Driving the public debate on DC’s multi-modal transportation vision

The District of Columbia has one of the most elaborate and multimodal transportation systems in the USA. Residents, commuters and visitors can use motor vehicles, taxi cabs, public transit, bicycles and the pedway network to access goods and services across the District.

However, traffic congestion, poor accessibility and poor travel time reliability are issues that have a negative effect on these means of transportation.

DDOT is working to understand these challenges and to better define a program of improvements that addresses these.

Thorough research of congestion management studies and a two-day workshop with all DDOTs business stakeholders, traffic engineers and analysts provided valuable insights on the ‘pains’ and ‘gains’ of commuters. This laid the foundation of the design process hereafter.

Every chapter begins by telling a story around a certain topic. A brief introduction outlines the topic and explains the challenges faced by the district. We employed captivating, purposefully photographed imagery to complement each topic.

In subsequent views, a map of the district remains fixed on the right side of the page. Being a constant element on every page, different datasets and information are overlaid on the map as the user scrolls through the chapter.

Additional information, highlights, variables and map controls allow the user to dive further into the topic. The interplay between the map on the right and the controls on the left creates a dynamic, yet clear experience.

The overall minimalistic style, accentuated by the lines and shapes of the map, dictates the tone of every page. The clean, elegant look and feel drive the focus to the content, drawing the user into each topic. Throughout the website, four colors are used consistently to indicate different modes of transport, while red is used as a universal accent color.