At their March 18 meeting, the Navy Yard Advisory Neighborhood Commission, ANC 6/8F discussed the perils of parking during events around Nationals Park (1500 S. Capitol St. SE), Audi Field (100 Potomac Ave. SW) and at The Wharf.
Johnny Gaither, a parking administrator with the Department of Public Works (DPW) and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Ward 8 Community Engagement Specialist Keith Jones appeared for a question and answer session with commissioners and attendees.
Baseball season begins in DC with a home game at Nationals Stadium beginning around 4 p.m. During every home game, special parking restrictions and traffic closures are implemented by the city as well as a post-game traffic pattern to safely and efficiently direct traffic away from Nationals Park.
Several areas around Nationals Park have parking restrictions in place for every home game –these are indicated by signs. Vehicles that are parked there may be ticketed and towed.
Many streets will be closed three hours prior to the start of every home game in the area around the stadium. Residents must have placards issued by DDOT to access residences within these closed areas.
Gaither provided insight into special event enforcement, as listed on street signs in Navy Yard. He said it only applies to baseball games at Nationals Stadium. It does not apply to DC United events or to concerts at Nationals Field, unless the event holder paid for it —then DPW would do parking enforcement and towing as during a game throughout the neighborhood.
Commissioner Edward Daniels asked if the agencies were working on updating the 311 system so that citizens reporting parking issues can track whether their ticket had been resolved. Gaither said this was an issue with the Office of Unified Communication (OUC), which runs the system, and coordination between information in parking enforcement handhold systems, which he hoped would be resolved soon.
DPW has hired 12 additional parking officers who will be on the street after eight weeks of training; midway through that time, DPW will onboard another 12 officers, bringing another two dozen enforcement personnel to DC streets by the end of the summer, a total of about 280.
Responding to a question From Daniels, Gaither agreed that officers should ticket delivery drivers who are not parking in a safe manner and said he would address it with supervisors to ensure this would be addressed in officer training. Jones, from DDOT, added that his department was looking at additional curbside signage options to be announced shortly.
Commissioner Markita Bryant asked about the new traffic pattern at I Street at South Capitol Street. The commissioners flagged a lack of signage indicating that turning is now forbidden left from westbound I Street SW onto South Capitol Street SE. DDOT agreed to address this.
Finally, Jones from DDOT said that a change in traffic pattern was coming to the Frederick Douglass Bridge. DDOT met with the residents in Buzzard Point a few months prior, and found they had concerns around the timing of traffic lights as vehicles travel around the circle onto the bridge. DDOT will be adjusting some of the lights over there, as well as making a lane change to facilitate traffic flow.
