“I get that the city involves some noise, but it’s not supposed to involve a 4 deep line of dump trucks all using a small neighborhood road as their parking/idling zone”

3rd and L Street, NE

“Dear PoPville,

I’m having a problem with construction crews at 3rd and L St NE. This intersection is being illegally used as a staging area for dump trucks hauling away dirt from the new construction at 2nd and L (they’re finally putting in a building in the empty lot next to the Loree Grand building, where the old NoMa bootleg dog park used to be).

Literally dozens of trucks all start showing up around 6:45-7:15am for the first shift, and there’s simply too many of them for these small neighborhood roads to handle. The drivers are using the intersection at 3rd and L as their waiting zone by rolling up to the stop signs, and then not proceeding (pics attached). The dump truck drivers aren’t only illegally parking, but they’re also idling for extended periods (DC has a no-idling law and that’s supposed to be a $1000 infraction) but they’re also blocking the crosswalk. The worst is the the car traffic starts to back up behind them, not understanding the trucks consider themselves parked, so they all start honking at each other trying to get things moving.

I get that the city involves some noise, but it’s not supposed to involve a 4 deep line of dump trucks all using a small neighborhood road as their parking/idling zone, and it’s all so easily avoidable if the construction company was made to care about the residents of the neighborhood.

This is all to say, do you have any advice for how to get the police out here in the mornings to direct traffic (I’ve tried calling them numerous times to no avail) or hold the foremen accountable for how their trucks are operating with complete disregard? I’d love for there to be a post on this to get people’s advice and hopefully draw some attention to the issue. This construction is going to be happening for a long time; I want to nip this in the bud.”