The Sacks neighborhood has had to deal with cut-through traffic for many years. Traffic-calming islands were installed, and turn restrictions have been in place for quite a while now.
After the disastrous "road diet" project that involved illegal use of funds on Little Falls Parkway, and now this, I'm wondering if a donor to the Montgomery County Council happens to be in the traffic bollards manufacturing business.
I have to walk through the walk on Woodmont to get from the bike share station to my residence across the street every day. Despite signs that say it's the law to stop for pedestrians, cars rush pass it without stopping almost every time, including when I'm already crossing. I've had to run to not get hit. I wish there was some actual enforcement to actually make cars stop. I feel like statistically, I will be hit someday.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Right turns on red are particularly dangerous because drivers are focused on traffic coming from the left and rarely pedestrians to their right. Right turns on red should be banned County-wide.
DeleteEmm this intersection has no traffic light, so no right turn on red doesn't apply.
ReplyDeleteIt's annoying this was closed -- I use it all the time. It was previously allowed to turn there except 4-6pm (there were signs posted).
What is the justification? Does it affect traffic going the other direction also? (Turning from Bradley to Leland to get to Woodmont)? It's unclear from the photo if they blocked both directions.
That section of Leland already had traffic calming designs in place, and it's so rutted that people couldn't speed anyway. Why take away a road that is useful, and one that we pay for anyway?
What did the county say when you asked? Did the residents ask for it? Whose decision is it? Is there a requirement for public notice or comment?
ReplyDeleteConsistent enforcement is not practical. A countywide ban is the only reasonable solution.
ReplyDelete(As an aside, it'll be interesting to see if the author allows the vulgar and insulting comment above to remain while furiously deleting anything vaguely critical of his hobby blogs.)
a better solution would be to ban bicycles from MoCo than to ban right on reds.
ReplyDeleteand i'll get into that fight if dyer allows it. I think he'd agree with me on both counts
Would be great if residents got notice before all the road changes. It's a disturbing pattern. No signage about the Bethesda Ave work or Wisconsin lane closure in advance.
ReplyDeleteIf you were old enough to remember life before right turn on red was legalized, you wouldn't be so quick to bandy that idea around as an alternative.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'
From someone older than most dirt.
feel free to join that dirt
ReplyDeleteThis closure is ridiculous. I use it all the time and the congestion relief for wisconsin to bradley was tremendous. What a stupid thing to do. Not only is this ugly, but it's not necessary. I was very cautious about pedestrians and never saw any other cars doing anything crazy there either. There were no incidents either.
ReplyDeleteThey need to reopen this ASAP. What a hideous way to deal with a pedestrian area.
This was not done for pedestrians it was done to appease the homeowners on this street. They complained often and loudly it seems.
DeleteRobert: Please post who we can email in the county to state our feedback about this closure. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI talked with the county engineer onsite during the change and mentioned that the right turn is going to be dangerous for pedestrians. He mentioned they were going to remove the stop sign and place a yield sign. But thankfully they decided to leave the stop sign instead. Also he mentioned that they are in the process of redoing the entire midblock crosswalk. Did not say how or why, any ideas on future plans?
ReplyDeleteNow more cars are making an illegal right turn at the next street into oncoming traffic. NIMBYs for sure.
Poor Dyer... Mean Hans won't let him use his illegal shortcut.
ReplyDeleteI use Leland a lot, so thanks for the bad news. I use it primarily because the alternative is the horrible Bradley/Wisconsin corner which takes about 3 lights to get through to turn on Bradley due to the parking meters along Wisconsin. The other alternative is taking Bethesda Ave to Arlington, with traffic and more lights. If MoCo Transportation would improve either of these paths, it would be less neccessary to put up the cones. This just added another 10 minutes to my Bethesda chores. Now I will be less inclined to use/go to that corner of Bethesda/Wisconsin Ave.
ReplyDelete@weski Same here. Bradley/Wisconsin is a total mess and Leland helped to relieve some of that pressure. I used it a lot too.
ReplyDeleteThe residents on this block need the road as much or MORE than those who are using it and don't live on the block. Very bad way of handling whatever situation they were trying to "resolve."
ReplyDeleteI hope they tear down these tacky implements. We live in a very scary town. People drive! Get used to it! They should just install a speed bump or two prior to the right turn. What idiots we have running this town.
I don't know why the county did this. That street already has street calming measures. I didn't see it as overused.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, that turn at Bradley/Wisconsin takes awhile! No turn on red.
The Waze app is not going to like this. I do think the internet and Waze is a good way to help alleviate traffic by sending cars on all available roads between points A and B.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the turn is open to bikes.
ReplyDeleteThey should pull all the parking meters from Wisconsin through downtown Bethesda.
ReplyDeletethis is absolutely maddening. they've blocked access to the alley, they'd already restricted access to Leland and now this. The only choices are Wisconsin and Arlington, which others have said require several cycles of the lights. This is NOT a private lane!
ReplyDeleteThis is absurd. They're madly increasing population density and then making it even more difficult to get from one side of Bethesda to another.
ReplyDeleteIf the people on Leland want a private street, they can pay for it. Not with my taxes, thank you.
I emailed Nancy Floreen.
5:32AM Heard. Followed.
ReplyDelete8:43 - I hope more people do it. It's the only way the decision will be reversed. I was more inclined to take that route to get to Westbard beacuse of the closure of the lanes on LFP. They are making it unnecessarily difficult to get around Bethesda. Floreen's email: councilmember.floreen at montgomerycountymd.gov
ReplyDelete<a href="mailto:robertdyer1999@hotmail.com>Floreen's email: councilmember.floreen at montgomerycountymd.gov</a>
ReplyDeleteFloreen's email: councilmember.floreen at montgomerycountymd.gov
ReplyDeleteNow folks are using the narrow alley next to the Audi dealership to get to Bradley, what a dumb move on the county. Maybe Dyer can postsome photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks to our county council for getting this removed!!
ReplyDelete6:36: Thanks to me for exposing it was an illegal closure!
ReplyDelete