KGPdesign studio

For the past 50 years or so. K Street has been the center of downtown business with offices full of lawyers, lobbyists and many other professionals. In the 1940's this residential street was changed into a boulevard by cutting side roads through the front yards of the old homes leaving the curbs and gutters in place. New islands separated the street into 4 lanes of moving traffic in the center and 2 lanes on each side handling local traffic and turn. This was all part of the great escape to the suburbs and K Street led directly to the Whitehurst Freeway bypassing Georgetown through a tunnel under Washington Circle. The original version of this project was to connect the streetcar from Union Station to Georgetown, but the funds weren't there so it has become a busway instead.

At the same time, the people living in the city wanted to bring this street to current trends, reducing traffic, making more space for pedestrians and multimodal transportation. Street life suffers and has become merely a place where people come to work and leave. Photos from the 1980's show many more pedestrians used to enjoy this street.

The project took on a wholesale change in the street layout, moving separated bus lanes into the center of the street, along with bicycles, and removing the side islands creating 3 lanes of traffic on each side. To accomplish this all the trees on the islands have to be cut down.

The important aspect of this project is to change the street to be oriented towards people and safer for pedestrians. The new islands where the buses will stop have wide crosswalks leading to them and protected barriers from turning vehicles. The bus stop areas are 130 feet long with multiple bus shelters for the various bus routes to stop. Real-time signage will let patrons know where to stand for each bus.

Although this is supposed to focus on people, the city is running short on funds, so the people-oriented details are being removed from the project.

KGP was responsible for the bus stops (station areas) and the urban design renderings of the corridor and details. Presentations were made to public officials such as CFA, NCPC, DDOT, and the local BIDS.