New traffic signals activated on River Road at Braeburn Parkway, crosswalk

Signals are turning red with no

pedestrians or turning vehicles present

Without advance public notice, four new traffic signals have been activated on River Road between Whittier Boulevard and Braeburn Parkway in Bethesda. The signals are part of a project the Maryland State Highway Administration began last summer to improve safety for pedestrians crossing River Road, and vehicles turning against traffic onto Pyle Road. While some in the Bannockburn area had advocated for safety improvements at that location for many years, SHA agreed to the project after a horrific auto accident at the intersection resulted in the deaths of three people in February 2016.

Last night, however, the traffic signals were operating in a much different manner than SHA had described. The signals at the crosswalk between Whittier and Braeburn were supposed to turn red when a pedestrian was crossing River Road, and the signals at Braeburn were to turn red when a vehicle attempted to turn across traffic there, with new limitations on what turns could be made. 

New traffic signal west of Whittier Boulevard
turns red Tuesday night with no pedestrian present
at or near the crosswalk

But on Tuesday evening, the signals were changing on their own, with no pedestrians or turning vehicles present. As such, they are functioning as one or two additional red lights to slow traffic and extend travel times for drivers between the District and the Capital Beltway. They were turning red with great frequency.

The misuse of the new signals by SHA aligns with the agency's politicization in recent years. While SHA made decisions based on sound engineering policies for decades, since Gov. Larry Hogan - a real estate developer - took office, the agency bends to the vast majority of the whims of Montgomery County's elected officials. Similar to the abuse of the new signals, SHA recently slashed the speed limit on River Road between Ridgefield Road and the Beltway from 45 MPH to 35 MPH, with no formal public process. The change was requested by the Montgomery County Council.

That stretch of River Road is designed for a 50 MPH speed limit, as the relentless braking needed to comply with the new 35 MPH limit amply demonstrates. Such braking is usually a clear sign to a traffic engineer that he or she has set the speed limit too low for safety. 

Taming speeds along a major state highway used by commuters, and increasing their travel times, is in line with developers' plans to urbanize the River Road corridor. In the coming decades, some developers are hopeful that various church sites, the American Plant location near the Beltway, country clubs, and valuable SHA right-of-way will become available for dense redevelopment. Getting drivers used to urban speeds is paving the way for that, and it's not surprising that developer Hogan was in office when SHA suddenly began making political decisions.

Likewise, under Hogan, the SHA has tossed its protocols and procedures out the window when politically necessary. While there was an extensive public process regarding the Braeburn Parkway-area safety solutions, there was no public process at all in the speed limit decision, nor the apparent decision to use the new safety signals as speed control.

Basic safety procedures were ignored in both cases, as well. It is standard for a transportation agency to deploy digital signs announcing a new traffic pattern weeks in advance. Signs were only deployed regarding the 35 MPH speed limit after I publicized the failure to do so. And once again, no digital signs warned of the new traffic pattern and signals in the Braeburn Parkway area.

I have not even found any bulletins online from SHA announcing the activation of the signals. The project website is out-of-date.