Connecticut Avenue will soon have a new traffic light helping pedestrians cross the six lanes of traffic.
On Monday, December 15th, we saw workers installing vehicle signals at the Chesapeake Street intersection.
It seems fitting that the lights are being put up while Hanukkah – the Jewish celebration of lights – is under way. The holiday commemorates the reclaiming of the Jerusalem temple in 164 BCE by the Maccabees, after they fought off the Greeks. For the temple’s rededication, only one jar of pure olive oil was found to light the sacred eternal light. The miracle was that the oil burned for eight days, giving the temple enough time to make more, and keep the light burning.
We don’t know exactly when the Connecticut and Chesapeake signals will be activated, but know that long after the eight days of Hanukkah, they will continue to shine, allowing the many adults and children who play and socialize in Forest Hills Park to cross under the safety of the new lights.
Neighborhood pedestrian safety advocates, including myself, have been pressing DDOT for a signal at this intersection for years. Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action, a grassroots group that conducted a traffic and pedestrian audit all along upper Connecticut, included Connecticut and Chesapeake on the safety priority list presented to DDOT in 2011.
In 2015, DDOT determined that there was not enough foot traffic to warrant even a HAWK light.
The agency changed its tune sometime after beginning its Connecticut Avenue safety improvement study in 2019. In 2022, early concept plans included a pedestrian-activated HAWK signal at Chesapeake Street as well as bike and left-turn lanes. At some point, that evolved into a full traffic signal, which made it into the stripped-down safety project DDOT revealed in October 2024.