Although 30 people proposed or upvoted a sidewalk connector between the south end neighborhood and the civic center -- twice as many as the next most popular idea on the Transportation Plan forum, it was once again left out of the report being presented to the City Council.

It's not clear to me who reviews the Speak Up HVL forum feedback, or how it is decided whether to incorporate any of it in the next iteration of the proposal. I'm also unclear as to whether the proposed Transportation Plan abrogates other actions of the City Council.

In the case of the 42nd Ave. and Decatur St. sidewalk connector, it was proposed 10 years ago by the Neighborhood Design Center, and accepted by the City Council. The City dragged its feet on implementing it because, according to staff, the owners of the adjacent large parcel were planning to develop it for new residences, and at that time, would be required to install sidewalk at their expense. However, that redevelopment did not happen and the owners say they have no plans for it to happen in the future.

In 2007, the CIty developed a Sidewalk Policy and amended it in 2016 (see http://www.hyattsville.org/DocumentCenter/View/3790/Sidewalk-Policy?bidId= ). According to the policy, a sidewalk should be built on one side of these blocks (it meets all the criteria). Was the contractor who developed the draft Transportation Plan even aware of the policy, and if they were, how did it decide whether or not to implement it in the places where it would apply? As it happens, very few new sidewalks are proposed, which would seem to be a de facto repudiation of an important policy passed not once, but twice, by the City Council. At the very least, the City Council should make clear the relationship between this Plan, if adopted, and the existing Sidewalk Policy.

My neighbors and I strongly encourage the City Council to include the 42nd and Decatur sidewalk connector in the Transportation Plan in order to make a necessary improvement in the safety of pedestrians -- especially schoolchildren -- currently competing with motor vehicles on a narrow and low-visibility section of road in south Hyattsville.

Showing results for: (1)The idea to make Farragut Street from 42nd Avenue eastbound to Route 1 has been tried before and found to be unsafe. Visibility to turn north from Farragut to 42nd is very poor and there is parking on both sides of Farragut between 42nd Avenue and 43rd Avenue and not enough space for both eastbound and westbound traffic. This was tried before a number of years ago and after a short period of time the two-way traffic was restored to eastbound only. There might be City staff still around who remember this earlier experiment. (2) I wholeheartedly support the proposal to install a traffic light at the intersection of Armentrout and alternate Route 1. Present visibility from Armentrout to alternate Route 1 southbound is very poor.