This week’s Walkblock of the Week highlighted the closed sidewalk at Connecticut and Yuma, NW. To get to the Franklin Montessori School from the Van Ness Metro, people have to walk past the school, to Albemarle Stret, and double back. Is this a big deal?

The walk from Van Ness Metro to Franklin Montessori with the sidewalk closed (left) and open (right). Images from Gmap Pedometer using Google Maps.

It’s .29 miles versus .21 miles. That’s 39% more walk from the Metro, a significant jump. On the other hand, it’s only an additional .08 miles plus crossing Connecticut.

Some commenters think it’s making a mountain out of a molehill to talk about this. “Notabigdeal” wrote, “Wait, they have to walk .08 miles farther? The humanity!” And “seriously” said:

Wow you must have a great life when you consider this to be “a significant additional inconvenience.”

People, get a grip. So you have to cross the street. I live in the area, I do it all the time. Would I prefer not to cross the street? Sure. But do I give it a second thought afterwards? NO! How entitled do you have to feel to be outraged by having to walk an extra .08 miles? I mean come on.

It’s 2.5 extra minutes and 1-2 major crossings

At an average walking speed of 3.1 mph, it takes 1.5 extra minutes to walk that distance (longer for kids who walk slowly, of course). Let’s assume an extra 1 minute wait for the light and you have added 2.5 minutes to the trip.

That may not sound like much, but twice a day, 5 days a week, 10 months a year is about 17 hours a year of extra time, per person. Crossing Connecticut Avenue one or two times each way is also not nothing. Crosswalks on six-lane streets like Connecticut are common places for pedestrians to get hit, especially seniors and children, and while we all live with this risk, increasing it isn’t something to do lightly.

Would drivers stand for a delay like that?

More importantly, these commenters’ reactions highlight how we tend to think about inconveniencing pedestrians versus drivers. Would drivers stand for having their commute lengthened by 2.5 minutes each way?

We got to see such a case recently when DC put in (and then removed) a median on Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park. The traffic count data said that drivers’ trips lengthened by 1-2 minutes. But drivers, including Councilmember Jack Evans, who drives on Wisconsin to and from his kids’ school, screamed bloody murder.

Evans insisted that the delay was more than 1-2 minutes. But 1-2 minutes can feel like a lot when you’re stuck in traffic. How do you feel if you’re waiting at a light, it turns green, and you can’t make it through because of traffic, or maybe someone turning that blocks the way? That’s a delay of about a minute, and it can be very infuriating.

Traffic engineering standards even agree: If the average car is delayed 1 minute and 20 seconds at an intersection, vehicular Level of Service, the measure for how well traffic flows, would be a failing F. In other words, traffic engineering considers it totally unacceptable to add that level of delay.

Or if you commute by car, try this experiment: Pick a spot along the route (if you use Connecticut Avenue, it could be this area). Every time you get there, stop the car and wait 2.5 minutes. I know I wouldn’t want to have to keep doing that.

Maybe closing a the sidewalk was right in this case since it’s such a busy street. Maybe not. But DDOT doesn’t even habitually compute how much delay a closure will cause pedestrians, while it’s mandatory before closing any lanes to traffic. To at least weigh the impacts quantitatively would be a good start.

Restore the sidewalk now

One thing is for sure: This sidewalk ought not stay closed for much longer.

DDOT’s George Branyan said that in initial applications for the permit, the developer’s representatives promised that once the vault (the area under the sidewalk) is built, they would put a top on and create a pedestrian path. They estimated that would happen by about December 2014.

It’s past that time now, and the building’s structure is above the street level. Branyan said permit officials will be talking again with the construction team to find out when there can be a new sidewalk.

Crews sometimes want to keep the sidewalk closed longer than absolutely necessary because it’s more convenient to be able to pull up construction trucks to the site and not worry about pedestrians. That, for sure, is not a good reason to keep a sidewalk closed, and when sidewalks do have to close, it’s important for DDOT to push to reopen them as early as possible.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.