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To Address Business Owners' Concerns, 18th Street Streetscape Work is Suspended on Saturdays
(December 7th, 2011) -- In an effort to accommodate requests from business owners who depend on Saturday business during the holiday season, today The Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District (AMPBID) announces that work on the 18th Street Streetscape project will be suspended for critical shopping Saturdays in December (Dec. 10, 17, 24 and 31). Going forward in 2012, Washington Gas will no longer perform work on Saturdays. Barring any emergencies or unforeseen circumstances, maintenance of this holiday schedule is paramount and will have no negative impact on the Streetscape’s completion date.
The AMPBID has been working closely with the District Department of Transportation, Washington Gas, Pepco, and DC Water and others to help ensure that the concerns of Adams Morgan’s business community are heard and addressed.
“Saturday shopping is a crucial part of success for our community’s businesses and we’ve worked hard to bring all the parties responsible for the Streetscape project together to address this issue,” said Kristen Barden, AMPBID’s Executive Director.
This isn’t the first time accommodations in the Streetscape project – which will provide a new roadway, wider sidewalks, new lighting, landscaping improvements and other features to better serve the Adams Morgan community – have been made by the various agencies and contractors working together on 18th Street.
Among other changes made to better serve the business community in Adams Morgan:
• Intervening to make sure water service was not turned off on a Thursday evening in June 2011 for 10 hours – because Thursday is a big evening for area businesses – and insisting that a temporary patch be placed on a faulty valve to delay required work until Monday, when fewer would be impacted by the repairs.
• Rescheduling work to accommodate Bastille Day Special Event for L'Enfant Cafe
• Acceleration of completion of east side of 18th St in front of Marie Reed for Crafty Bastards / Washington City Paper Event
• Adams Morgan Day major demobilization and removal of ALL construction materials and equipment along entire work zone
• Frequent rescheduling of water service connections to less busy days by request of business owner or manager (Violet, Black Squirrel, L'Enfant Cafe)
• Customized signage for sidewalks to allow pedestrians to access storefronts during sidewalk work, as opposed to the usual "Sidewalk Closed"
• Ramp access to businesses while concrete is curing during new sidewalk installation
• Multiple tweaks to the engineered plans to shift locations of tree boxes or lamp posts due to property owner concerns
• Placement of a full time safety officer on site to address any concerns over pedestrian and vehicular safety
• No work outside of barriers after 4 PM
• Communications Liaison available for any questions or updates with same day (usually within the hour) resolution of issues
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