Mead & Hunt was recently awarded an Engineering Excellence Honor Award from ACEC-MW for our work with JMT and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) on the design of the Park Place and Warder Street Protected Bike Lanes (PBL) Project!
Mead & Hunt developed the design of the Park Place Protected Bike Lanes, part of a complementary set of north-south PBL corridors with Warder Street in Washington, D.C. Throughout the course of this project, the project team implemented multiple innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable design strategies, all while simultaneously meeting DDOT’s schedule and budgeting needs. For instance, our context-sensitive design incorporated the use of tree pits that not only enhanced the green space in the area, but also provided green infrastructure improvements. This strategy will help DDOT achieve its goal of planting over 10,000 trees per year to increase the District’s tree canopy to 40% by 2032.
In addition, the completed set of PBLs expand the city’s multimodal network, connecting new neighborhoods to protected bicycling facilities and expanding access in the Northwest D.C. community. This brings the city into alignment with its goal to be more multimodal-friendly, reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips, and meet its Vision Zero goals.
Through collaboration with residents and incorporation of community feedback and requests, this project has strengthened the relationship between the general public and the engineering profession. It also provides two additional examples of world-class protected bicycle facilities that can be used by other professionals as we move toward an increasingly multimodal view of transportation. This enhances the image of the transportation engineering profession in local communities, and ultimately moves our industry toward a more sustainable future. Congratulations to all involved!
