Traffic circles in D.C. wear a variety of hats — picnic spot, bocce ball court, salsa dancing studio, chess club, place to feel road rage. They are so essential to our cityscape that it’s easy to forget they’re a uniquely D.C. feature. We chatted with local urban planner Dan Reed about how we wound up with all these circles and what’s going to become of them.
A Brief (But Fascinating) History Of DC Traffic Circles
When Pierre L’Enfant designed the city in 1791 as a north-south and east-west grid system, he also created long, diagonal avenues to shorten travel between federal buildings. Where these intersected, he put circles where neighbors could relax and tune into the city around them. He plotted the spaces close together to create views he called “reciprocity of sight,” so you could gaze from one to the next.
Only five in L’Enfant’s original plan became circles that exist today — Washington, Thomas, Scott, Logan, and Dupont — but the city has over 36 in total. At first there was nothing surrounding them. “Back in the day, you laid the city out first and you waited for stuff to fill in around it,” says Reed. “D.C. would be this grand capital, right? So, you needed a sense of monumentality.”
What’s Changed
Back then — remember this was pre-car — the circles were a free-for-all with wagons going every which way. But in the 1900s when cars became the norm, the circles could no longer handle all the traffic. So, D.C. added traffic signals, crosswalks, split lanes, and underpasses which all helped manage collisions and increased pedestrian traffic.
There's a tension between the circle as a place where people can come gather versus as a traffic thoroughfare. You can see in D.C. how challenging it is to navigate that.
Dan Reed, Maryland Policy Director at Greater Greater Washington
Dupont Circle with the fountain running. Love to see it! (Kaela Cote-Stemmermann/City Cast DC)
What Makes a Good Traffic Circle?
So, what separates some of D.C.’s most-used traffic circles like Dupont or Sherman from ones like Scott Circle, which sits empty year round? Reed says the most important factor is pedestrian accessibility, but it also helps when the streets that converge are relatively small and slow.
Take Thomas Circle for example, where 14th Street and Massachusetts Avenue meet. Previously, it was fenced off and difficult to reach so it never got much pedestrian traffic. But recently, car movements around the circle have been reconfigured and bike lanes were added, which has made it easier to walk to and made it more popular.
