The Commission received the following email on December 20, 2022 from DDOT.

The letter from Director Lott can be found in its entirety here. For convenience sake, it is copied and pasted below (with one change from the original which was to convert a footnote from “1” to “*” and to place it at the bottom of the letter for easier viewing):

Government of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation

d. Office of the Director December 20, 2022

Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 11 Washington, DC 20004

RE: DDOT’s Improved Traffic Safety Input (TSI) Process

Dear ANCs:

Thank you for your continued partnership over the past year on our Traffic Safety Investigation Program (TSI 1.0). I am writing to share process information about DDOT’s improved Traffic Safety Input (TSI 2.0) process, a program upgrade to the Traffic Safety Investigation program.

Our TSI 1.0 program was launched in Fall 2021 as part of an effort to streamline safety improvement requests by eliminating bureaucratic processes and allowing residents to directly submit requests to DDOT. As part of TSI 1.0, we launched our TSI Dashboard where residents can check the status of any TSI and we delivered safety improvements at over 900 locations in a single year. This would not have been possible without your partnership.

As part of TSI 1.0, many ANC commissioners shared constructive feedback about the program including the absence of a prioritization methodology (i.e. requests were addressed in order of receipt) as well as equity concerns in terms of the geographic distribution of safety installations. Further, despite the record number of installed interventions, the volume of new requests multiplied over the year has outpaced the agency’s capacity to respond and maintain progress in other portfolios of safety improvement services. In response to your feedback and the dramatic growth in new requests, effective January 6, 2023, DDOT is launching TSI 2.0, the Traffic Safety Input Program as a program update to TSI 1.0 (Traffic Safety Investigation).

TSI 2.0 will continue to maintain the accessibility and transparency achieved in TSI 1.0. While we work to complete the similar volume of TSIs*, it will include a quarterly prioritization assessment that considers objective factors such as roadway characteristics, crash patterns, race and social equity, proximity to Vision Zero High Injury Network corridors and locations like schools, community centers, Metrorail stations, and bus stops frequented by children, seniors and other vulnerable road users. Under TSI 2.0, each input we receive through 311 will be evaluated within the prioritization model and 200 priority locations per quarter will advance through a traffic study, followed by design and construction if safety treatments are recommended. The priority locations will be released on our website at the beginning of every quarter (January/April/July/October).

The first 200 priority locations will be posted on our TSI website on January 6, 2023. These locations were selected from all open TSIs that were run through our prioritization model. The remaining TSIs not prioritized in the first round will be closed in the 311 system but remain available as ‘input’ in the DDOT TSI 2.0 system for future quarterly prioritization. TSI 2.0 will advance 800 locations every year.

The new TSI 2.0 process will allow DDOT to focus on investigation and mitigation of the highest priority locations. By focusing on the highest priority traffic safety inputs, DDOT will allocate our safety resources more strategically to programs that proactively improve safety and mobility including Safe Routes to School program (SRTS), Annual Safety Program (ASAP), Bus Priority projects, Protected Bike Lane (PBL) projects, and our High Injury Network (HIN).

I am certain that you are eager to learn more about TSI 2.0. Please reach out to our Community Engagement Team to invite DDOT to your upcoming ANC meetings to discuss further.

Should you have any questions, you may contact me at everett.lott@dc.gov.

Sincerely,

Everett Lott Director

District Department of Transportation | 250 M Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 | 202.673.6813 | ddot.dc.gov

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*In FY21 under the old TSA program, DDOT delivered safety improvement installations at less than 250 locations. In FY22 under the TSI 1.0, we delivered at 950+ locations. Under TSI 2.0, we are committed to 800 locations per year.