“It seems 14th Street NW between Park and Monroe is going to be torn up soon for an extended water project”

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by Prince Of Petworth — August 12, 2014 at 11:15 am 8 Comments

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“Dear PoPville,

It seems 14th Street NW between Park and Monroe is going to be torn up soon for an extended water project. I thought this was all done during the major Columbia Heights water, street and sidewalk project in 2010-2011, but apparently not. Because, you know, DC wouldn’t want us to get spoiled with a smooth street. I realize funds may not have been available at the time, but it seems wasteful to dig up 14th Street so soon after completing it.”

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accendo

Sadly this town is all too good at digging up the same streets over and over again for various projects (K St between NoMa and 395 comes to mind – also mainly for a water project that took way longer than originally forecast).
Anonymous

http://www.dcwater.com/workzones/projects/pdfs/14th_Street_NW_and_Park_Road_NW.pdf
- Anonymous
  
  The last two bullet points in the schedule make no sense.
stcohi

It’s not like that intersection is *ever* crowded either, so this won’t be a problem at all. Good luck to all the folks who live north of Park…
Monroe

Par for the course in DC unfortunately. I’ve lived here ~20 years and this crap happens all the time. Unlike jurisdictions in the suburbs who do a far better job at coordinating between all the utilities when major work is done to ensure all the improvements planned in the short to medium time frame get incorporated, DC just wings it.

The best was when I lived in Tenley town some years ago and DDOT dug up a long stretch of Reno Rd, replaced all the utilities and sidewalks, lights etc. 4 days after the work was done and sod was put in, DCWASA came out and started digging up a two block section to replace the water main. When I stopped to ask if there was some water emergency to warrant digging up the street, the project manager said “No, this work is in our capital plan and been scheduled for 2 years”. “Headslap”. It took them 2 months to do the work and ofcourse, didn’t bother repaving the street, just patched it.

I’ve actually been shocked that Sherman Ave hasn’t been cut up already, then again it did take nearly 2 years to get it done.
anonymous

On M St. SE outside the Navy Yard base, they’ve had the road torn up for- I am not making this up- over 2 and a half years and counting. It was for a water and/or gas project, and the thing just keeps going.
Sudden Debt

Most likely the money is coming from Federal Sources. So, hey, it’s all good!
Anon5

The water valve replacement is a federal project funded through the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The street paving was quite possibly the undertaking of DC DOT.

If one project is federal and the other municipal it might explain the lack of coordination.

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