Posts about Signs

The sign at the top right is mounted on the sound wall at the entrance of the trail. The signs now list the name of the trail, a vast improvement over ones in the past which pointed towards destinations but failed to tell you which trail you were on.

Now someone who gets directions online or from a friend that say to "turn right on the Custis Trail" will have confidence they are at the right place when they reach the trail entrance.

This spot has always been confusing because both directions look like the trail. This sign helps, but it should also indicate that the Custis Trail continues to the left.

The East Falls Church distance indicator in the sign at the top was accidentally swapped with the one on this sign. The soundwall sign is actually closer to East Falls Church than this sign, but says it is 0.1 miles farther away.

This sign presents two specific problems but also offers an example of how future signs can improve further.

First, the word "THRU" is unclear. Is there a difference between the word "THRU" and a straight arrow? If so, it's difficult to tell what that is.

If not, a straight arrow would be clearer, and it would be more consistent with the directional arrows used elsewhere. The County may have already recognized the possible confusion since, as of yesterday morning, the word "THRU" had been blacked over on at this particular sign.

Second, Washington-Lee High School is not a useful destination to a vast majority of trail users. I would guess that only a small portion of cyclists and pedestrians passing this point are going to Washington-Lee High School.

Maybe it was necessary to have a directional sign for Washington-Lee High School to meet Safe Routes to School objectives. But if that's the case, then it should be at the connector to 15th St North near North Taylor and at the Quincy St connector, the exit points from the trail to the school.

At this location, the sign should have a more general location like "Clarendon" or, better yet, Washington, DC. Probably more than a quarter of trail users at this point are headed to the District. Yet, Arlington staff have told me that Washington, DC will appear on very few of the signs even though it is one of the most common destinations, especially for weekday commuters.

Finally, these problems raise a larger question: why weren't any of these issues resolved prior to posting the signs? Arlington hired a supposedly top notch contractor to do this. They spent a lot of time and money developing a comprehensive plan. I'm very active in the cycling community, yet I never heard anything about them soliciting user input on this sign system.

Before the next signs are finalized, Arlington and their contractor should make better effort to gather input and feedback from the trail users and the general public. In the future they should:

• Get on the DC online bike forums to ask the community about challenging intersections and common destinations
  
• Present at the Bicycle Advisory Committee meetings to seeking local knowledge; and
  
• Have a presence out on the trails, to talk with the actual trail users and get their input.
  

These are simple tactics to gather information. It's hard to say definitively, but I'm not aware that they engaged local users other than the Arlington County staff. Aren't these the kinds of things for which a Bicycle Advisory Committee exists?

To be sure, the new signs is are a fantastic improvement over the previous state. But hopefully Arlington can learn from first ones and apply those lessons as the program expands.

In a previous job I worked in the zoning division of a local planning office. Part of my job was to process certain types of sign applications. Whenever I started to feel like I was wasting my time, I looked over to the image shown above, which I kept tacked to my wall. It was, and is, a healthy reminder that seemingly mundane regulations do make a positive difference to our built environment.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.

In the occasional blocks where concrete dominates the landscape, there are small designated areas where dogs can relieve themselves. These are not dog parks, just places for dogs to do their business. The sign shows the purpose of the wooden pole, in case the waste around it doesn't make the use apparent.

Unfortunately, Valencians are known for not picking up dog waste, so it collects in these dog areas, in tree boxes, and even scattered along sidewalks. Dog owners in DC, even without these designated areas, pick up waste much more frequently.

Visitors to our National Mall often seek shade, refreshments and restrooms. All of them can be hard to find on a hot summer day, especially the latter. Valencia has a long east-west park created in the riverbed of where the Turia River used to flow. The long strip of parkland, multiuse paths, cafes, playgrounds and tourist attractions is dotted with some public restrooms.

Cartoon signs direct visitors to these restrooms. These graphically descriptive restroom signs appear in sets of three: girls, boys and persons with disabilities.

Citations for double parking in Valencia don't come cheaply: 200 Euros with a 50 percent discount for prompt payment. Nevertheless, you'll see double parking along business strips outside the central business district. Police generally will not ticket for cars double parked as long as they don't block a crosswalk, bus stop or no parking zone.

There is one non-negotiable condition for double parking: the car must be left in neutral with the parking brake off. That space in front of the red car (below) is there intentionally. If someone needs to pull out of a blocked space, they will push the double parked cars until there is a gap so that the blocked car can pull out.

Would this be a suitable solution for church or event parking on the flat areas of DC? Would you be willing to leave your car so that others could roll it forwards or backwards?

Double parking does not make Valencia a free parking utopia. Residents use collective trash dumpsters and recycling bins instead of individual cans. The trade-off is simple: parking spaces.

On nearly every block, anywhere from one to four parking spaces is consumed by the shared waste containers. On the plus side, there is never a need to lug heavy trash cans to the curb and remove them according to a set schedule. In DC, it takes a permit to even put a storage container in a public parking space.

Street markets are a common sight in Valencia even during the week. They tend to be staggered from one neighborhood to the next so that there is one within a reasonable walk or bus ride. Clear signs advise residents that parking is prohibited on either side of the street along the market routes. Some of the larger markets may wind along five or six city blocks.

DC has a growing collection of farmer's markets. Is there also room for non-food markets selling clothing, toys and household goods?

For drivers who want pedestrians to live up to their end of the safety equation, Valencia has an answer.

A sign reminds pedestrians of their safety obligation on the near side of the intersection. When you press the button to request a walk sign, a red reminder lights up to wait for the green (walk) signal on the far side of the intersection. This creates a second reminder that it is not yet time to cross the street.

The DC region has the more traditional walk and don't walk signals at intersections. Would a second reminder make a difference for pedestrians?

For drivers, there is a second reminder, too. On the far side of intersections and traffic circles, where cars cross a crosswalk after turning, there is a pair of yellow flashing lights at the crosswalk. It is rare to see a driver do anything other than fully stop at these flashing lights when pedestrians are crossing or preparing to cross.

The law across the DC region is on the pedestrian's side. Nevertheless, some drivers try to squeeze between the pedestrians in a crosswalk on the far side of an intersection.

Crosswalks in the DC region vary from thick, high-visibility markings with the direction of traffic to the park of thin lines perpendicular to the direction of traffic. For pedestrians and drivers alike, the appearance of a crosswalk ranges from very clearly visible at a distance to a set of lines that could be confused with a stop line.

Every crosswalk in Valencia is painted with the thick, high visibility lines. Everyone knows what to expect whether crossing a busy wide road or a narrow residential street.

Nobody likes gridlock. Everybody wonders why it happens. In DC, some intersections have "Don't Block the Box" signage. Valencia puts a very visible yellow crosshatch pattern across entire intersections with the potential for gridlock problems.

Like the WMATA Metro serving the DC region, Metro Valencia has a clean, simple system map and a more detailed street map. The detailed map shows the exact location of all nearby valenbisi bike share locations, further integrating bus, rail and bike.

Could WMATA add the Capital Bikeshare stations to its maps? Or, are the locations still evolving too rapidly to keep up with the changes?

A collection of narrow, one-way residential streets have been marked with sharrows. A second set of reminders labels the street as "ciclocalle" and reminds all users of the speed limit. Would this extra signage help all road users in the DC area? Or, are the sharrows road markings sufficient to indicate the sharing intent?

Valencia boasts over 200 stations for its valenbisi bike sharing program. Subscribers don't need to carry an extra card or device to charge out a bike as necessary for Capital Bikeshare. Instead, same MOBILIS card used to pay for bus rides is also linked to the valenbisi account. Could WMATA and Capital Bikeshare integrate their two systems in a similar manner?

Which of these ideas might work across the greater Washington region? Would some be more suitabile either exclusively inside or outside the DC central business district? Which ones shed new light on old problems? Which ones could drive residents, commuters or tourists nuts?

In 2009, years of effort to remove three billboards at the corner of New Jersey Avenue and P Street NW came to an end when the billboards were cut down with a welding torch. The event marked the conclusion of a long campaign by the residents of Shaw to remove what they saw as blight from a neighborhood street corner.

One of the lasting results of that fight was that it made DC residents aware of the list of "special signs" permitted by the District. The "Special Signs Inventory," maintained by DCRA, lists 32 authorized large-scale advertisements that aren't technically billboards, according to DC regulations, located on the sides of buildings.

The Uline Arena signs are not on that list. There has been a Douglas Development sign on the side of the building for as long as I can remember, surely to entice interested parties to inquire about available space in the building. Last year, when Carmine's opened in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, a large advertisement for the Italian restaurant appeared on the side of the arena, as well. A sign advertising FroZenYo turned up within the last couple weeks.

That's 3 large "special signs" located on the building. Is this legal? I contacted Douglas Development to ask them about the regulatory process required to place these signs, but did not receive a call back. If they reply, I'll be sure to post an update.

The signs aren't on the city's official list, so they certainly appear to flout the rules. However, as Michael Neibauer noted two weeks ago, Douglas Development carries a sizable property tax debt to the city. Perhaps DC doesn't mind looking the other way if this helps bring Douglas Development income that can be used to settle the tab.

Cross-posted at The District Curmudgeon.

Finding a lift: One of the first obstacles faced by wheelchair-bound riders is finding the elevator entrance into the system. Unlike the more common escalator shafts, elevators are often unaccompanied by the distinctive M-capped pylon, and are sometimes located blocks away from the main entrance.

Additionally, most stations have an elevator at only one mezzanine, when there are multiple entrances. Dupont Circle, for example, has 2 entrances. The south entrance empties onto 19th Street south of the Circle. The North entrance ejects riders onto the corner of 20th & Q Streets. Riders needing an elevator can only use the north entrance.

At Union Station, where Deena first encountered Metro, the south entrance, at Columbus Circle (and also from the Union Station Food Court), is elevator-less. The elevator is located at the north entrance, from the Amtrak concourse and First Street.

The people Deena asked for assistance didn't know that there was no elevator from the south mezzanine. They did not know to direct her to the north entrance, and as a result, she got stranded. Metro should take steps to put signage at all non-accessible entrances directing riders to the nearest elevator. At Union Station, that might look something like this:

No Accessible Entrance:
Riders needing an elevator should use the north entrance to the station, located near First and G Streets NE or from the Amtrak concourse near the Post Office. Distance to north entrance is approximately 500 feet.

Alphabet soup: Using elevators in the system generally means encountering a mix of buttons labeled with one or two seemingly random letters. I'm pretty sure I recall a station where the platform elevator ran from T to E and the street elevator ran from M to E. In one case, the E clearly stands for exit. In the other case, the E stands for "mezzanine". T stands for train, by the way, although that's sometimes "P" for platform. And E is variously S for street.

These randomly applied letters don't benefit users of the system who are not familiar with it, especially those who don't speak English. And while many of Metro's elevators only have two stops—the one you're at and the other one—some stations present riders with a choice.

Take Fort Totten, for instance. A rider entering the station through the mezzanine gets on the elevator and sees "UL", "M", and "LL". No signs inside or outside the elevator even hint about which lines are on which level. So unless you know the Red Line is above the mezzanine, you don't know which button to press.

Metro could easily add some small labels next to the buttons to clarify which button takes you to which line.

Dead ends and serial elevators: Another issue that riders face comes up at the downtown transfer stations. Those stations were designed without elevators in mind, so they were shoehorned into the stations before construction was complete. That often means riders have to take multiple elevators to navigate the system.

Let's take L'Enfant Plaza, for example. The only elevator access to the street is from the Maryland Avenue entrance. That elevator takes riders to the north mezzanine. From there, they have a choice of elevators, one down to the Greenbelt/Fort Totten platform or one down to the Branch Avenue/Huntington platform. So far, so good. At almost all stations, riders have to use at least 2 elevators to access the platform—one between street and mezzanine and one between mezzanine and platform.

But to access the Blue or Orange lines, riders have to transit the Branch Avenue/Huntington Platform. There is no elevator access between the Greenbelt/Fort Totten plaform and the Blue/Orange lines. And that means that riders changing from a Vienna-bound train to a Greenbelt-bound train have to use 3 elevators to make the transfer. Signage here is pretty clear, though the actual path that riders have to take is onerous.

At Gallery Place, on the other hand, signage leaves a bit to be desired. The situation here is different. From the street, elevators take riders directly to their own fare control area on the Glenmont platform. If riders are coming from or going to Glenmont-bound trains, that's pretty convenient.

To get to the Green or Yellow Lines, a second elevator trip is required. To get to Shady Grove-bound trains, riders have to navigate the Green/Yellow platform and board a third elevator. This elevator goes up, but is a dead-end for riders bound for an exit, as it only goes to the Shady Grove platform.

Yet, signage seems to indicate otherwise.

The elevator pictured above (#4) goes from the Green/Yellow line platform up to the Shady Grove platform. There is no accessible exit from the station via this elevator. A sign next to the call button says "elevator for [red dot] line to Shady Grove." But hanging from the ceiling is a sign that boldly proclaims with a wheelchair icon, "Exit to Arena, Galleries. [Red dot] all trains."

What the sign means is that both elevators are down the platform in that direction. But at that location, the sign seems to indicate that elevator #4 will take riders to all those places. In cases like this, Metro should put bold signage on the elevator, perhaps on the elevator doors themselves, that indicates precisely where the elevator goes and that it does not lead to an exit.

Metro GM Richard Sarles responded to Deena's letter, telling her that Metro was working to improve the reliability of elevators and making the system more accessible. And, according to Ms. Larsen, Metro officials actually went out with her to visit some sites in the system. It's great to hear that WMATA management are interested in raising the bar for elevator access.

But running an accessible transit system is about more than just keeping the elevators in working order. It's also about ensuring that riders can find them and know where to go once they get on board.

From: Robinson, Tony (EOM)

To: Hoskins, Victor (EOM); Hanlon, Brian (DRES); Harper, Ollie (OPEFM);
Cooper, Ginnie (DCPL)

Cc: Graves, Warren (EOM); Sousa, Jose (EOM); [Philip Artin]; Williams, George (DCPL); Jenkins, Ruth (OPEFM); Coleman, Lucian (OPEFM); Bonvechio, Jeffrey (DCPL)

Sent: Mon Mar 07 14:33:20 2011

Subject: Project/Site Signage

Victor, Brian, Ollie, Ginnie:

All ongoing project and site signage must be updated as soon as possible to reflect the change in leadership. All projects signs bearing former administration leadership (Mayor, Agency Heads etc.) must either be replaced or covered with new leadership names.

I believe the City Administrator has discussed this issue with some of you. If not, this is a priority he has asked me to work with you and your staff in accomplishing as quickly as possible.

Please identify a point of contact on your staff who can provide updates on getting project signage changed and provide ongoing updates until completion. Should you have any questions about this request, please let me know.

Tony

Tony Robinson
Director of Public Affairs
Office of the City Administrator

Staff from Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, Department of Real Estate Services, Executive Office of the Mayor and DC Public Library appear in the email's "to" and "cc" fields. The email also went to one non-DC.Gov email address: Philip Artin, Senior Vice President, Special Projects with construction firm McKissack & McKissack.

It would be interesting to know whether these instructions were approved by Mayor Gray himself or represent an independent effort by City Administrator Allen Lew. In either case, the administration should immediately rescind this order to preserve tax dollars and focus agency leadership on legitimate high-priority projects.

To avoid this problem in the future, Gray can ask that signs not list any names at all, and simply replace the old adminisration's names on current signs with nothing. That will reflect the leadership change while removing the need to replace all names in the future every time a mayor or agency head changes.