News & Politics

Georgetown Is Installing Deck Panels to Widen Its Sidewalks

The bigger sidewalks will allow more space for social distancing and outdoor dining.

Image via the Georgetown BID.

With Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement that everyone in DC age 16 and older will be eligible for the Covid vaccine starting April 19, there’s a hint of hope blooming alongside the greenery of spring.

Perhaps, soon, we can bid farewell to elbow bumps and Zoom happy hours and other vestiges of pandemic-era life. But one thing looks like it may stick around for a bit—revitalizing streets into pedestrian- and outdoor dining-friendly spaces.

Image via the Georgetown BID.
Image via the Georgetown BID.

At least in Georgetown, that is. This month, the BID will being to install 4,000 feet of deck panels on its streets to extend certain areas of the neighborhood’s sidewalks, according to a Georgetown BID press release.

The $1.3 million project will bump out Georgetown’s sidewalks from an average width of nine-and-a-half feet to an average of 15 feet and will provide more room for outdoor dining and social distancing. The removable panels will be wheelchair- and stroller-accessible, and have space underneath for storm water to flow. Three extensions are already in place outside of Clyde’s, L’Annexe, and Thunder Burger. Once fully completed in May, there will be panels on M Street NW between 34th and 29th streets NW, and on Wisconsin Avenue NW between Q Street NW and the canal.

As of now, the sidewalk expansions are expected to remain in place until the end of 2021, says the press release. If the project proves popular, the BID could keep them longer.

Mimi Montgomery Washingtonian
Home & Features Editor

Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.