Demolition began Wednesday at a Northeast D.C. intersection that has become infamous for how confusing and dangerous it is – and famous for its nickname.
Residents have been calling it "Dave Thomas Circle" because of the Wendy’s that has stood in the middle of the intersection at New York and Florida avenues for years. (Dave Thomas founded the fast-food chain.)
The restaurant has been at the intersection since the 1980s, and the District took the property using eminent domain and paid $14 million for the land to redesign it. So on Wednesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser got behind the controls of an excavator and started the demolition of that old Wendy’s so construction can begin.
Considered one of the most hazardous intersections in the District, it is traveled by 80,000 vehicles a day as well as pedestrians and cyclists who navigate the crossroads of New York and Florida Avenues and First Street NE.
Joe Bishop-Henchman, ANC commissioner for Eckington, has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years.
“Everybody in the neighborhood knows somebody that’s gotten into an accident here, been injured. My best friend was hit by a car right over there,” he said. “It’s long overdue; this is an accident on the map and I’m glad we’re fixing it.”
The intersection is a mish-mash of diagonal streets–some of them one-way–unforgiving traffic signals, signs and little room for bicycles or pedestrians.
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“Sometimes we got transportation projects right,” Bowser said at the demolition. “But this isn't one of them.”
When the project is complete at the end of next year, there will be protected bike lanes, three new parks and all the roads will be two-way instead of one-way.
“It will finally connect our community with the rest of D.C. This is just kind of a giant moat that divides us, little island right here. And hopefully it means a lot more safety and a lot less chaos for drivers on two very important roads,” Bishop-Henchman said.
You can go online to vote on a new name for the intersection here. The finalists being considered are:
- Douglass Crossing, for Frederick Douglass
- Mamie “Peanut” Johnson Plaza, after the D.C. woman who became the first woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues
- People's Plaza
- Three Star Plaza, for the D.C. flag
- Tiber Gateway, which pays homage the Old Tiber Creek, an original waterway that ran through the city
The $42 million project is part of Bowser’s Vision Zero plan to reduce the number of people killed and injured on D.C. streets, but it comes as those numbers are going up. Twenty-eight people have been killed in traffic crashes so far this year, a 33% increase over last.
“It is clear just on the numbers we are not heading in the right direction when it comes to Vision Zero and safer streets," D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen said. "I don’t believe we're making the gains or heading in the right direction on Vision Zero, but I also believe as the Mayor said, projects like this will be part of how we turn that around."
