Expected to take over a year to complete, the project will widen River Road along the northbound side between Baltimore Avenue and a point 150 feet west of Willard Avenue. All of the land being utilized for the project is within the SHA right-of-way; no seizure of private property is expected.
Crews will also construct sidewalk ramps for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and new curbs and gutters. They'll also install audible and countdown display pedestrian signals at the River Road intersections with Ventnor Road, WillardAvenue/Greenway Drive and Baltimore Avenue.
Traffic signals will also be upgraded, and the road will be repaved at project's end, likely in the fall of 2016. Yes, there will be nighttime work Sunday through Thursday nights, to the delight of nearby residents who recently endured a never-ending Pepco project.
$825,000 has been budgeted for the project, and its schedule will be determined by how mild or nasty the upcoming winter is.
The SHA estimates over 17,000 cars use this stretch of River Road daily. Let's hope County planners and the SHA start discussing projects to increase capacity along River Road in light of plans for massive redevelopment in the Westbard sector plan. Of course, while widening River Road would make sense, it would narrow again to 4 lanes at the DC line, leaving a major bottleneck point. Currently ground zero for the War on Cars in America, the District is unlikely to agree to widen River Road within its jurisdiction.
42 comments:
2 days, 7 hours and 12 minutes.
"nearby residents who recently endured a never-ending Pepco project"
Nope. WSSC, not PEPCO. PEPCO's wires aren't underground there.
"Currently ground zero for the War on Cars in America..."
Here we go with this lame talking point again.
"The District is unlikely to agree to widen River Road within its jurisdiction."
Have you bothered to look at the houses along that stretch? If you had, you would have realized that even adding one lane on each side would bring the curb right up to the doors of those houses. Anything more than that would require massive demolition.
10:17: "Nope". You're the one who is badly misinformed. It was indeed Pepco that was doing the work there in 2014-2015 - it was even on television!
The District's War on Cars is well-established. 25 MPH speed cameras on MacArthur, taking car lanes from roads, demolishing freeways and a crazy parking regime are just a few notorious examples. Anyone who drives in DC knows exactly what I'm talking about.
I've been traveling River Road for decades into the District. I hardly need any lectures from you. The right-of-way is the right-of-way. I'm not the one seeking to add 4000+ cars to River Road at "Westbard". But apparently, unlike the County, I'm actually trying to consider the options for dealing with this traffic catastrophe.
The only "freeways" that have been "demolished" in DC in the past 50 years have been the northern approach to the South Capitol Street Bridge, lowered when Nationals Park was built, and the easternmost half-mile of the Southeast Freeway, which was rendered obsolete when the ramps were built connecting the new 11th Street Bridges to the Anacostia Freeway in the direction of Kenilworth Avenue. But keep the hyperbole coming.
If received a ticket for speeding on an urban, residential street like MacArthur Boulevard, then you deserved it.
1:05: I've never received a camera ticket. But that doesn't change the fact that MacArthur Boulevard is engineered for a higher speed. Which makes it very difficult to stay at 25, meaning lots of revenue for the District through dirty tactics.
Thanks for confirming my point about DC demolishing freeways.
Thanks for confirming my point that you're addicted to ridiculous hyperbole.
2:11: Everything I've said above is factual, and can be independently verified by any reader.
So you're arguing that obsolete freeways should be left in place?
@ G. Money -
Dyer thinks that Nationals Park would have looked better with that old crappy viaduct running right in front of it.
What is Robert Dyer covering up now!?
Two new traffic lights between the Southeast Freeway and the Souza Bridge. More genocide in the War On Cars.
@ 12:04 PM - You're imagining things once again. PEPCO's lines are above-ground in that area. The digging project that's been going on for much of these past two years along River, Willard and Western is by WSSC.
4:30: You're making a complete fool out of yourself. It was on the TV news, even. Google it.
G. Money - The freeways were removed for real estate development profit, not because they were obsolete.
How would removing a viable transportation facility result in "real estate development profit"?
And are you suggesting that the construction of Nationals Park was a bad thing?
Yes, the digging was Pepco - they are constructing a new feeder line to the upgraded power distribution site on Wisconsin Ave just north of Gawler's funeral home. This is a major project to upgrade power in this area of NW DC.
Here is what they are doing: http://www.transmissionhub.com/articles/2014/04/pepco-proposes-four-138-kv-underground-circuits-between-maryland-district-of-columbia.html
Another long night for the Bethesda blogger trolling Dyer.
9:03pm yeah, the one Bethesda blogger who trolls Dyer has multiple personalities, so he thinks he's several people trolling Dyer. Just one delusional guy obsessed with Dyer.
Are you working on a blog post about Reamer stubbing his toe during the night? The only way to keep him in the news at this point.
5:50: Very simple - it's part of a nationwide trend where developers have control of government, replacing freeways with at-grade "boulevards". Which conveniently then are lined with luxury apartments. It's essentially the privatization of public facilities for private developer-friendly profit. Rochester is doing it now with their Inner Loop. Some in MoCo are trying to stop the grade-separated Montrose Parkway at Parklawn for the same reason.
Redevelopment of the area around Nats Park was a bad thing if you're one of the poor residents getting booted out so rich, white people can move in.
#ReopenKlingleRoad
"Another long night for the Bethesda blogger trolling Dyer."
Types Dyer's shill at 11:52 PM EDT, 2 hours and 20 minutes after the last of the Skeptics has gone to bed.
And then again at 12:21 AM. LOL
"it's part of a nationwide trend where developers have control of government, replacing freeways with at-grade 'boulevards'. Which conveniently then are lined with luxury apartments. It's essentially the privatization of public facilities for private developer-friendly profit."
You have some strange fantasies there. Perhaps you need to adjust your medication.
And have you actually been to the area around Nationals Park? It was mostly a decaying industrial area, not residential. Perhaps you're confusing it with the area around RFK Stadium? The number of residences there has increased, not decreased.
"if you're one of the poor residents getting booted out so rich, white people can move in."
Dyer the Republican Communist. LOL
The anonymous Bethesda blogger has filled his cup at Starbucks and is back online to troll Dyer for the day...and to see which of Dyer's stories to copy today :) What a life.
Do you really think that "the glossy magazine" could have seen Dyer's article instantly as it appeared, and then written a much better one, all in the space of two minutes?
6:12 AM I don't know what article you're referring to now, but Bethesda Mag has a solid history of copying Dyer's reports and not crediting him. The magazine owner himself personally plagiarized Dyer's stuff (7770 was one of his debacles this year), so it's just the way that organization operates.
Robert Dyer has a solid history of not reporting on the items that Bethesda Mag does. I have yet to see Dyer's take on the White Flint Mall trial or radio towers land.
@Chase -- I would note for the record that copying without attribution is not exactly uncommon over the interwebs; the guy that runs the DCRTV website takes note of this all the time (especially since he is far more on top of the ball with media news in the DC area than, say, the Post).
Besides there are enough reporters to go around here, so methinks that unless you have some solid proof that said ripoffs were going on ("proof" to me equals "you have (a) the browsing history of the dude at Bethesda magazine that conclusively shows they read his articles and (b) were looking over their shoulder while that writer was composing and posting his/her article")....well it could be equally likely that the Robinator is just ripping off Bethesda mag also.
Just sayin'....
"Proof of ripoff", per Dyer and his shill(s), is nothing more than post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
5:51: You're the one who needs medication, based on your comments. First claiming it wasn't Pepco working under River Road, and now claiming cities aren't removing highway facilities to make more room for development. Any credible urban planner could cite the cases where this has been done, and it indeed is happening in DC.
If you're claiming no one lived near Nationals Park, you're the one who hasn't been there. Sure, there's more housing now - for rich, white people.
6:12: It took them longer than 2 minutes to rip off the stories about Community, 7770 Norfolk switching to condos, etc., etc. Check the time stamps.
6:27: You embarrassed yourself again - I was the first in Bethesda to report the tower site was for sale. You've spent a long day spamming for the magazine on my blog, a true sign of desperation.
Peter, what was their source? And don't tell me you're making the argument that time travel exists - and that the article posted first is ripping off an article posted hours later. You don't sound very credible, sir.
7:27: The proof is in the details - what is their source?
Bethesda Magazine's Twitter reports that they evacuated their offices due to suspicious gas odors today. It turned out Kraut got the triple burrito at CalTort and was the culprit. Firefighters suggested airing the place out.
(This was their first exclusive story!)
The 7770 Norfolk plagiarism is Legendary at this point. Go back and read the thread on that one. Hull was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
He admitted he had to confirm "a report," but he refused to say it was Dyer's report. He swiftly ripped off Dyer.
Bethesda I'd the most educated city in the U.S., so Dyer's Bethesda audience very quickly called Hull out.
Just one example mind you. There's a pattern.
Your life must be so empty that all you can do is echo Dyer's talking points.
Almost as sad as taxpayers paying a guy to send out county newsletters exclusively with links to his personal favorite blog.
There's an echo in here.
It's one of the last Friday's of the Summer, and you're spending your night trolling a local news journalist?
It's kind of hard to take your comment seriously, given that you replied just three minutes after the previous comment.
Do you know what the word "self-awareness" means?
You're the one not self aware. There's a difference between contributing to this site in a positive way versus just being a negative troll like you. Don't you know the difference?
Being Dyer's parrot is neither "contributing" nor "having a life".
I think it is reasonable to ask why five lanes of traffic are in the works in what is a residential neighborhood served by buses and Metrorail. Where does it end? Wouldn't six lanes be more efficient for motor vehicles? Why sacrifice a walkable neighborhood to the needs of pass-through motor vehicle traffic?
We who live in the area have endured nearly 18 months of lane closures and traffic back ups on River Road. I am concerned that emergency vehicles would be unable to quickly access neighborhoods such as Green Acres, which has no access other than River Road. That's a safety issue.
Many of the new curbs installed at corners in Montgomery County have short 90-degree turns that do not accommodate wheelchairs, strollers, or bicycles for no apparent reason, except perhaps as traffic calming measures for these types of conveyances. It strikes me as crazy and a deterrent to using these means of travel as alternatives to the motor vehicle. I hope this sort of corner curbing is not installed as part of this project.
"Anonymous said...
If received a ticket for speeding on an urban, residential street like MacArthur Boulevard, then you deserved it.
1:05 PM"
It is a residential area, yes. It certainly isn't urban though. Given that MacArthur Boulevard is a large, heavily traveled road, not a little side street, the 25 MPH speed limit is rather low.
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