The Maryland State Highway Administration raised eyebrows last year when it violated its own engineering guidelines and public process rules to arbitrarily reduce the speed limit 10 miles-per-hour with no public hearings on the matter. Reducing the speed limit is a key goal of developers who seek to redevelop multiple properties along River Road between Ridgefield Road and the Capital Beltway. It was never allowed by the SHA, which cited the danger of speed limits below the speed a road is engineered for, until real estate developer Larry Hogan became governor.
A lot of people go 85mph along there.
ReplyDeleteUnderstandable that developers would want lower speed limits for their residential projects. Is that the only reason though? Sounds like safety might be a concern as well.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding
The speed limit reduction here had nothing to do with developers. It had to do with incessant complaints from neighbors in the Bannockburn area, bringing it all the way up to their US congressmen (despite them having no control over state highway decisions). They kept hounding and hounding, and finally SHA acquiesced just to shut them up.
ReplyDeleteAll this despite a 100+ page SHA study showing the speed limit on that stretch of River Road is fine at 45mph.
Look at how it's built -- divided highway, no driveways directly emptying onto the road, guardrails. This was designed to be 45mph or higher.
When we're out driving, my kid and I play a game of finding less-safe roads (driveways entering the road, no guardraoils, etc) with a speed limit higher than 35mph River Road just to show the hypocrisy of it all.
As for the vandalized sign, drive another mile down the road and you'll see the "Reduced Speed Ahead 35mph" flashing yellow lights sign is still there. This is inaccurate, as the speed is no longer _reduced_ from the stretch of River you are coming from -- it's 35 the whole way. I wrote SHA months ago on this, and they agreed it's inaccurate, but have not taken it down nor updated it.
We have the biggest real estate developer of all times as the best President ever! You must be a socialist like AOC.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Robert, I usually like your stuff, but this is a bit much. Some toolbag was going 100 mph on here and the neighbors got upset. To pin it on Hogan, when our local political overlords are lowering SLs all over the county, is a bit much. I wonder if speed limits have come down outside of MoCo...that would answer your Hogan question.
ReplyDeleteALL neighborhoods want artificially low SLs through their own neighborhoods. one more unnecessary stop sign, etc. Good for them, but terrible for society as a whole. Imagine if every neighborhood got their way...we wouldn't be able to get anywhere.
9:21: The buck does stop with Hogan on this - this change was sought for decades, and steadfastly refused by SHA on solid technical grounds. Only in Hogan's administration has SHA been forced to capitulate on this and a host of other entirely-political/ideological changes on state highways. Dropping Old Georgetown to 4 lanes? It's happening.
ReplyDeleteBut if a developer wishes to close a sidewalk or travel lane on a state highway like Wisconsin Avenue? No problem, SHA says!
None of these changes were permitted in the past.
It just happens that all of these roads - River Road, Old Georgetown, Georgia Avenue in Glenmont/Aspen Hill are in places developers are seeking to redevelop as urban areas in the next 10-20 years.
This is total insanity - the inmates are literally running the asylum, and Hogan appears to have no problem with this.
SHA is experiencing the same sort of breakdown as MCDOT did. I've spoken to some of the professional engineers at MCDOT in the past, and they are FURIOUS about the constant override of engineering standards and best practices by ignoramus politicians on the Planning Board and County Council.
The last thing we need is SHA going that way, but here we go.
8:02: Yes, by my estimation River is rated as 55 MPH. You can quickly tell if a speed limit is improperly low by the amount of braking you have to do to comply. River at 35 and MacArthur Boulevard at 25 are two laughable examples. Good God.
Do police still hangout at the River Road Goldsboro bus stops pulling folks over for distracted driving? Wondering if that was suspended during the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteBack to the speed- I do 35 but get run over by other vehicles doing 50.
With traffic being light, drivers are also blowing into the Talberts area of River doing 45-50.
I was on Montrose Road in front of the Jewish community center yesterday. Two lanes wide, sidewalk with no buffer, many driveways connected to it, and a fair amount of pedestrian traffic as the community center, a school, and apartments all nearby.
ReplyDeleteGuess the speed limit? 40. So that road has a higher speed limit than River Road, despite all the more risky stuff on it. It's absurd that River is only 35.
Has everyone forgotten the family and Walt Whitman student killed on River Rd? I don’t like the lower 35 mph speed limit either, but that may be part of the reason: https://www.mymcmedia.org/walt-whitman-high-school-hosts-candlelight-vigil/
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