“I swear the intersection of H and New York NW (between 13th and 14th) has to be the most dangerous intersection in DC.”

“Dear PoPville,

I swear the intersection of H and New York NW (between 13th and 14th) has to be the most dangerous intersection in DC. Pedestrians are given a walk light for just half of the road, then expected to wait in the middle of the road to get a different walk light for the second half of the crossing. Because this is such an unusual way to cross the street, I think it doesn’t even occur to people that they have to wait for the second light; they then charge across, thinking they have a walk light, while oncoming traffic has a green light to go. It doesn’t help that this is in the heart of downtown where tons of people need to cross the road!

I’ve tried to get the attention of DDOT or Councilmember Evans’s office (though they may be a bit distracted right now!) to no avail.

What you can see here (photo above) is the walk light under the red light (left side of the picture) all the way across the street, and the don’t walk light in the middle of the street above the people having to wait. So if you are standing where I took this photo and look across where you would normally look for a walk light, you would think that you are ok to go and then you’d get run over by traffic coming from H.

Is there any place else in DC where one street requires you to look at the walk sign halfway through the intersection and on the right side, follow its guidance, then wait in the middle of the street for the walk sign on the left side of the intersection to tell you to cross the second half of the road? Recipe for disaster!”