^^^
That's a very good explanation. I think they'd be wise to listen to your concerns.
As it exists right now, there's basically only one through lane along Colesville. The current design, to maintain two through lanes onto southbound 16th, requires traffic to change lanes shortly before the circle (kind of a 'dance' if you will). I don't know what the situation is right now, but I suspect the left lane isn't getting much use, and the right lane, given that it's parking until shortly before the circle, isn't getting much use either. And then shortly before the circle, you have the middle lane vehicles either changing to the right to allow left lane traffic to change into the middle lane, or they don't change lanes at all and basically force everyone into a single lane, and/or left lane traffic simply ignores the left turn lane in the circle and continues straight onto 16th regardless.
This basically sums it up. I have been going through here regularly as my son is in a small private one room class situation due to COVID and the school is using space just off 16th in the northern part of DC (less than a mile from this circle). My concern is more with safety than with congestion. I am happy to follow the lane lines, but there are so many others that do not.
I live to the northeast of here, so I could come in via either 16th or Colesville to approach the circle. Neither approach is very good. Since I make a right turn onto a side street from 16th in DC, I aim to end up in the right lane of 16th after passing through the circle. When I approach from Colesville, I ride in the middle lane, then shift into the parking lane before the circle, so that I can follow the far right lane through the circle. I am following the rules, but so many others in the lane to the left of me just glide into my lane and honk at me as though I am causing the problem. It is true that prior to this configuration, the right lane forced a turn onto N Portal and the middle lane of the circle led to the right lane of 16th, but the lines no longer indicate that. However many drivers are still doing that and evasive action on my part is preventing fender benders in this area.
As for the approach from southbound 16th, that's an interesting call ending the right lane at East West Highway. Why not simply have that lane merge left about 300 feet after the intersection, and then have the left two lanes shift to the right to allow for a left turn pocket? Both scenarios would maintain two through lanes, as may be desired, but I think the merge option is more desirable than a forced turn. DC drivers seem pretty aggressive when it comes to merging (in a good way), so I think that would be better as a forced turn might make the #3 lane along southbound 16th north of East West Highway totally unused (I don't know how much traffic currently makes a right onto East West Highway, but the current setup seems pretty good and I'd hate to mess with it).
I find your approach acceptable. If the right lane forces a merge into the middle lane, the markings would be clear that the traffic in the right lane would have to yield to traffic in the middle lane. Since the right lane is far less traveled this could be OK. And if drivers know in advance that the right lane will end, it will be even less traveled still. As it is, there are relatively few who use the right lane, probably because the right lane used to force a turn onto North Portal.
North Portal can get a decent amount of traffic, but 16th is far heavier. North Portal leads to Beach Drive which allows for a drive into Downtown DC with few traffic signals or stop signs. But certain portions of Beach Drive have been closed for repairs for a number of years, so not many have gone this way for a while. Plus, parts of it are closed for walking/biking due to COVID (and have been closed every weekend for many years as well). This is a long way of saying that while there is a reason in the past to push 1 of 3 lanes onto North Portal, that no longer really exists now and it's basically a quiet residential street for the time being.
A nearby situation where a busy right lane forces a merge after the busy intersection is at Georgia Ave NB at Forest Glen. The curb lane is very busy because of the cloverleaf ramps from the Beltway, but the curb lane ends just after the next intersection. People do merge into the adjacent lane when they can (as they come off the ramps, before or after the Forest Glen intersection), but it is still less traveled than other lanes because of the forced merge. Folks do use the lane, but a lot do turn on Forest Glen as well.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0157256,-77.0426339,3a,75y,330.36h,71.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7Ja6BLU5g9VT-eesH7pFyg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
What is unacceptable is the current situation that basically without warning forces the left lane to turn onto Eastern. The left and middle lane are the busier two lanes and they need to default directly onto 16th south of the circle.
It is hard to gage what true traffic counts are now because of COVID. This change to the traffic pattern only occurred a few weeks ago. I can definitely see implementing your suggestion so that if squeezing down to 2 lanes causes a backup, it at least won't also congest the intersection with E-W Highway (which will remain at 3 lanes southbound). I can say that pre-COVID this stretch of SB 16th between E-W Highway and the circle was pretty congested, but I think a lot of that had to do with the left lane being blocked by those who turned on Eastern, especially the buses. I think if two consistent unimpeded southbound lanes were continuous through the whole stretch, a third lane would simply be unnecessary.
Further north, the third southbound lane is just simply unnecessary. This stretch encourages speeding and there are a lot of speeding cameras present (at least two in each direction) between Georgia and East-West Highway.
A follow up to the issues that I brought up (and other commented on) in Replies 1006-1013 of this thread back in November 2020. The above quoted selection should paint most of the picture, but basically these were regarding my complaint to some of the lane assignments that MD SHA had painted when they redid the approach on 16th street to the traffic circle at the DC/MD line. In October/November 2020, they finally installed traffic signals on the MD side to help coordinate the traffic on the MD side of the circle (from N 16th and Colesville), but the approach was confusing because of the change in lane assignments. Before the signals were installed, the right lane forced a turn onto North Portal and the left two lanes continued on 16th toward DC. The change implemented by MD SHA in 2020 had the left lane force a left turn onto Eastern with the right two lanes continuing on 16th toward DC.
I had written to MD SHA to explain my concerns (detailed in the correspondence at 1011). At the time, it seemed like my words fell on deaf ears.
I recently returned to working at my office in Downtown DC twice a week, and I had the occasion of taking the bus along 16th street instead of the Metro one day, I was able to notice some changes at the circle that were similar to some of my recommendations. Fortunately, they are covered in the most recent GSV, so the changes made were likely between August and November 2021.
From my letter to MD SHA:
A similar change needs to take place along the 16th street [MD-390] approach FROM MARYLAND into the circle. This is a little more difficult as there are three southbound traffic lanes south of East-West Highway along 16th instead of two.* The two left lanes of southbound 16th approaching East-West Highway are far busier than the right lane, so it would make sense to force the right lane to turn right on East-West Highway so that only two lanes continue south of East-West Highway to approach the circle. The two lanes of traffic should gradually shift to the right to allow for the painting of a left turn pocket that defaults onto the left lane of the circle for the left turns onto Eastern. In this manner, the two left lanes of 16th in Maryland will default directly onto 16th street in DC.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
* There are three southbound lanes of 16th street in Maryland beginning south of Grace Church Rd, but there really is no point to this. South of Seminary Rd, the two right lanes of Georgia Ave [MD-97] allow for a right turn onto 16th street [MD-390]. There, the road is two lanes southbound and traffic moves well at all times of day. Where southbound traffic widens to three lanes, at Grace Church Rd, there is very little traffic and this encourages significant speeding. Three lanes of traffic is simply not necessary here. The right lane could be repurposed for parking, a shoulder, a bus lane, or a bike lane and traffic would not be affected. If the entire stretch of southbound 16th street in Maryland were limited to two thru lanes of southbound traffic, it would be even easier to design the approach to the circle to have two thru lanes, as I discussed above.
Here are some pictures of the southbound approach on 16th beginning at Spring Street.
Warning that the right lane will force a right turn.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9961595,-77.0364834,3a,75y,182.61h,60.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIh7WN_Z0bcVny1Oio7owQw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192The right lane is forced into the channel. Only two lanes continue south of East-West Highway.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9952284,-77.0364373,3a,75y,182.61h,60.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFygl6NF2f8jV-tDnqKh8Yg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192The curb lane south of East-West is blocked with hatch marks. It's to be used as a bus stop and full-time parking. No more driving in this lane. (Unfortunately some of the best views are blocked by the bus.)
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9942273,-77.0363294,3a,75y,211.92h,66.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPi4qzUs2NsthXiKn1KL7Rw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192And of course, the piece de resistance, the tapering of the parking lane as traffic approaches the circle, allowing for the two thru lanes to continue thru and a left turn pocket is formed for those that want to turn onto Eastern.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9930253,-77.0363372,3a,75y,203.71h,63.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2P4lr-b7_geMmVgbbMW8Ug!2e0!7i16384!8i8192More from my letter:
From Colesville Rd [MD-384], there are two southbound traffic lanes and one lane of parking south of East-West Highway [MD-410]. This widens to 3 lanes southbound once parking is prohibited as one gets closer to the circle. The 2 left lanes have the majority of the traffic since these are a continuation of the main traffic pattern and the right lane has very little since it only began where the parking stopped. For the old traffic pattern at the circle, this worked fine since the 2 left lanes of Colesville, with the heaviest traffic, defaulted onto the 2 lanes of 16th, and the low traffic right lane forced a right turn onto North Portal. For the new traffic pattern, the 2 left lanes should gradually shift to the right IN MARYLAND, (before reaching the circle), so that the heaviest traffic from Colesville defaults directly onto 16th. The middle lane of Colesville shifts right to become the right lane of the circle and the right lane of 16th in DC. The left lane of Colesville shifts right to become the middle lane of the circle and the left lane of 16th in DC. The lane shift will allow for the painting of a left turn pocket that approaches the circle to become the left lane of the circle which will force a left onto Eastern.
The current approach from Colesville is slightly different from my recommendation, but it is still very good. The curb lane forces a right turn onto 16th north, and the two left lanes lead to 16th south, as shown in these views:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9926271,-77.035289,3a,75y,265h,74.4t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6HbvJcm1rO3px5aHJ3oxkg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9924981,-77.0361233,3a,75y,250.59h,69.58t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxoTXwH3X5mfj5ykJnYwenw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192Looking closely, you can see the old paint and the new paint below. The new pain allows both lanes of Colesville to continue onto 16th and giving the left lane the option of continuing onto Eastern.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9924718,-77.0364166,3a,75y,233.93h,52.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sguXQwugViXZlS6tPoarfhA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192Now given that it has been almost a year from the time that I wrote my letter until the time MD SHA acted, I am aware that my letter did not move them, but I am still gratified that my ideas for improving this approach were eventually implemented.
Satellite views of the changes are also available.
16th street circle:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9922624,-77.0363739,174m/data=!3m1!1e316th / East-West Highwy. The hatch lines make an interesting geometry in the intersection.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.994761,-77.0362564,174m/data=!3m1!1e3
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