The District Department of Transportation (DDOT, stylized as d.) is an agency of the government of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, which manages and maintains publicly owned transportation infrastructure in the District of Columbia. DDOT is the lead agency with authority over the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s, sidewalks, streets, street lights, and

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

s in the District of Columbia."About DDOT." District of Columbia Department of Transportation. No date.
Accessed 2010-01-08

History

Historical documents refer to the entity now known as DDOT as the "D.C. Department of Highways" in the 1940s and 50s, and later the "D.C. Department of Highways and Traffic" through the 1960s and early 70s. In August 1975, the department merged with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Office of the Mayor's Transportation Systems Coordinator to become the D.C. Division of Transportation, a subunit of the D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW).Ungar, Bernard L. ''Restructuring of the District of Columbia Department of Public Works' Division of Transportation.'' GAO-01-347R. Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office, March 16, 2001.
Accessed 2010-01-08Goldstein, Mark L. ''District of Columbia's Department of Transportation's Reorganization and Use of Federal-Aid Funding.'' GAO-04-644R. Washington, D.C.: United States General Accounting Office, May 14, 2004.
Accessed 2010-01-08 The division began suffering from significant deficiencies in the 1990s, including an over-reliance on outside contractors, a lack of expertise with which to oversee contractors and ensure performance and quality work, severe understaffing, and excessive lead times for the letting and implementing of design and construction contracts. These issues led to significant backlogs in maintenance and construction, and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds were unexpended. In response to the impending management crisis in its transportation division, in May 2002, the Council of the District of Columbia passed the ''District Department of Transportation Establishment Act of 2002'' (D.C. Law 14-137), which separated the Division of Transportation from the Department of Public Works and created a standalone D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT). A 2004 assessment indicated that the reorganization led to significant improvements in the District of Columbia's oversight of its transportation infrastructure.

Operations

DDOT is led by a Director who is assisted by a Chief of Staff, Deputy Director for Operations, and Deputy Director for Resource Allocation."Organizational Chart." District of Columbia Department of Transportation. No date.
The most recent director was Jeff Marootian, who recently left DDOT to become Special Assistant to the President for Climate and Science Agency Personnel. Five operational departments oversee DDOT's main functions: the Infrastructure Project Management Administration (IPMA), the Mass Transit Administration (MTA), the Transportation Policy & Planning Administration (TPPA), the Transportation Operations Administration (TOA), and the Urban Forestry Administration (UFA). Four administrative offices (Communication, Information Technology, Contracting and Procurement, and Legal) provide managerial support. DDOT coordinates a number of programs with other city and regional agencies. DDOT shares street and sidewalk snow removal with the Department of Public Works, and coordinates a reduced-fare program for elementary and secondary school students with MetroBus and

MetroRail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...

. Because of the heavy regional integration of the District's transportation system with other local, county, state, and federal governments, DDOT's Transportation Policy and Planning Administration coordinates policy with the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

(WMATA) and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' regional transportation planning and policy bodies."Transportation System Overview". District of Columbia Department of Transportation. No date.
Accessed 2010-01-08 DDOT also works closely with the District of Columbia Emergency Management Agency, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the State of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, the Commonwealth of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and the U.S. federal government to plan and implement the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan (which provides for emergency evacuation of the District of Columbia and surrounding areas in case of a major event, natural disaster, or military or terrorist attack). DDOT's headquarters is currently located at 55 M Street SE on top of the Navy Yard Metro station.

Funding and current projects

As of 2004, all of the District's bridges and approximately 30 percent of its roads were eligible for funding from the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

(FHWA). The remaining roads were maintained solely with D.C. government funds. DDOT is engaged in a number of critical transportation initiatives, many of which focus on economic development in the city's poorer neighborhoods. Among DDOT's major initiatives are: :*

DC Streetcar The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. , it consists of only one line: a segment running in mixed traffic along H Street and Benning Road in the city's Northeast quadrant. The streetcars are the first to run in ...

- DDOT owns and is currently the sole financier of DC Streetcar, a surface light rail and

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

network under construction in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

:*Great Streets Initiative - DDOT is a lead agency in the District of Columbia's Great Streets Initiative, which seeks to revitalize critical transportation and retail corridors throughout the city to spur economic development. Current Great Streets projects include Brentwood Road NE, H Street NE, Kenilworth Avenue NE, New York Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue SE, and South Capitol Street. :*

DC Circulator The DC Circulator is a bus system in Washington, D.C. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation operates the service in a public–private partnership with RATP Dev. The DC Circulator buses are similar to shuttle buses since they ...

- DDOT owns the DC Circulator bus system, a

downtown circulator In the United States, a downtown circulator is a road, bus or tram system to distribute traffic or people through a downtown area. Examples include: *Miami, Florida's Downtown Distributor *Pawtucket, Rhode Island's Downtown Circulator *The DC Cir ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

system.O'Connell, Jonathan. "New Transit Board Would Manage Streetcars." ''Washington Business Journal.'' January 4, 2010.
/ref> The Washington Metro manages the Circulator's operations, while a contractor (

First Transit First Transit is an American transportation company. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, First Transit operates over 300 locations, carrying more than 350 million passengers annually throughout the United States in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Panam ...

) operates the system. DDOT and Metro fund the Circulator in cooperation with D.C. Surface Transit Inc. (a nonprofit conglomerate that includes the Downtown Business Improvement District, Georgetown Business Improvement District, Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, Washington Convention Center Authority, and the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation). :* 11th Street Bridges - DDOT is replacing both spans of the 11th Street Bridges with three new bridges at a cost of $365 million.Thomson, Robert. "D.C. to Rebuild 11th Street Bridges over Anacostia."
''Washington Post.'' April 24, 2009

''Washington Post.'' September 22, 2009. The project is the biggest construction effort ever undertaken by DDOT.Niedowski, Erika. "DDOT Starts Construction on 11th Street Bridge Project, Sort Of."
''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focu ...

.'' December 29, 2009.

Statistics

The District Department of Transportation is responsible for: * of streets *241 bridges * of sidewalks * of alleys *144,000 trees adjacent to city streets

Directors

References

External links

District Department of Transportation
home page
District Dept. of Transportation site on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:District of Columbia Department of Transportation Government of the District of Columbia Transportation in Washington, D.C. State departments of transportation of the United States 2002 establishments in Washington, D.C.