C2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, APRIL 3 , 2022
commuter
BY LUZ LAZOAmong the highlights of D.C.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s pro-
posed $19 billion budget are an
expansion of traffic enforcement
and spending millions of taxpayer
dollars to upgrade bike-share in-
tersections, add bike-share sta-
tions, and build more bike and
bus lanes.
The proposed budget touts a
vision that plans for expanded
transportation options, reliable
public transit and less personal
vehicle use, Everett Lott, Bowser’s
transportation chief, said in late
March. He said it supports infra-
structure projects that “will make
moving through this city without
a car safer and more convenient.”
“We set our vision on safety,”
said Lott, who is scheduled to go
before the D.C. Council on Mon-
day to present the District Depart-
ment of Transportation’s spend-
ing plan.
The council is deliberating a
financial plan that some lawmak-
ers say addresses calls for more
traffic enforcement and better
maintenance of city roads.
Under the proposal, about
$10 million would be spent in the
next fiscal year on “quick-build”
changes to roads, such as the
addition of speed bumps, im-
provements on left and right
turns, and moving stop signs to
ensure better sightlines. It can
also include replacement of signs
and flexible posts used to form an
arc around some street corners to
encourage slower driving.
On traffic enforcement, Bowser
(D) wants $9.4 million to add 170
new speed cameras, along with
dozens more cameras that would
target drivers who run red lights
and stop signs, illegally use bike
and bus lanes, or pass school
buses. It would be the most signif-
icant expansion of the program
since it launched two decades ago,
tripling the number of speed cam-
eras in the city.
The proposal, officials say, re-
sponds to a rise in unsafe driving.
“The mayor has been saying
that we really need to blanket the
city with enforcement cameras as
a way to really just keep the speed
down because the speeding is re-
ally what is out of control and
what is causing the traffic crash-
es,” Deputy Mayor for Operations
and Infrastructure Lucinda M.
Babers recently told council
members.
Babers said a staff analysis
found that 170 more speed camer-
as would be needed to put them
on every mile in high-crash corri-
dors. The city plans to deploy the
cameras to corridors with a his-
tory of severe crashes, she said,
while also using some near
schools to tackle concerns aboutcollisions involving children
walking to or leaving school.
Bowser’s proposed budget also
includes $9.4 million to add 100
full-time school crossing guards,
which officials say will ensure
coverage of all schools.
To target drivers with out-
standing tickets, the budget in-
cludes $752,000 to add nine posi-
tions in the city’s vehicle booting
division, which would triple its
size. The Department of Public
Works, which handles ticket en-
forcement, has two vehicles and
two two-person crews assigned to
booting vehicles. The teams boot
about 50 vehicles daily, interim
director Michael A. Carter said at
an oversight budget hearing of his
agency late last month. Budget
cuts years ago resulted in the
division reducing the number of
booting crews from 10 to two,
while ushering in enforcement
deficiencies that have been widely
criticized.
About 550,000 vehicles with
D.C., Maryland or Virginia tags
have two or more unpaid parking
or traffic tickets that are at least
60 days old and eligible to be
booted, according to city data.
Many involve dangerous driving:
Roughly 5,000 vehicles have tick-
ets for traveling at least 21 mph
over the speed limit, another
150,000 for running a red light
and about 50,000 have fines forrunning a stop sign.
“The additional nine will give
us greater bandwidth to boot
more vehicles,” Carter said. “Defi-
nitely will enhance our capacity a
great deal.”
Bowser’s proposals for tackling
traffic infractions and road safety
problems are likely to receive the
backing of council members.
Some members have said they
support more traffic cameras and
investment in road infrastruc-
ture. Council member Brooke
P into (D-Ward 2) recently praised
the budget’s investment in dedi-
cated bike lanes and cleaning of
the paths.
“Keeping our bike lanes clear of
debris will help encourage safe
travel and booting vehicles with
outstanding violations will help
keep dangerous drivers off our
roads,” Pinto said. Referencing
the city’s pledge to eliminate traf-
fic fatalities by 2024, she added, “I
know that this may be one small
part of moving towards Vision
Zero, but every action that we
take collectively makes a differ-
ence.”
Bowser has emphasized invest-
ments made in recent years to
address safety concerns, includ-
ing $5 million last year to upgrade
the city’s automated traffic en-
forcement system, and adding
more speed and red-light cameras
to target bad road behaviors.Here are some of the initiatives
in her proposed budget, some of
which would stretch over multi-
ple years:
l $200 million over six years for
longer-term streetscape projects
to redesign dangerous roads and
intersections.
l $36 million over six years to
add 10 new miles of protected
bike lanes per year to the District’s
growing bike lane network.
l $334,000 to add dedicated
data analysis and communica-
tions capacity to DDOT’s Vision
Zero office.
l $57 million toward complet-
ing the K Street Transitway, antic-
ipating that construction would
begin next year. The project,
which Bowser announced three
years ago, would provide protect-
ed bus and bike lanes through
downtown. Under the plan, K
Street would be redesigned be-
tween Ninth and 21st streets NW,
with two dedicated bus lanes —
one in each direction — running
down the middle and separated
from traffic by raised medians
that would have room for passen-
ger waiting areas.
l $102 million over six years
toward bus projects, including
adding more bus-only lanes and
improvements to 50 priority cor-
ridors. Officials said the invest-
ments would make bus transit
easier and faster.l $15 million over six years to
continue the expansion of Capital
Bikeshare. The funding would be
used to add 80 new stations and
1,000 more e-bikes. The District is
expected to begin expanding its
e-bike fleet starting this summer
through funding approved last
year. Under the plan, every D.C.
resident will live within a quarter-
mile of a bike station, officials
said. The plan also supports a new
program of adaptive bikes for
people with disabilities.
l $125 million over six years for
new and improved trails, includ-
ing the Suitland Parkway and
Shepherd Branch trails in Ward 8,
to improve connectivity to the
regional trail network.
The city is also preparing to
receive about $3 billion in federal
infrastructure funding, which
will be used on road infrastruc-
ture, transit, energy, environmen-
tal and broadband projects.
Bowser recently announced a new
task force that will help the city
select projects, while prioritizing
equity and economic opportunity.
The federal funding includes
$1.3 billion for roads and bridges,
city officials said. About $85 mil-
lion will go to improving traffic
safety and supporting the V ision
Zero program. Another $17 mil-
lion will go to building a network
of electric vehicle charging sta-
tions.THE DISTRICT
Bowser eyes bike and bus expansion, safer roads in transportation budget
ed Jan. 3.
The analysis recommended the
state improve communications
with the public and develop addi-
tional sources for communicating
during an emergency. It also sug-
gested the state provide crisis
communications training to help
craft messages that provide “clear
direction and reassurance with
empathy, and that encourage the
public to act in a way that is help-
ful to the response.” The state
should also analyze increased
tractor-trailer traffic on inter-
states and the effects on traffic
flow to ensure adjustments can be
made during snow removal, the
report said.
Greater awareness of the inci-
dent across the state would have
allowed VDOT and state police to
respond sooner, according to the
report, including blocking ramps
leading to the highway and “call-
ing in additional towing resourc-
es, sending snowplows against
traffic, and pulling cars to nearby
commuter lots to reduce towing
cycle times.”
Valentine, the former transpor-
tation secretary, told The Post in
January that she received a call
from the state’s commissioner of
highways at 4:52 a.m. on Jan. 4
indicating I-95 was impassable.
She said she then got word to
Northam through his chief of staff.
The highway formally closed
shortly after, at 5:15 a.m.
“There was a breakdown on 95,”
Valentine said in an interview in
January.
In the letter to Youngkin, Miller
and Mosier wrote that the “lessons
learned are clear,” adding that
leadership teams should be as-
sembled early and often, engaged
at the highest levels. Other les-
sons, they said, are to permit agen-
cies to “over-plan” while making
sure they have contingency plans
in place.were feeding information into a
system known as VaTraffic, which
511 relies on for data, but “the
system updates did not include
new inputs,” according to the re-
port. It added that the “reported
reason for the system failure was
excessive load, which caused the
system to crash.”
Local 911 dispatchers were
flooded with calls from stranded
motorists: A father trapped with
an infant pleaded for help as his
car ran out of gas. A woman wor-
ried because her diabetic husband
hadn’t eaten in hours. A young
woman was headed back to col-
lege in North Carolina, scared af-
ter a night alone. A 93-year-old
man traveling to Florida got into a
39-hour odyssey through Virginia,
lost on backcountry roads with a
dwindling gas supply and dying
cellphone battery.
According to the report, the
storm resulted in 833 crashes and
819 disabled vehicles, leaving
some drivers stranded for more
than 24 hours.
VDOT had limited access to re-
sources partly because of the pan-
demic, the report said. Contrac-
tors who provide snow removal
for the agency had fewer staff
members working because of the
surging omicron variant. The re-
port also found that some VDOT
districts experienced shortages of
field staff because of infections
and exposure.
In other instances, roadway
conditions prevented staff from
reporting to work, while some em-
ployees were unavailable because
of the holiday weekend.
Although VDOT and the State
Police have “a wealth of experi-
ence and demonstrate strong co-
ordination and collaboration,” the
report said, it concluded that their
experiences in dealing with small-
er incidents did not prepare them
for the large-scale response need-emergency response added to the
confusion.
It took the top levels of Vir-
ginia’s government, including
Northam and his transportation
secretary, Shannon Valentine,
more than 20 hours to realize the
depth of the crisis unfolding on
I-95, The Post found. Valentine did
not respond to a request for com-
ment Friday about the report.
The report said that despite
communication problems that
unfolded through the event, mes-
saging also gave drivers f alse hope.
At 9:14 a.m. on Jan. 4 — after
distraught motorists had been
trapped overnight without aid or
clear information — authorities
decided to send a Wireless Emer-
gency Alert to nearby motorists.
The alerts are short emergency
messages from federal, state or
local authorities that can be sent
to cellphones in a targeted area.
“I-95 Drivers: State & locals
coming ASAP with supplies & to
move you. http://www.virginiadot.org,” it
read. But the report said that mes-
sage was misleading and proved
“a particular cause of frustration”
for those who received it.
“Stranded drivers mistakenly
interpreted the alert to mean that
emergency workers would soon be
coming car-to-car on I-95. When
they did not, many took to social
media to vent their frustration,”
the report said.
That was one of an array of
communication breakdowns de-
tailed in the report.
Virginia’s 511 system — which
could have helped to convey the
severity of conditions as problems
were compounding Jan. 3 —
stopped updating between 7:30
a.m. and 11:30 a.m., according to
the report. Meanwhile, interest in
the site was surging, with tens of
thousands of attempts to reach the
511 website that day.
Traffic Operations Center staffneed an emergency declaration
and asked Settle the next morning.
They did not request one, accord-
ing to the Northam officials. Settle
declined through a spokeswoman
to comment Friday.
An email obtained by The
Washington Post shows
Northam’s chief of staff, Clark
Mercer, following up on the sub-
ject of an emergency declaration
shortly before noon Jan. 3.
“Curtis, you indicated not antic-
ipating a declaration of emergen-
cy for this storm,” Mercer wrote to
Curtis C. Brown, state coordinator
for the Virginia Department of
Emergency Management, with
transportation and public safety
secretaries copied. “If that chang-
es please make sure to start the
process early.”
The Post — through state rec-
ords and in interviews with state
and local officials, highway and
emergency management experts,
and stranded motorists — found
in January that internal miscom-
munications, botched public mes-
saging and holes in the state’ssuch as State Police Superinten-
dent Gary T. Settle, according to
two former Northam officials who
spoke on the condition of anonym-
ity to avoid the dispute.
The two officials took issue with
the tone and substance of an ac-
companying letter to Youngkin
from Transportation Secretary W.
Sheppard Miller III and Secretary
of Public Safety Robert Mosier,
saying it contained inaccuracies
not found in the report, including
a statement that Northam and his
staff never asked his Cabinet sec-
retaries if an emergency declara-
tion was needed.
“While this storm represented
some challenges and the unfore-
seen nature of the force of the
storm provided a series of unfor-
tunate events, there were several
opportunities to mitigate the im-
pact of the event had critical choic-
es and decisions been made in a
timely manner,” Miller and Mosier
wrote to Youngkin.
The two Northam officials said
the governor’s office asked staff
that morning if they expected tothat information effectively, the
report said.
That information could have
helped state officials understand
the severity of problems, but there
were “no plans, procedures, or pol-
icies to guide” how state agencies
“might validate and use these non-
traditional data sources to quickly
form a common operational pic-
ture,” the report said. “In turn, the
information was not conveyed to
agency leadership in real time.”
The storm, which dropped
about 12 inches of snow in the
area, quickly overwhelmed snow-
removal crews on the hilly stretch
of interstate. Multiple crashes in
the Fredericksburg area, some in-
volving jackknifed tractor-trail-
ers, contributed to the mayhem,
but it wasn’t until the next morn-
ing that Virginia officials officially
shut down the corridor.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) became
the most high-profile motorist
trapped overnight as he headed to
Washington from Richmond. His
two-hour commute turned into
nearly 27 hours.
The review, which did not lay
blame for the meltdown, fueled
political finger-pointing at the top
levels of Virginia government.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) blamed
the administration of his pred-
ecessor, R alph Northam (D), say-
ing officials weren’t prepared for
the severity of the storm.
“This report demonstrates as
the storm changed in intensity
and left Virginians and travelers
stranded on I-95, the previous ad-
ministration’s leadership did not
properly prepare or communi-
cate,” Youngkin said in a state-
ment.
No one from the Northam ad-
ministration was interviewed for
the report, except for those who
have remained in state service,
SNOWSTORM FROM C1
Report: Communication failures contributed to January storm debacle on I-95
STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cars and trucks are stranded on I nterstate 95 in Carmel Church,
Va., on Jan. 4. A storm left 48 miles of the highway impassable.(202) 919-9209 (301) 778-4222 (703) 650-9337