ROCKVILLE FREEWAY

UPDATE

Fellow supporters of the Rockville Freeway:

Several developments favoring construction of this long-delayed, 6-lane highway connecting the Montrose Parkway east of 355 to the ICC near Indian Spring Country Club have occurred.

The biggest news is the oversized town center known as Twinbrook Metro Place. A development equal to or larger than Rockville Town Center itself, the project includes no highway improvements to ameliorate the traffic it will generate.

There is much dispute about whether the developer's plan to get a waiver for reduced parking will result in overflow vehicles parking in other nearby retail centers. The model used by so many developers today, is that spaces will vacate after 5:00, and restaurant diners and bar revelers will then fill them. In other words, as office drone A backs out of his parking space, Lounge Lizard A is tapping his steering wheel impatiently, ready to pull in for his bottom shelf margarita and so-so chicken sandwich at the Mixed Use Mixed Grill. Does this theory translate to reality? Not in Bethesda.

Height is another concern. While it makes sense to have tall buildings near Metro stations, not all Metro stations are in 360 degree urban surroundings. Twinbrook Metro, and this proposed development site at 1592 Rockville Pike, are backed primarily by homes in Twinbrook on Rockland, Lewis and Vandegrift Avenues, and Lemay, Holland and Halpine Roads.

It is not appropriate to have buildings of 15 stories looming over single-family homes. At the same time, Rockville's Mayor and Council gained a "concession" by the developer to make it 14 floors at last Monday's meeting. It seems if you're going to 14, one more floor won't make much of a difference.

Granting these parking and height concessions now makes them standard for every other future development within the Metro station's eligible proximity. Ultimately, this is the result not of a scheme by the developer, but of Rockville's recently-updated (and supremely developer-friendly) zoning code.

A Responsible Growth zoning code, and planning principles, would have acknowledged reality, and made clear that Twinbrook Metro will never have the density of a downtown DC stop. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

In totality, this and similar projects will overwhelm the Pike and other nearby roads. Only with the Rockville Freeway in place can adequate traffic capacity be provided in the 355 corridor.

Unlike the recent JBG announcement of its second White Flint project, Twinbrook Metro Place offers no unique architecture or sense of place, either. But the bottom line is, if you are bringing this many cars to Rockville Pike, the developer and the city have an obligation to provide the infrastructure required to support that growth.

With a second JBG project at White Flint, thousands of new units at the soon-to-be demolished White Flint Mall, the County Council trying to add apartments to the proposed Walmart site on Rockville Pike, and the Mid-Pike Plaza mini-Manhattan on the way, Twinbrook Metro Place only increases the pressure to build the Rockville Freeway. Without it, 355 simply cannot manage the coming volume requirements for traffic.

Finally, the council has tentatively tabled funding for the Montrose Parkway East. Like the existing Montrose Parkway, the extension will primarily use the existing right-of-way meant for the Rockville Freeway.

Stopping that project is good news. The Montrose Parkway is too narrow at 4 lanes, and its speed limit is too low. But worst of all, instead of building an interchange at Veirs Mill Road (as the Rockville Freeway would), Montrose Parkway East diverts from that route and connects to Veirs Mill across from Aspen Hill Road.

This alignment is a catastrophe. First, it means more land seizures from owners who had no way to know this would happen. The Rockville Freeway's long designated path requires virtually no demolitions of homes or other property.

Second, going forward with the parkway means having to pay for an intersection, but then building a ramped interchange anyway when the Rockville Freeway is built.

Third, we'd be making the same mistake again: 4 lanes when six are needed, and a silly parkway design rather than an interstate-standard highway. Why in the world is Montrose Parkway like that, when Montrose Road is six lanes, and has interstate-style sound barriers?

Fourth, the Parkway would dump eastbound traffic into the residential neighborhoods of Aspen Hill. In contrast, the Rockville Freeway would take cars closer to their ultimate destinations in Howard County, Baltimore and eastern Montgomery County.

The parkway delay is the perfect time to reassess the mess, and plan to build the Rockville Freeway instead. There is no other way to provide the capacity needed along Rockville Pike, Randolph Road, Edmonston Drive, Veirs Mill, Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Ave.

The Rockville Freeway will connect the burgeoning employment and residential hubs of White Flint and Columbia.

If it is built!