No public process or input
precedes latest road takeover
Montgomery County officials have expanded their recent weekend road closures in Bethesda, which they say are designed to create more recreational space for pedestrians and cyclists near the narrower Capital Crescent Trail. The County Department of Transportation abruptly announced it was closing Arlington Road between Little Falls Parkway and Kenwood Forest Lane yesterday beginning at 9:00 AM Fridays through 6:00 PM Sundays.
Little Falls Parkway itself has been closed on that same weekend schedule for two weeks now. That closure was arbitrarily made by the Montgomery Parks department. Neither closure was preceded by any official public process, and no formal public input was sought.
In addition to the legal issues of closing public roads and spending the money needed to do this without an official public process, the closures are creating cut-through traffic in surrounding neighborhoods, and slowing fire and rescue response. Now that the closure is expanding into a commercial area, Safeway cannot be pleased that potential customers in one direction are being blockaded from patronizing their store without a lengthy detour. Of course, Montgomery County is nationally-known for being hostile to business - heckuva job, Brownie!
Why so melodramatic? The County isn't "taking over" the road. It is already a County road and always has been. With the previous closure of Little Falls Parkway on weekends, that stretch of Arlington Road does not actually connect to anything, so it's being put to much better use during those times.
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