts say they hope the street’s redesign will help to lure back bus riders after years of declining ridership that was exacerbated by the pandemic. The project, they say, responds to rider demands for more timely and reliable buses — and a level of service that could help transit and downtown Washington make a stronger comeback after the pandemic lull.
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“A bus system that is more reliable and faster won’t just serve the people who ride today better, it is also going to attract new customers,” said Laura Miller Brooks, a co-leader of MetroNow, a coalition of businesses, nonprofit organizations and transportation advocates pushing for expanded and modernized bus service in the Washington region.
The K Street project, she said, will boost service on routes with the highest demand. Although the pandemic wreaked havoc on transit and changed commuting patterns, bus ridership has fared significantly better than rail, transporting “essential” workers during a rise in telework. Metrorail is also struggling through a train shortage that has hurt ridership amid a federal safety investigation.
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Under the plan, protected bus lanes — one in each direction — will be built in the center of K Street, providing dedicated space for more than a dozen bus routes to breeze through downtown while separated from other vehicle traffic. The corridor carries about 20,000 transit users daily, according to the District Department of Transportation.
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One-way cycle tracks will run alongside the transit way, as will two general travel lanes in each direction for drivers. Improvements to crosswalks and new landscaping will be added.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is requesting the remaining $57 million needed for the project in her fiscal 2023 budget. The rest of the funding has been secured in previous years.
“We are very excited about this project and what it means for the corridor,” Everett Lott, the city’s transportation chief, said in a statement. “It improves safety and access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers, and also makes our bus network more efficient.”
Construction is slated to begin in spring 2023, Lott said. The project is then expected to take three years to complete.
It’s one of several plans or proposals across the city to create separate lanes for buses.
Federal and local officials are weighing options to add bus lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The city is also exploring prioritizing bus travel along Pennsylvania Avenue SE and Minnesota Ave SE, and is close to completing dedicated bus lanes on 16th Street NW, one of the busiest bus corridors in the region. In recent years, D.C. also has launched and enhanced bus lanes on H and I streets NW.
Along K Street, the transit way will traverse a high-density commercial district in downtown, abutting three parks: Farragut Square, McPherson Square and Franklin Square. The corridor also has high demand for truck deliveries and space for passengers to enter and exit vehicles.
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The proposed design includes loading, and pickup and drop-off zones on one side of the street in sections where the road width allows. Some blocks — such as between 13th and 14th streets NW — have more limited space and won’t include loading zones. Most metered parking along the mile-long corridor will be removed.
Jerry Baxter, of consulting firm Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, which is leading the project design for DDOT, said the transit way will reduce potential conflicts between cars and other travelers by separating bus and vehicular traffic, while cycle tracks will keep bicycles and scooters separated from cars and sidewalks. The existing configuration with service lanes, he said, “is outdated and inefficient, which leads to congestion along the corridor.”
“Safety improvements are being incorporated into the project, including median refuges and shorter pedestrian crossings, all-day left turn restrictions and reductions in pedestrian vehicle conflicts,” Baxter said.
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The project has the backing of the DowntownDC Business Improvement District. Gerren Price, acting president of the BID, called it “a once-in-a-generation opportunity” to improve bus service and “elevate this iconic city corridor as a place that draws people in and keeps them coming back.”
He said the group supports prioritizing transit and is working with DDOT as it completes the design to offer comments on curbside needs, streetscape design and user experience. The service lanes along the corridor, which will be removed, are heavily used by delivery trucks.
Project officials say the transit way will bring time savings for commuters on buses and in other vehicles.
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Eastbound traffic during the morning rush, for example, will get across the corridor in less than six minutes, a savings of about a minute and 20 seconds in travel time, according to DDOT. Westbound traffic will move through about a minute more quickly. The estimates are based on a traffic analysis from 2019, before the pandemic changed traffic volumes, but transportation officials said pre-pandemic levels are returning.
Bus riders will see bigger improvements, with savings of up to six minutes in the evening, cutting time spent in the corridor by about 40 percent. Before the pandemic, buses often crawled behind traffic while navigating to stops along the route.
DDOT said it does not expect changes to the project design because of the pandemic.
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The transit way will include four bus stops in each direction. Bus stop platforms will be 11 feet wide and include shelters and screens that show bus arrival times. The platforms will be elevated 10 inches from the roadway surface to allow for boarding that is nearly level with the bus, officials said.
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The improvements will speed up bus transit for thousands of riders on more than a dozen Metrobus and Circulator routes. The plan is eventually to have at least 18 bus routes on the transit way, project officials say, with as many as 60 buses per hour in each direction during peak periods.
Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said the project will build on progress made in recent years with dedicated bus lanes on H and I streets downtown. She said the transit agency is “prepared to make complementary adjustments to Metrobus services to fully realize the benefits” of the transit way.
Weekday ridership across the Metrobus system last week averaged 268,000 users, up about 50 percent from last year, according to Metro — higher than Metrorail’s 222,000 average daily trips. Metrobus ridership is still down about 30 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Planners say the new bike infrastructure in the corridor will also provide for safer bike travel while connecting to other major bike routes, including the cycle track on 15th Street NW. The project’s two one-way cycle tracks will be protected by a two-foot concrete barrier.
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In addition to funding the K Street improvements, Bowser’s budget proposal this year includes $102 million to be spent over six years for bus programs, including improving accessibility to bus stops, new bus lanes and the addition of cameras to enforce bus lane rules.