It is hard to imagine how a connection between 39th Avenue and Nicholson Street will help the neighborhood. The loss of large trees and a safe children's play space would greatly outweigh anything gained by having another through street. The culdesac at the corner of 39th and Madison provides a safe, flat area for children to bike and skate. My daughter learned to ride her bike there because 39th Avenue and the connecting blocks at the top of the hill are all too steep for a young bike rider. In addition, even though the city treats the streets, they become treacherous for drivers in the winter. More than once, we have witnessed cars struggling to get up 39th Avenue on a snowy or icy day. Adding more drivers cutting through the neighborhood on the 39th Avenue will only increase the problem of unsafe streets, especially in winter weather, and the loss of trees and recreation space would harm the character of this corner of the city.

Other than morning rush hour (due to one way traffic in alley and on Queensbury Road, there is no real traffic problem. NS-6 would require taking property from private citizens. it would also increase traffic for those citizens. Don't do it.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment! There are many great ideas here. Like others, I'm concerned about the proposal to add a new street between 39th Avenue and Madison Street. Many of us can attest to those small pockets of space in the Hyattsville area that contribute to a sense of community. I've lived on 39th Avenue for 14 years and the circle at the end 39th Avenue and Madison Street is one of these spaces. Many young children reside on 39th Avenue and Madison, and pedestrian safety is already a concern. Children on these streets and from other parts of the neighborhood like to use the circle and the hill at the end of 39th Avenue to ride their bikes, skateboard and scooter. There are no parks in this pocket of the community, and children use the circle and street as a relatively safe outdoor space. That said, commuters use the street as a cut-through at times, and I believe that the posted speed limit is too high and drivers are exceeding the speed limit. I've considered approaching the City about adding a traffic calming device to make the street safer for kids. I appreciate that the City and Toole are trying to implement plans to better to connect the Hyattsville community, but I'm not sure that Toole is aware of the pedestrian safety issues and how the community presently uses the space. Another reason I oppose this idea is that I can't figure out what traffic concern Toole or the City is attempting to address. I haven't personally observed a traffic backup on 40th Avenue between Nicholson and Jefferson Street. When I look at the attached map, it appears that Toole might be viewing this street addition as a way to off-load commuter traffic on Queens Chapel Road for commuters driving from areas north of Hyattsville into DC. Whether or not this is the intention, it's clear that this will happen and I can imagine that apps like Waze will redirect traffic onto our street. It's completely inappropriate to use a small neighborhood street to resolve state highway traffic congestion. It also doesn't serve the City's stated goals. I would rather see a bike or walking path connecting the streets. That might be useful to Hyattsville residents. Finally, although I don't claim to know the easements between 39th Avenue and Nicholson, I will separately object to this plan or similar ones if it involves proposals for eminent domain. ×

I applaud the city for this plan. I believe that prioritizing pedestrian and bicycle access within our city will have long term benefits and is in line with our goals for more sustainable development. My one objection to the plan is the extension of 39th Avenue to Nicholson street. I don't feel that extending this street offers much in the way of connectivity and it would greatly impact the quiet character of 39th and Madison. I would also add that putting in a sidewalk on Madison street between 40th and 41st (currently only one side of the street has a sidewalk on that block of Madison) would be very nice.

I am completely opposed to the idea of connecting 39th Avenue to Nicholson Street. While it is true that eliminating dead end roads can create more convenient ways to get around the neighborhood, and redistribute traffic, it also eliminates low-traffic spaces that residents make use of on a regular basis. In this particular case, the cul-de-sac where 39th Ave terminates near Madison Ave is used by neighborhood children for recreational purposes. The fact that this is low traffic area has also made it ideal for the annual block party and, this year, the Soap Box Derby race. I question the wisdom of spending money on a feasibility study in this location in the first place. There are houses dividing the 39th Ave termination point and Nicholson Ave. How could the city possibly connect these two roads given the current situation?

A major omission is the long-standing pedestrian-safety problem due to lack of sidewalk on 42nd Ave. between Crittenden and Decatur and on Decatur between 42nd and 42nd Pl. Given just the number of children who use that route to and from school in the morning, and the lack of alternate, safe routes to the civic center of Hyattsville from the southside of the Historic District, I would hope that the City would follow its Sidewalk Enhancement Policy in at least this one case. In fact, 10 years ago the Neighborhood Design Center formally requested the City to install sidewalks there as part of the trail-access project on Crittenden St. I've heard a number of neighbors complain about how uncomfortable it is to drive that block of 42nd Ave. due to the narrowness, lack of sight lines, and frequent presence of children and other pedestrians on the roadway. It's not great for drivers or pedestrians. But let's at least fix this for the children in our community, if nothing else.

In my corner of Ward 5 there is already a large amount of traffic that passes through the neighborhood to avoid the intersection of Hamilton and Queens Chapel Rd. It seems to me that restructuring Hamilton St to reduce traffic speeds will increase the motivation to avoid this intersection, and the light at Queens Chapel and Lancer will make it easier for commuters to use the small neighborhood streets. I worry that some of the proposed new roads will turn other previously quiet corners of the city into heavily trafficked throughways. Large numbers of commuters passing through small residential streets at high speed is a good way to inhibit building community with others on your street, and is a hazard as well. Wouldn't a better goal be to redirect traffic flow around neighborhoods to maintain the neighborliness that many areas of Hyattsville have?

There's a lot of great ideas in the priority list. I avidly support making Hyattsville a safe and comfortable place to walk and bicycle. The proposal to transform Hamilton seems particularly good. However I didn't see any documentation about the need to connect 39th Street and Madison to Nicholson Street. The traffic signal at Queen's Chapel and Nicholson will likely create back up traffic on Nicholson. Any increase in traffic on Nicholson would negatively impact the Bicycle Boulevard proposal. Connecting another road there doesn't seem like a great idea. If a road-size outlet is in demand from 39th and Madison, it would make more sense and be shorter to connect through the existing driveway at Independence Court across from Manorwood. There is room for pedestrian / bicycle trail access if that was the need. I don't like the idea of taking someone's home for a road. It's not that far from 39th and Madison to Longfellow which connects to Queen's Chapel. There is redevelopment planned for Sacred Heart at the end of 38th Street which could incorporate a new connection to Queen's Chapel as well.

The study seems to offer much improvement for pedestrians walking or biking. Very nice production. I did speak with Laura Reams and attended council meetings about a circulator study. Bikes are a great start as we are clearly realizing we need to be a reliable multi-modal city (e.g. no longer car-oriented). Also recognizing sufficient parking in or around the Arts District may not be realistic for years to come, what is the status the circulator report, which will provide proposed improvements to public transit headway, routes, and hours of operation?

Thanks.

Wow. Love the detail contained in this study. There are recommendations here for years to come. It seems like some of the proposed news roads go through extant buildings, including homes and PG Plaza. That seems to be the biggest potential problem, aside from funding the carry out the proposed recommendations.

I encourage the City to create a bike boulevard on Queensbury Road, which would improve the bicycle network in the City and the region. A bike boulevard on Queensbury Road would improve the City's bicycle network by connecting the proposed bicycle lanes on Belcrest Road (which in the draft map end at Queens Chapel Road) with the proposed bicycle boulevard on 40th Ave, and create a key east-west route through the northern part of the city. A Queensbury Road bike boulevard would also significantly improve the bicycle network regionally by connecting the proposed bike lanes near PG Plaza (Belcrest Road, Adelphi Road, and Toledo Terrace) with the proposed bicycle sharing lanes to be installed on Queensbury and Riverdale Roads in Riverdale Park (http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/2018-March/021712.html), which would give Hyattsville residents an improved route to the Trolley Trail (e.g., Riverdale Station, College Park), the Riverdale MARC Station, the Anacostia Tributary Trail where it intersects at Riverdale Road, and the future Purple Line stations. It would also directly connect several of the proposed Capital Bikeshare stations to be installed in the area.

What about a circulator shuttle that goes through Hyattsville with stops at Riverdale MARC, PG Plaza Metro, and Hyattsville West Metro? To begin, this could be only at rush hours like the one in University Park. It could cut down on traffic significantly and certainly save commuters on Metro parking fees.