[In my next life, I want to live in this community. It is the only time in my entire life where I have read about neighborhood residents who admirably "get it" when it comes to DOT plans to "relive congestion" (read: destroy this portion of the community).

"Relieving congestion" is REGULARLY justified in even the most "progressive" communities because, as the lame DOT spokesman says below, it will "reduce rear-end collisions" or "reduce delays."

Please.

In other words, let's continue to enable drivers who are not paying attention. And to think people still wonder why car crash rates remain so high and motorists are increasingly inattentive...

This article contains an essential comment about how "relieving congestion" at this location will almost certainly be strongly supported by the vast majority of COMMUTERS driving THROUGH this part of the community, but is opposed by the surrounding neighborhood because, they correctly point out, "relieving congestion" will inevitably result in reckless, more dangerous, higher speed travel that will degrade their neighborhood quality of life -- Dom]

by Charlotte Tucker in the Frederick County News

May 11, 2005

State Highway Administration plan to improve intersections falls short at meeting

 In Montgomery County, the refrain is the same: Relieve congestion.

 But one Bethesda community likes its road congested, and State Highway Administration representatives were shouted down at a meeting last week while proposing a plan they said would help relieve traffic at two intersections on River Road.

 "I think you're actually encouraging aggressive driving by what you're doing," said Chris Hull, who lives near one of the intersections on River Road. "It used to be two lanes going through; you had to go the same speed as the guy sitting in front of you. Now you're giving them the option of zooming off to the right and you're going to have a drag race."

 The administration's $3 million plan calls for adding an additional lane to River Road on either side of the intersections of River and Goldsboro roads and River Road and Wilson Lane. The goal would be to relieve congestion and get traffic moving.

 To achieve this, workers would narrow the shoulders from 10 feet to four feet and turn the right-turn lanes into right-turn and through lanes.

About 600 feet after the intersection, traffic in the far right lane would have to merge back into the original two lanes. Left-turn lanes would not be affected, and no new pavement would be added to create the additional lanes.

 The standing-room-only crowd of more than 70 people who turned out for the meeting were largely residents of the neighborhoods near those intersections and they were overwhelmingly against the idea.

 Many of the people at the meeting said they were concerned about what will happen to the traffic once it gets through an intersection and has to merge back into the two lanes.

 "What we're doing is taking a state road that runs through a community and turning it, potentially, into even more of a speedway rather than a roadway," said state Del. William A. Bronrott (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda, who attended the meeting.

 The intersections of River and Goldsboro roads and River Road and Wilson Lane are inadequate, according to traffic studies, because cars have to sit through more than one light cycle before making it through the intersection.

 David Buck, administration spokesman, said after the meeting that the association has a mandate to improve intersections so that motorists spend less time sitting at lights. The tentative plan is for construction to begin next spring.

 Several people at the meeting took umbrage with SHA's characterization of the intersections as failing, arguing that the congestion slows the traffic and keeps the road safe.

 "By our standards it's not a failing intersection," said one woman. "You need to change your test, not the intersection."

 "Maybe the traffic should remain the way it is and get worse," said another. "Then no one will drive there."

 But Buck maintained that it is the job of SHA to relieve congestion.

 "This is a congestion issue, and the bottom line is that people who travel on River Road are not clearing the traffic signals within one length of the signal," Buck said, adding that if anything, the change will reduce the number of rear-end collisions that result from backed-up traffic. "This will not do anything other than improve congestion."

 Buck said in an interview after the May 4 meeting that while people there were opposed to the plan because they live in the area, they do not represent the roughly 56,000 commuters who travel the road daily.

 "We fully expect that when we ask people to put it in writing, [a majority] will likely write in and say it's probably a good idea," he said. "What it comes down to is balancing the needs of the neighborhoods with the needs of commuters."

 But at last week's meeting, people said there are other things SHA can do to improve congestion on River Road.

 "If you give me the clicker for the lights at those intersections I can make them not failed intersections," said Rick O'Neill, who lives on Landon Lane between the two intersections.

 O'Neill contends that it is the timing of the lights and not the number of lanes that limits how much traffic can get through the intersections.

On Friday he wrote a letter to state delegates and County Council members asking them to lobby against the proposed change.

 Buck and engineers who attended the meeting said they understood the concerns but they have to look at a number of factors, including the amount of land they have to work with, the budget and the demands placed on the road by commuters.

 "In the past, the state would have just gone out and done this," Buck said. "You're always going to have a percentage of people just against any change."

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