T Street: New Streetlights from 7th to 11th Streets

T Street NW between 7th and 11th Streets will get more elegant-looking street lights soon. The Transportation Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Committee (ANC) 1B/U Street heard about the project at its April 16 meeting.

Out with these

In with these

Representatives of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) told the Transportation Committee the design phase of the project is 95 percent complete. The all of the 11 existing 400-watt "cobra-head" street lights (right) will be replaced. Ten new street lights of the same design will be added. The new 100-watt street lights will have a retro look (see example left), with a vase-shaped glass lamp on a column.

"They'll look really great," a DDOT representative said.

Work along T Street will start in May or June and take 4 to 6 months. DDOT will have to dig a trench and eventually resurface the entire stretch of road. The trench will be dug along one side of the street, section by section. Steel plates will be put over the trenches when work is not in progress. When the work is in progress, there will be no room for parked cars. After completion, there will be dedicated manholes on T Street for the street lights.

"Is this going to interrupt traffic?" a committee member asked.

"Every project is going to interrupt traffic," the DDOT representative replied.

T Street has a bike lane.  Members of the committee asked if the trench was going to be dug on the side of the street with the bike lane. The DDOT representatives were not sure and promised to get back to the committee with the information.

ANC1B Commissioner Ricardo Reinoso (district 05) asked if the residents had been informed.

DDOT representatives said they were using email, ANC meetings, and postal mail to inform residents in the affected area.

A flyer distributed by DDOT at the meeting promised sidewalk repair along T Street will be coordinated to coincide with the work on the new street lights.

The old "cobra-head" street lights will be retained by DDOT and used elsewhere as needed.

Representatives of DDOT may be back to present to the full ANC at their next monthly meeting. This is scheduled to take place Thursday, May 1, at 7pm, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

(Photo credit: left - from DDOT brochure distributed at the April 16 meeting, right - Google Street View of 900 block of T Street)