The District’s Black Lives Matter Plaza partially reopened to traffic on Sunday, March 14, for the first time almost a year after it was established by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
One travel lane on 16th Street Northwest between H Street Northwest and K Street Northwest, which was named Black Lives Matter Plaza last year, has been reopened in both directions as part of the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) changes to the traffic near the White House.
But the changes will be temporary and are expected to end in mid-April, according to DDOT.
Northbound vehicles will be able to access Black Lives Matter Plaza from H Street Northwest, and southbound vehicles will access it from K Street Northwest.
Drivers on Eye (I) Street NW will be able to continue west or make a right onto northbound 16th Street Northwest. There won’t be any left turns permitted from I Street Northwest to southound 16th Street Northwest.
The center of the plaza will be designated for pedestrians and visitors and protected from vehicular traffic, the Department said, adding “DDOT Traffic Control Officers and the Metropolitan Police Department will continue to monitor traffic conditions along Black Lives Matter Plaza to ensure the safety of all users of the roadway traveling through the corridor.”
Black Lives Matter Plaza was created in June 2020 by Mayor Bowser, following the start of nationwide protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The city’s public works painted 35-foot-tall yellow letters reading “Black Lives Matter” from curb to curb on 16th Street Northwest.