Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter
Written Testimony
on
District Department of Transportation
FY2021 Budget
Submitted Wednesday, June 10, 2020
to the
DC Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter with regard to the FY21 budget for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000 dues-paying members in the District of Columbia. Our top priority is combating climate change in a framework that weighs social equity concerns, and we also prioritize issues of resource conservation and water quality.
We recognize that the DC Council faces difficult decisions in these challenging times. Responding to the urgent public health needs and economic problems caused by the pandemic must be a first consideration. We applaud the Mayor for choosing to use the District’s rainy day funds rather than eliminating programs or furloughing government employees.
As we face the crisis of the pandemic, we are also in the midst of the environmental crisis of climate change. Like COVID-19, climate change is affecting communities of color and low-income communities more harshly. For example, intense heat waves are especially dangerous to seniors or residents with chronic health conditions who cannot afford air conditioning. We urge Council to maintain environmental programs in this budget. Many of these programs provide multiple benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating local jobs, increasing access to affordable clean energy, and reducing pollutants that are harmful to human health. These programs also contribute to the goals and milestones laid out in the Sustainable DC 2.0 Plan. Programs that contribute to environmental justice should be a strong component of the District’s environmental commitments.
COVID-19 Response
We applaud the recent Slow Streets initiative spearheaded by DDOT. We support the streamlining of rules to allow more and quicker access to public spaces currently occupied by motorized vehicles during this emergency. As social distancing has forced more pedestrians into streets, lowering the default speed limit to 20 mph is a common sense action to reduce the danger of interactions between vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians as they become more frequent. We also applaud the initiative to create Slow Street corridors with 15 mph speed limits along biking corridors where these interactions are already more likely, both as an incentive for cars to use other routes and as an added measure of safety.
We encourage Council to implement several of these programs permanently, namely those already outlined in the Vision Zero Enhancements Omnibus Amendment Act of 2019, B23-0288.
Key Transportation Projects
We applaud the Mayor’s budget for funding several important transportation-related capital projects. The K St Transitway is an important transportation corridor for bus-riding commuters who work on K Street NW or have to travel through it. Bus traffic is often snarled due to traffic volume, causing long, unpredictable commuting times and delaying bus schedules. We support moving forward with this project and emphasize the need for this project to incorporate the DC Streetcar’s future Benning-Georgetown line in its design.
However, we are disappointed that DDOT has abandoned plans to continue work on the Georgetown extension of the Streetcar along K Street NW. The Streetcar’s western terminus of Union Station (actually in the middle of H Street NE several minutes’ walk from the station) leaves it short of its potential for providing a fast and convenient connection to downtown for communities in Ward 6 and 7. Including it as an integral part of the K Street Transitway project is a more economic option than adding it to this alignment at some indeterminate point in the future. Pursuing this extension would also require pulling forward the work on the H Street Bridge, now proposed to start in 2025, so that it is ready in time to carry the Georgetown extension of the Streetcar.
We are pleased that the budget maintains funding to complete the Streetcar Benning Road Extension by 2024. This is the top priority for the Streetcar at this time, and we appreciate the department’s commitment to continue to invite and incorporate community input on the design.
Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act
We urge the Council to add funding to the budget to implement the Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act, B23-148. We thank the Council for passing this act, and especially for the leadership of Councilmember Allen on this bill. It is unclear to us whether part of the increase in Traffic Demand Management (Project No. ZU000) is related to the expected enactment of this bill, but it is not explicit. Could you kindly clarify? Without funding for this or next fiscal year, it will be until at least October 2021 (FY22) before this act goes into effect. As affirmed by the debate during the bill’s second reading, it certainly was not Council's intention to delay this law, and the benefits it would bring would be well worth the CFO's estimated $100,000 per year it would require to adopt, especially with increased interest in bicycling in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vision Zero Project Grants
The Sierra Club is a strong supporter of Vision Zero, and we are happy to see a continued focus on these programs and increased funding for many of these projects that are vital to improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety. We also commend the continued work on these projects despite the pandemic. Safety is a prerequisite to convincing drivers to replace trips with these modes, which will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
However, we are concerned by the proposed $500,000 cut to contractual services for future Vision Zero program grants. Such a reduction may mean that worthy programs may go to waste, especially those offering opportunities to disadvantaged communities and those working with and/or run by groups heavily affected by traffic violence. The Council should strive to include at least some minimal funding to help maintain these programs and promote innovation.
DC Circulator Fleet Electrification
We are pleased with the plans and commitments made to electrify the Circulator fleet of buses, and the Sierra Club was proud to support DDOT’s applications for federal grants to help fund new buses. The new bus garage for the Circulator fleet is an important piece of the puzzle toward fully electrifying the fleet, as required by the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act. We look forward to DDOT’s continued progress on this project.
Conclusion
Thank you for the opportunity to submit these written comments to the committee. We are happy to answer questions