The closed section of Ridgefield Road between River Road and Westbard Avenue in Bethesda has been destroyed. A traffic signal bar extends over what was once a roadway, but is now a dusty wasteland. You can still see the grading of the landscape where the driveway rose from the lower level of the Westwood Center II mini-mall up to the parking deck level. Only one sidewalk remains on the west side of Ridgefield for pedestrian access. This segment of Ridgefield will never reopen; Westbard Avenue will be realigned to meet River at the old Ridgefield intersection.
3 comments:
Once again, the road was not “destroyed”, it was “demolished”. Please try to get your terminology sorted out. You make it sound like Russia bombed the area. You need to break a few eggs to make an omelet.
MoCo’s handling of detours is incompetent. Shortest detour to Westbard is through Westbard from River but that is closed. Why? Instead, cars and trucks drive through Ridgefield and other local streets. Friedson’s district but he does not care.
I live on Westbard and I'll tell 4:03 why it is closed. Because drivers have always ignored all the laws which apply to that road. They made illegal right turns onto Westbard from River between 7-9 am weekdays, they made illegal left turns onto River from Westbard all day (very dangerous), and, worst of all, 20-30 trucks per day drove illegally past my house every day. Fully 50% of the vehicles should not have been driving past. No one did anything about it for the six years I have been here. I moved here with the understanding that Westbard would become a closed-off street per the master plan and have waited six years, one month and five days for it to happen. People still drive down here past three signs that say "No Access to River Rd." "No Turn Around Area" and "Road Closed to Thru Traffic" then have to turn around in someone's driveway and drive back. That's why Westbard is closed: because of the rude, thoughtless, scofflaw behavior of drivers around here.
Post a Comment