Park Rd NW

CH Under Construction

While the Mount Pleasant portion of Park Road is very close to being polished and done, Columbia Heights is a mess of construction workers, narrow and restricted lanes and traffic backups. 14th Street has been reduced to two lanes between Irving and Park. That's slowing he 50s buses and makes for rough turning angles for larger vehicles. The Kenyon St-14th Street intersection has been temporarily reduced to one lane. The landscaped plaza (pictured left) in front of Park Triangle Apartments is taking shape, but remains mostly roped off as of last night. It is looks like it could be a valuable and active public space that's actually. The gravel pit which was there before was rarely used, naturally. It was all gravel!

Park Road in between 16th Street and Mount Pleasant Street is much improved. I will post photos of it after all the work is done, but the work is virtually finish as I write this. The changes at the intersection of 17th St, Park Rd and Mount Pleasant Street have made life a little easier on pedestrians. And the general streetscape improvements --including bulb outs, new light fixtures and new sidewalks-- were spot on and worth the wait.

The folks in Columbia Heights are still dealing with a Park Road with severely restricted parking and one travel lane instead of two. And that's all the way from 13th Street to 16th. Three painfully long and slow traveling blocks. After the 14th Street and Park Road reconstructions, DDOT will move onto Irving Street between 16th and 14th. All work is scheduled to be complete by Spring of 2010.

Even Hiatt Place, the short street connecting Irving and Park Roads, is getting some action. The Bell Multicultural High School is getting a new athletic field. The new space is adjacent to the rear of DCUSA, where the old Bell School was located before being expanded an rebuilt on 16th Street. The new athletic field is made of a field-turf like artificial material similar to the new fields at other Ward One schools Harriet Tubman Elementary and Cardozo Senior High. Thanks to Derek for the photo of the field construction in progress.

Sections of Park Road Sidewalk Reopen

Good news for you folks living on Park Road between 16th and Mt Pleasant Streets. Sections of the sidewalk are starting to be released back into the public domain. And they are much wider now than before. I'd say a good two feet wider. That formerly narrow stretch of sidewalk is much trafficked and was due for an upgrade any year now. Enjoy it. Car traffic shouldn't suffer much. Well, after the construction anyway. Not so fun to drive on Park Road right now in its current condition. There's basically a little less than one complete lane available. Stay away; unless you're walking!

Park Road Again: Pho 14

Park Road between 14th and 16th Sts NW is constantly changing. Before DCUSA opened we were wondering if the mall would kill small businesses on that block. Well, over the past two years, several businesses have opened, including Simply Soles, a shoe boutique.

Well, get ready pho fans of DC. Looks like a Vietnamese restaurant by the name of Pho 14 will be opening there soon. Construction permits were issued for 1436 Park Rd NW in December and a sign went up a few days ago, pictured. No details yet. Its a small space in between Simply Soles and Pollo Sabroso.

Park Road Under Major Construction

As part of a year+ long project that affects Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, Park Road is under major construction. The always busy street is even more congested from 14th Street NW to Mt Pleasant St NW as of last month. There is one west bound travel lane between 16th & Mt P Streets and reduced sidewalk space.

The utility work is being done in conjunction with the Columbia Heights Street Scape. When finished, the road will have a completely new serface, markings and both north and south sidewalks will be widened. The south sidewalk is particularly in need of widening. Expect at least one sidewalk to be completely open at any given time along the route.

Simply Soles Opens Storefront on Park

The previously online and catalog only shoe store Simply Soles has opened a retail storefront at 1438 Park Road NW. The brick and mortar version of Kassie Rempel's store opened last week. Rempel is a Mount Pleasant resident, so she may have the best commute to work of anyone in DC.

The space used to house an ACE check cashing store, so no loss there. This is the block in which DCUSA rests, on the eastern half. The rest of the block is made up of small markets, two restaurants, a barber shop and a couple of low rise apartment buildings. Lots of foot traffic on this block of Park Road. I'm sure this place will get word of mouth referrals as well because of its boutique/local status and the fact that it sells quality women's shoes. This is not Payless, ladies. You can get the top of the line designers like Tory Burch and.... hahaha. Who am I kidding, I know nothing about women's shoes. But, the store does remind me of a place you'd go to for a pair of shows that will wow the other women at the next cocktail party or wedding. Good luck to this place and other businesses on that neat stretch of Park Road.

18th and Park Roads

North of Park Road

My sincerest apologies to Mount Pleasant north of Park Road. I rarely take photos of you or write about you, but not intentionally. You are so reserved, so quite, so austere. I have friends that live there, I visit them on occasion. If I had children, they might even attend one of your schools, Sacred Heart or Bancroft Elementary. You are on my bike route to Columbia Heights and your streets are 10x more bike friendly than the busy and consistently double parked Mt Pleasant Street.

Rock Creek's winding pathways, picnic tables and Parkway are hidden here. You are home to a wide array of housing: newer, larger complexes, small condo converted flats, weathered row houses and the beautiful variety along Ingleside Terrace. Forget the Kennedy-Warren, you lay claim to one of the District's largest and most well-known apartment buildings, the Woodner. And even though your house parties get busted at exactly midnight, and not a minute later, your graceful Park Road mansions and homey stand alone frame houses make up for that with their daytime beauty. The 42 Bus loves you Mount Pleasant North of Park Road. Here are the pictures to prove it.