Downed Tree Has Part Of Fairfax Road Closed
This 50-foot tree fell in the Edgemoor neighborhood this afternoon.
Though it didn’t cause much damage (other than a few gardens) you’ll want to avoid the area of 7200 Fairfax Rd. That block is closed between Hampden Lane and the Elm Street walk-through. The Elm Street path is still open. Police have cleared the area of any hazards.
Police: Speed Cameras Have ‘Changed The Way People In Montgomery County Drive’
Montgomery County Police say the speed camera program the county started in 2009 has made roads safer and reduced speeding in a way no other tool could.
“What we’ve seen is something that’s changed driver behavior like nothing else has in the history of law enforcement,” Capt. Paul Starks, a police spokesperson, told County Cable Montgomery.
Starks said the number of citations from speed cameras is on a steady decline, proof that the program is working and not merely a revenue strategy.
“Our goal from the start has been to change driver behavior, particularly in areas where we have pedestrians and a history of collisions,” County Councilmember Phil Andrews (D) said. Andrews chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee. “Our police department has done an excellent job of placing cameras where the history shows there’s been a large number of collisions or where there ar many pedestrians, especially children, present in school areas or areas near bus stops, playgrounds and areas where speeding has been a long concern and there’s been a connection to collisions.”
In 2009, the first year of the program, the county issued 526,399 combined speed camera and red light camera citations for $25 million worth of revenue. Speed camera tickets are $40.
Those numbers have gradually declined since.
Video via County Cable Montgomery
Leggett Asks MTA To Reconsider Cutting Walter Reed Commuter Bus
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett wants the Maryland Transit Administration to reconsider its proposal to shut down a commuter bus that delivers people from Columbia, Burtonsville and Olney to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center Campus.
In a letter to MTA administrator Ralign Wells, Leggett said a 45 percent increase in personel at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center means the county and state must work to encourage greater use of mass transit in the area, not diminish it. He pointed to a traffic mitigation plan developed by the Montgomery County and Maryland Departments of Transportation that touted greater access to transit as one of its key elements.
In June, the MTA will hold public hearings on the proposed closure of ICC Commuter Bus No. 203, which an MTA spokesperson told us earlier this week is averaging fewer than 15 riders per trip. MTA had projected an average of about 20 riders per trip with that number growing to 30 riders per trip over a 24-month period.
Leggett asks the MTA to look at targeted outreach efforts or a redesign of services as a way to redeploy resources the agency says can be better used elsewhere:
Bethesda is one of the most significant employment hubs in Maryland, with traffic congestion that demands greater use of rapid transit alternatives rather than a reduction in service. With the passage of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law in 2005 that established the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, 3,600 personnel have relocated from the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. It is important to note that this 45 percent increase in personnel at Walter Reed-Bethesda took place directly across Rockville Pike from the National Institutes of Health which has approximately 18,000 personnel.
Collaborating with the Navy, NIH and the local community, the Maryland and Montgomery County Departments of Transportation worked together to devise a comprehensive traffic mitigation strategy that had three key elements to improve mobility and pedestrian safety near WRNMMC. Those elements included: projects to provide short-term operational improvements to nearby major intersections; long-term improvements to provide greater access to and promote greater use of transit; and improvements to pedestrian and bicycle facilities for safe, walkable communities near the medical center. The biggest project which is just about to get under way is the Multimodal Crossing Project at the Medical Center Metro Station, a project that will encourage greater use of bus and rail transit by creating new and safer entrances…
…I understand and appreciate MTA’s need to make better use of available resources. The County continues to need additional transit opportunities for its residents and to encourage more drivers to get out of their cars. There may be opportunities to attract more riders through schedule modification, targeted outreach efforts or a redesign of services. I encourage you to consider redeploying these resources, and I ask that you review and consider putting additional transit resources to the Bethesda BRAC and Shady Grove Life Sciences areas.
Montgomery County BRAC Implementation coordinator Phil Alperson said he will give the county’s view at a public hearing on June 6 in Gaithersburg. Ilaya Hopkins, a Bethesda civic activist and member of the Walter Reed BRAC Integration Committee, is expected to join him.
MTA is proposing to cut two other ICC Commuter bus routes.
Arlington County transportation planner and blogger Dan Malouff called the move a “classic bait and switch from highway builders,” who promise a multimodal road to build political support for a project before cutting those other modes later.
Flickr photo by thisisbossi
AAA Mid-Atlantic Says Washingtonians Cutting Back On Travel For Memorial Day
AAA Mid-Atlantic says cuts in federal government spending are forcing Washington-area residents to cut down on their holiday travel plans this Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start to the summer travel season.
About 874,000 area residents will travel 50 miles or more during the four-day holiday travel period, AAA Mid-Atlantic said, a 2 percent drop from last year.
The organization thinks a lot of that has to do with sequestration, as workers take a “wait-and-see attitude” to federal spending cuts.
“The wonder is so many area residents are still traveling despite the fact furlough notices are going out June 5, and the reality of workers coping with the payroll tax hike,” AAA Mid-Atlantic’s John Townsend III said in a release. “More than ever before, area travelers are relying on highways for their holiday getaways. Yet the vast majority of vacationers will see increasing gasoline prices along the way.”
AAA projects Washingtonians will spend an average of $867 on their Memorial Day weekend trips, about 16 percent of which will go to fuel and transportation costs. A third of travelers will hit the beach or Chesapeake Bay and more than half will visit friends or family.
AAA’s forecast predicts air travel will decrease by 10 percent over the period, which starts Thursday and ends Monday. The drop in automobile travel is a lot less pronounced, at just 0.7 percent.
Bethesda BRAC Watchers Not Happy With State’s Plan For Commuter Bus
UPDATE 6:10 p.m. Some in Bethesda are unhappy with the Maryland Transit Administration’s recent proposal to shut down a commuter bus that delivers people from Columbia, Burtonsville and Olney to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center Campus.
The MTA has given notice of three public hearings in which it will propose to shut down three commuter buses that use the ICC because of low ridership. Bus No. 203 delivers people from the Route 29 and upper-Georgia Avenue corridors to Bethesda’s traffic-heavy section of Rockville Pike at the secure Walter Reed base.
Ilaya Hopkins, a civic activist and member of the Walter Reed BRAC Integration Committee, will testify against shutting down the commuter bus at a June 6 hearing in Gaithersburg. Bethesda residents involved in Walter Reed’s BRAC move to the Naval Military Medical Center have long been concerned with added traffic from a large increase in employees traveling to the base.
Phil Alperson, Montgomery County’s BRAC coordinator, said he will also testify against the route cuts. Members of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board agreed to oppose the discontinuation of the route at their meeting on Monday.
Arlington County transportation planner and blogger Dan Malouff called the move a “classic bait and switch from highway builders,” who promise a multimodal road to build political support for a project before cutting those other modes later.
“What we’ve done is simply make some proposals,” said MTA spokesperson Terry Owens. “But we’ve looked at ridership on some of the routes and they have not met expectations, thus the proposal is to consider scaling those back to reallocate those resources.”
If the MTA follows through on the proposals, the 203, 202 and 205 routes would be discontinued on August 1.
Owens said the MTA anticipated having an average of about 20 riders per trip with that number growing to 30 riders per trip over a 24-month period. The 203 route is averaging fewer than 15 riders per trip.
“It’s those kinds of numbers that have us taking a look at this and scheduling these public hearings,” Owens said. “We are talking to elected officials, stakeholders and others about our proposal. Certainly, we want input from a wide cross-section before we make any decision.”
Flickr photo by BeyondDC
Ditching Cars For Bus Rapid Transit A Tough Sell
The rational choice was obvious.
A group of Italian researchers gave participants in an experiment two scenarios: Take the metro for a fixed cost or take the car for an uncertain cost determined by construction delays, traffic congestion or weather. Take a bus, with costs determined by a different combination of chance and traffic congestion, or take the car with the same uncertain costs present in the metro scenario.
The researchers gave participants feedback on the actual travel times of both modes in each scenario. The more participants chose cars, the more congestion would be factored into the travel cost.
Still, they chose cars over metro and bus by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, despite a clear demonstration that the average cost of a car trip would be almost 50 percent more.
The study, published earlier this year and highlighted by The Atlantic Cities, demonstrates a concept Montgomery County planners are grappling with as they contemplate a Bus Rapid Transit system that would take away a general traffic lane in each direction of Rockville Pike/MD 355 and dedicate lanes inside the Beltway exclusively to a bus transitway.
The study shows people prefer their cars and are inclined to stick with them even when given a mass transit option that is, in psychological terms, more rational.
“BRT does not have the data to support ridership. It turns out the forecasting model is simply that we think people will ride a fast bus,” said Bethesda resident Robert Dyer, who got a decent amount of media attention last week after his testimony deriding the BRT proposal at a Planning Board public hearing. “This is really junk science.”
Crucial details of the proposed 79-mile, 10-corridor Bus Rapid Transit network remain to be planned. As the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan heads to the Planning Board for deliberation and a recommendation slated for June, critics question whether BRT will be convenient enough to entice drivers out of their vehicles.
It’s a hard sell to make.
“We have the worst congestion in the United States. To suggest now that we’re going to have people just flocking to Bus Rapid Transit and therefore you won’t have as many cars makes one wonder if they’re smoking something funny,” AAA Mid Atlantic spokesperson Lon Anderson said. “Because the history clearly demonstrates that yes, you may stop the rate of growth of vehicle miles traveled, but vehicle miles traveled will continue to grow as the population grows.”
Police Move Controversial Jones Bridge Road Speed Camera
Montgomery County Police say the removal of a Bethesda speed camera that a District Court judge ruled was improperly placed was not a result of that January court decision.
MCP Traffic Division program manager Dan McNickle said the department still believes the camera was properly placed in the 4300 block of Jones Bridge Road, though it was moved in December to another location.
There are six Portable Camera Unit (PCU) locations on Jones Bridge Road between Connecticut Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue — four on the eastbound side and two on the westbound side. McNickle said the cameras are regularly moved.
In January, District Court Judge John Moffett ruled in favor of attorney, political activist and famous sports heckler Robin Ficker, who challenged a $40 citation he received from the camera on Sept. 5, 2012.
Ficker successfully argued that the camera, at the bottom of a hill near the secure entrance to the Uniformed Services University, wasn’t legally placed because it was not within 300 feet of a residence.
Moffett agreed, rescinding Ficker’s $40 fine.
Montgomery County Police issued a press release saying the department would not review other tickets from the camera and that Moffett misinterpreted the law:
According to § 21-809(vi) of Maryland Transportation Article, a speed-monitoring system may be placed:
- On a highway in a residential district, as defined in § 21-101 of this title, with a maximum posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour, which speed limit was established using generally accepted traffic-engineering practices; or
- In a school zone established under § 21-803.1 of this subtitle.
Maryland Transportation Article § 21-101 defines a residential district as:
- Not a business district; or
- An area that adjoins and includes a highway where the property along the highway, for a distance of at least 300 feet, is improved mainly with residences or residences and buildings used for business.
Montgomery County Police said the speed camera was properly placed because it was placed on a roadway that contains at least 300 feet of residences and that the law does not say a speed camera must be placed within 300 feet of a residence.
A speed camera in the 4300 block of eastbound Jones Bridge Road that was still there after the court decision has also been moved. That camera at question in Ficker’s case was on the westbound side of the road.
Walter Reed Skydivers Could Mean Friday Traffic
Two skydivers at a Military Medical Center event might cause traffic issues on Rockville Pike on Friday.
The skydivers will be part of a barbecue and concert appreciation day for staff on the Walter Reed and Naval Support Activity Bethesda campus.
At about 11:30 a.m., the skydivers will land on the front lawn near the Navy Exchange, according to the NSAB Public Affairs office.
NSAB warned county government that could lead to slower traffic in front of the base due to rubbernecking.
The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. From 9 a.m. until the concert is over, the gate directly across from the Medical Center Metro station will be closed to vehicle traffic and open to bicycles and pedestrians, which could also cause traffic issues.
Bethesda Accident Leaves One With Life-Threatening Injuries
Montgomery County Police are investigating why a van traveling Tuesday afternoon on Connecticut Avenue left the roadway and crashed into a tree on the median.
The single-vehicle accident left the vehicle’s passgener, 31-year-old Lok Katwal of the 5500 block of Dowgate Court in Rockville, in serious condition with life-threatening injuries.
Police identified the driver as Dawa Tamang, 39, of the same address. Tamang suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
The accident happened around 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Saul Road. Police say the 2003 GMC Savana van was headed southbound on Connecticut where it went into the median. Police don’t know why.
Police closed off the southbound Connecticut while responding to the scene, reopened the stretch, then closed it again later Tuesday night until about 10 p.m. so detectives from the Collision Reconstruction Unit could continue their investigation.
Police are asking anyone who witnessed the accident and who has not yet spoken with detectives to call 240-773-6620 to speak with investigators or 301-279-8000 to be connected through the Department’s non-emergency line.
Beltway Shut Down In Bethesda After Wreck
UPDATE 4:55 p.m. Police and MCFRS have reopened all lanes of the Beltway inner loop at Old Georgetown Road. Delays extend 10.5 miles from the scene.
ORIGINAL Police have closed the Beltway inner loop at Old Georgetown Road after a truck-involved wreck that requires a Hazmat team to assist with an apparent fuel spill.
The wreck occurred around 2 p.m. on Tuesday when a truck jackknifed into a jersey barrier just west of Rockville Pike.
MCFRS reported the driver side fuel tank was completely ruptured and about 75 gallons of diesel fuel was leaking toward a nearby creek. That section of the inner loop is expected to be shut down for some time.
Photos via @TedGarberMusic and @BCCRS
Verizon Utility Work Clogs Up Downtown Bethesda
A Verizon spokesperson said the utility work and lane closures that clogged up downtown Bethesda for the last week are over.
Verizon Maryland spokesperson Sandra Arnette said crews had to replace 800 feet of water-damaged cable on Wisconsin Avenue between East-West Highway and Montgomery Avenue. That caused the closure of two lanes of northbound Wisconsin in one of Bethesda’s busiest intersections.
Police received numerous calls about back-ups on northbound Wisconsin Avenue, which during last night’s evening rush hour stretched south to Bradley Lane.
Arnette said a crew finished the cable replacement on Monday and the last lane closure re-opened on Monday night.
One reader wondered why the work took so long.
“It is absolutely grid-locked Bethesda all weekend and was still going on this morning. Why can’t they fix a cable in one day, like they do in the rest of the world? They have cost Bethesda drivers thousands of wasted hours and lots of lost revenues for business,” the reader wrote.
Photos via TrafficLand.com
Woman, Child Part Of I-270 Wreck Yesterday In Bethesda
The afternoon wreck yesterday on the I-270 spur that left rush hour traffic snarled resulted in serious injuries for one woman and involved a child who apparently avoided significant injury because she was in a car seat.
MCFRS spokesperson Beth Anne Nesselt said rescue workers were dispatched just after 4 p.m. for the report of an overturned minivan on the northbound I-270 spur just south of Democracy Boulevard. They found a minivan and tractor trailer had been involved in a collision.
The minivan was on its roof and the adult female driver was trapped. Nesselt said it took about 20 minutes to extricate the driver, who was sent to a local trauma center with serious injuries.
A child passenger in the van was found in an intact car seat with no apparent injuries. The child was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
“Based on our initial info, the car seat did a pretty amazing job,” Nesselt said.
The crash and rescue shut down the road and caused a reported 8.5-mile backup during the early afternoon rush.
Photo by B-CC Rescue Squad via Twitter
Multi-Car Collision In North Bethesda
UPDATED STORY | MCFRS is on the scene of a multi-car accident at Nicholson Lane and Rockville Pike that involves as many as eight cars and a county Ride On bus.
The accident happened around 1:35 p.m. just east of the intersection, where multiple ambulances are on the scene and traffic is snarled.
Photos via TrafficLand.com and @chrisrhopkins
Town Of Chevy Chase Hits Snag In Shuttle Planning
The Town of Chevy Chase is hoping to take downtown Bethesda traffic-avoiding measures into its own hands with a Town-funded shuttle service, but a requirement that those shuttles be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant has complicated matters.
The original plan was for the Town to come up with a system of about 10 stops, including stops at the Lawton Community Center, other corners in the Town, in front of the Barnes & Noble on Bethesda Row and near the Bethesda Metro station, for Rockville-based transportation service RMA to service for a four-hour period.
The exact route, time of day the shuttle would run and other details still must be worked out, either before or at a Public Hearing the Town hopes to hold in June.
But in last night’s Council discussion of the project, Town manager Todd Hoffman advised members of a bigger hurdle.
In order to be ADA compliant, the Town must either lease shuttles that can accomodate those in wheelchairs — shuttles that might be bigger than necessary — or effectively purchase the shuttles for their own use at a cost of approximately $300,000 each.
RMA, the same company that provides shuttle service for the Bethesda Urban Partnership’s Bethesda Circulator and for a Friendship Heights shuttle, offered the Town a two-month trial period with the ADA-compliant shuttles. But Hoffman said the Town would then have to enter into a five-year commitment with the vendor to continue the service.
The Council and Hoffman had earlier suggested a four- to six-month pilot program in which the Town could gauge interest. The idea came from Chevy Chase At Home’s Naomi Kaminsky, who originally thought the shuttle would be vital for Town seniors who hoped to get from the area to shopping and the Metro in downtown Bethesda.
Kaminsky said on Wednesday that since proposing the shuttle, Town residents from different age groups and with different needs expressed interest in it. Some would like to use the shuttle to commute to and from the Town in rush hour. Some would like it for evening hours to avoid the parking crush at Bethesda Row.
Whatever the case, Kaminsky said it’s clear many in the Town are tired of dealing with downtown Bethesda traffic.
Al Lang, a councilmember who worked with the Town’s Public Service Committee on the proposal, suggested a route that includes a stop near the CVS and Safeway at Arlington Road and Bradley Boulevard.
Hoffman said the four-hour option from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. would cost $76.50 an hour yearly. Hoffman will research other potential shuttle vendors and options before the Public Hearing. Next month, the Council hopes to finalize two or three routes to present to the public.
Photo via Friendship Heights Village Council
Crash Has River Road Closed
A crash at River Road and Goldsboro Road has both directions of River Road closed this afternoon.
Police are diverting traffic to westbound Goldsboro Road from southbound River.
Photo via TrafficLand.com.
