Here's a look at the current progress on the realignment of Westbard Avenue in Bethesda. Installation of traffic signals has begun at the future intersection of Westbard and...Westbard. Yes, it's going to be as super confusing as it sounds for anyone but neighborhood residents. One of the Westbard Avenues now curves down to the former Ridgefield Road intersection with River Road, and continues on through the commercial strip with the new Westbard Square development, and terminates at Massachusetts Avenue. The other Westbard Avenue is now a short stub of a block between what we'll call the commercial Westbard Avenue and the new terminus of Ridgefield Road, and then a second full block that terminates at River Road - just like the other Westbard Avenue. Get out your GPS, folks, and pray that it's been updated.
We need to also pray those traffic signals at the new intersection of Westbard and Westbard will be 4-way and functional. An ungoverned intersection with residents trying to get from the Springfield neighborhood down to the light at Westbard and River will otherwise become T-Bone City, with many collisions. We are now in the final countdown for the Westbard road network to reopen by September 30, as promised by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation and developer Regency Centers last year.
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It's still just a neighborhood grocery and drug store. It's a bit off the beaten path for anybody that doesn't live around there. There must be more coming. I can see River Road needing more retail, but those folks living there ain't gonna have it without a fight
I didn’t think the light at “old Westbard”/Ridgefield and newly Westbard was a done deal. The sector plan stated they would only put on wiring for it underground in case needed.
Two lights that close together could back up traffic and defeats the purpose of the newly aligned/faster road - wasn’t the entire realignment done to get rid of the need for the traffic light at Ridgefield and westbard? This does not sound like a good idea for the Springfield neighborhood as it could result in slower travel times on newly aligned westbard, which would affect GPS routing and the routes people use when commuting.
Also I have not her opening of newly aligned Westbard was 9/30 - was this confirmed?
Ridgefield and Old Westbard will continue to be closed until the spring of 2024.
Shanel - This is more than just a neighborhood shopping center. Before the pandemic, I frequently saw folks from DC and local senior citizen homes.
12:57: MCDOT and Regency Centers promised a September 2023 reopening of the whole Westbard street grid. I have the receipts. This was their justification for closing the whole thing, so that they could complete the work faster. If they fail to meet the deadline, it will undercut their whole argument, and create quite a scandal. The neighborhood was ridiculously inconvenienced, and public safety in police and fire response was put in jeopardy, and they didn't capitalize on the time savings?
Wow. Can't wait for them to explain that one. There wasn't even any snow over the winter, and surely they had factored snow days into their schedule, right? Wow.
As far as a traffic signal, MCDOT has installed one on Sangamore Road very close to the existing one at Massachusetts Avenue. In the past, they would not have done this, but now that politics and developer profits trump engineering best practices, they apparently have changed their mind on the spacing.
If you recall the volume of traffic that comes down to River from the Springfield neighborhood, imagine all those cars trying to cross two-way traffic at an ungoverned intersection. There will be crashes, not to mention the added risk for pedestrians, which we were told was paramount for Vision Zero.
Ultimately, we're looking for the County government to back up its words with actions on both topics. This will be entertaining, to be sure.
Kenwood neighborhood is who pushed for the light at old Westbard/Ridgefield and Newly aligned Westbard - it was not for "safety" (as they claim) it was because they are concerned about the newly aligned Westbard actually being used for commuter traffic and they think this will increase traffic in their neighborhood. As a result, they want to slow down the newly aligned Westbard so people will use a different route - aka Cromwell, Springfield and Ogden - shameful. The past SCA and current SCA has continuously only shown concern for the residents of Westbard and Ridgefield and neglected the rest of the neighborhood, which has been and will continue to be deeply affected if the current SCA can't act objectively in their board roles. We all know the past SCA didn't when negotiating for the Springfield neighborhood during the pre-construction phase.
Not sure what the scandal is as far as the road reopening. Most of the stores are closing anyway and it's not because of lack of traffic, it's because of how high new rents are going to be. It may be a neighborhood center, but Regency wants Bethesda rents...
If there's a scandal, it's that the County and Developer promised to protect the neighborhood from cut-through traffic during construction, then failed to deliver. Or it's that the road was supposed to be a Gateway that would permanently protect single family neighborhoods, and instead it's a road that's too narrow, with oversized bike lanes and oversized sidewalks which will be used to justify a road diet on River Road in the near future.
9:40: There's always been room for more than one scandal at Westbard, but regarding the road reopening, the scandal would be getting permission for an unprecedented shutdown of a neighborhood by a private-profit developer on the explicit promise that it would allow them to complete the road project faster...and then not complete it on time. Whoops!
Prior SCA failed to protect the entire neighborhood when it only asked to protect one street during pre-construction negotiations - shameful…
MCDOT is the cause of the hold-up in the road re-opening, not Regency. The road could open to vehicular traffic in October, but MCDOT insists that the bike lanes and sidewalks and hardscaping, etc., must all be completed before cars can start using the road.
8:01: There is a bottom line question, though - Did the scope of work change since June 2022? If it was known all of this had to be done, there must have been a planning failure somewhere along the way, to have failed to get it done. And the whole point of the closure was...to get it all done more quickly. There was no snow over the winter, and now nobody else to point the finger at except the contractor(s).
What happened?
Faster is relative. For anyone who has watched the road be constructed, there is no doubt that the work went "faster" than it would have otherwise. Maybe that means the schedule bust is 1 months instead of 3, or 3 months instead of 6. Of all the false promises and misleading statements, this promise certainly isn't cause for scandal.
3:48: An extended, ridiculously-inconvenient and dangerous closure of a neighborhood was deemed essential by Regency and MCDOT, and now time is...relative?
This certainly will be a scandal if the community isn't reopened by September 30. They had total control of the whole area. They got everything they asked for. It's on them to deliver on their promise. We have the receipts.
i think the new intersection will be where ridgefield crosses westbard and turns into brookside.
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