MR.

"GREEN

GREEN

GREEN"

JEANS HAS

RETURNED

Post Puff Piece on Fantasy MoCo Traffic

Patterns Says "The System Worked"

Is this Health/Science section article on traffic lights in Montgomery County a stunt or hoax to get attention for the newspaper? I don't want to take the bait, but this article is so inaccurate and so glorifying of Ike Leggett and his transportation department, that it literally defies reality.

In short, I can't let such a blatantly false story pass.

I don't know where Mr. "Green Green Green" aka Ashley Halsey III is reporting from, but the lights on 355 depicted as green during rush hour in the article are anything but.

I often have to make the trip up to Rockville during the evening rush, and if I use 355, I can tell you with the absolute authority of experience that 7 to 8 of the 10 signals illustrated on page E6 will turn RED as you proceed north. Period.

Wooten Parkway, Mt. Vernon Pl., Richard Montgomery Dr., 355/28, E. Middle Lane, "entrance to shopping center," North Washington St., and Mannakee St. are all RED, RED, RED. EVERY TIME. Believe me, because it is so infuriating to make the trip on 355 or 270.

Yet, Halsey writes that all of those plus Monroe St. and Beall Ave. are green, and that the total trip will take you only 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

THAT IS ABSOLUTE HOGWASH.

THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE.

GET ON 355 RIGHT NOW AND TRY IT.

YOU'LL LEARN REALITY QUICKLY.

I don't understand where Halsey is getting his information besides Ike Leggett and county press releases. Has he ever actually driven on 355?

What happened to accuracy?

This article was clearly a hoax, an exercise in reporting naivete, or a calculated attempt to help our current elected officials - who have created the traffic mess we deal with each day - get reelected despite their failed "leadership."

The Washington Post thinks you - its few remaining readers - are idiots who will believe anything. Surely an editor would have realized this piece was depicting a sheer fantasy about one of the most notoriously gridlocked counties in America. Right?

It's outrageous.