Whitman community meets again to show support for safety improvements at River Road intersection

Signal poles MD SHA has simply
left on the side of River Road
since last August, a situation
Whitman HS principal Alan Goodwin
last night called, "ridiculous"

A community meeting held at Walt Whitman High School last night showed that public support for safety improvements at the intersection where 3 members of a Whitman family died last year hasn't just persisted, but has grown. While 54 residents attended a June 7, 2016 meeting on the same topic, more than 90 showed up last night - nearly double the turnout a year after the fatal crash on River Road at Braeburn Parkway.

Emotions are still raw in the Whitman community, and some feel the Maryland State Highway Administration has been dragging its feet in implementing interim and permanent safety changes at the intersection. Referencing his candid remarks at a memorial service for the Buarque de Macedo family, Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin recalled, "I said I was sad, but I was mad. And I still am. They still haven't done anything."

"I said I was sad,

but I was mad.

And I still am. They still

haven't done anything"

- Whitman principal

Alan Goodwin

An interim move, installing warning flashers and signage near the intersection, was started by SHA suddenly in late August - and just as quickly, abandoned. "Poles lying in the road since [August]...It's ridiculous," said Goodwin. That interim project mysteriously appeared to restart in recent weeks, with SHA workers spotted surveying the site. Richard Boltuck, the Bannockburn resident who has led the community effort to make the intersection safer, credited Delegate Marc Korman for getting that project moving again.

I have to say that Korman, the only elected official to attend the meeting in person last night, is also the only elected official representing Bethesda to have earned consideration of reelection in 2018. He is regularly in attendance at important community meetings, while other elected officials are either absent or send a staff member. In contrast, I literally have never seen anyone else from the District 16 delegation at a public meeting I've attended since the last election. Councilmember Roger Berliner is usually absent, as well. He and Senator Chris Van Hollen did have staff members representing them at last night's event.

Boltuck was able to report progress on several fronts. The warning flasher project is now expected to be completed by the end of March, four months behind schedule. Second, he has been told an SHA concept study on the community's preferred option - a signaled intersection connecting River Road to Pyle Road on either side where today there is just a crosswalk - will be completed in the next few days. The results will then be reviewed by SHA engineer Anyesha Mookherjee.

Half-installed signal
pole for warning flashers
on side of westbound
River Road

After Mookherjee's analysis is incorporated into the final version of the study, it will be made public in early May, Boltuck said. If the study shows the reconfigured intersection is warranted and viable, Boltuck said, there would be some right-of-way issues to be resolved between the state and any affected property owners. Then an engineering design phase would be necessary before actual construction could take place. While SHA has repeatedly determined the current intersection doesn't warrant a traffic signal, Boltuck said an SHA engineer recently called the River-Pyle realigned intersection "an elegant idea."

Boltuck said his optimism was also boosted by the large turnout at the meeting last night, which was held partly to again remind SHA of the community support for changes. "It's reassuring to see that we have this level of support a year after" the accident, he told attendees at the outset of the evening.

One resident suggested dropping the "Cadillac option" under study now, in favor of putting all political pressure behind adding a traffic signal to the existing intersection, saying an SHA worker at the site had scoffed at the idea that the more expensive plan would ever be approved. Boltuck said that would be counterproductive at this stage, until SHA makes public its determination on the $25,000 study nearing completion.

Should the SHA dismiss the River-Pyle intersection concept, then the community will have to decide on its next move, Boltuck said. He stressed that he and his fellow volunteers would not arbitrarily choose an option, but would come back to the community for a public vote like the one that was held last June.

Three other options the SHA has already told Boltuck are "non-starters," are reducing the speed limit, speed cameras, and declaring that block of River Road a "school zone." Many people have also suggested simply closing off either the rear entrance of Whitman, or the median at the intersection itself. Goodwin dismissed the former idea, saying the school opposes that not only because they don't have the authority to do it, "but also because we don't want to."

Goodwin emphasized unity over division, however. "While we may not all agree on what needs to be done about the intersection, I think we have 100% agreement that something has to be done." He said the current intersection is poorly designed, and that "nobody knows how to navigate it." Goodwin suggested skeptics watch traffic at the intersection in the morning for some "serious entertainment," as students, commuters and school buses frantically interact there.

The popular principal is still emotional about the loss in his school community. "You can tell just by my voice that I feel tense about it," Goodwin said after starting the meeting with a moment of silence for the victims. He exhorted attendees to stay energized in their efforts: "Walk away, please, with your emotions riled up."