The results are in on the controversial seizure of vehicular traffic lanes on Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda by the Montgomery Parks department. In addition to the added danger of head-on collisions from the narrow width of the now 2-lane road, the configuration has resulted in traffic jams at busy times of day. Video has been posted showing a line of cars backed up during the morning rush hour, from the Dorset Avenue intersection all the way out of sight around the bend.
A commenter on the video makes a relevant point about how dangerous this is for police and fire response between downtown Bethesda and the Westbard area; first responders have no way to get around the jams now that there is only one lane in each direction. Imagine if there is a high-rise fire in either area, and additional units from other departments have to detour around this. Or if you have a medical emergency, and the patient has stopped breathing. Every second counts - except to Montgomery County government, apparently.
Photo via Rolfnius on YouTube
41 comments:
Changes in the road are due to Montgomery Parks, which is under the Planning Board, not the Montgomery County Government.
This reads like something out of The Onion. A whole one mile of a parkway lane for bikers and pedestrians! Oh my God, we're going to literally die from this travesty.
They've made the entrance to this single lane area dangerously narrow at Dorset avenue. There's no reason for the posts to be placed so close to the lane of travel.
Robert: Is this something you've seen as well? Are you able to put in a report to the County to have the lane widened at this point? It's very unsafe for vehicles.
No kidding. I've already added that to the list of roads never to travel on again. And the next on the list, Old Georgetown Road. Wait till people wake up and realize the nightmare that that has become. The traffic immediately was snarled the minute they shut a travel lane down. Duh! It's really beyond comprehension why they would do this especially with less than 2 weeks now before Christmas. What's interesting about Old Georgetown Road is that it's a state road, not a county road. No doubt Montgomery County Council had a lot of influence but someone in the state thought this was a good idea and they have made this change that likely will never be reversed. But everybody should write their local state senators and demand that they change this. There are lanes going in all over the place that are never ever used. I travel Old Georgetown Road every single day and ever since the original bike lanes were put in I've seen two bikers.
These bike lane projects are truly for the benefit of few to the detriment of many. It's a disgrace but these politicians must keep their cult leaders happy I guess.
I've lived here all my life and traveled that road thousands and thousands of times. And like a lot of us around here, I can honestly say that Little Falls parkway has never, ever been jammed up like your video is showing. Unbelievable. All the residents of Kenwood and Somerset neighborhoods, many of whom are affluent and influential, should be screaming at the top of their collective lungs over this. No doubt they can barely get in and out of their neighborhood from Little Falls parkway which they've done for the past 50 years with no trouble.
11:45 - And they keep voting the likes of Comrade Elrich. Wait until Wes Moore gets going. The Dems successfully knocked out Kelly Schultz. Dan Cox got crushed. Too bad. They were afraid of her for good reason. She would have been a great first female governor.
Ditto about Old Georgetown Road. The other night there was three way fender bender I suspect due the new lane configurations. People can't figure out which lane to be in. Buses have to negotiate around the lane divider (and into the the travel lane of cyclists who hate to stop.)
I got disoriented and ended up on the 270 spur!
Ask the retailers ie Whole Foods, Talberts, etc. to fight it. They are loosing money. I refuse to shop over there and now spend dollars elsewhere.
Word
There's an argument to be made that there's no sense planning for the future. Let the future figure it out. We think that bike lanes and 14 mpg SUVs coexisting is the best that we can do? Let's get real. Offer work from home or pay the price for needing to touch your employees. All those folks waiting in their cars aren't providing labor.
Ugh..
I'd feel ok about the setup on Little Falls and Old Georgetown if we had bicyclists using them. I drove from Cordell Ave to Pike & Rose during rush hour last night and didn't see one bicyclist. I've never seen one on Little Falls- they all use the trail, not bike lanes on Little Falls.
Why is Parks canceling the! promised Veteran's Park expansion and putting tables and chairs on Little Falls instead?
JAC - good thing you aren’t posting this on wapo. The commenter there known as Crickey would accuse you of being selfish and piggish for not supporting the bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road. He has also has said it’s obscene that the road ever had 3 lanes. Sadly he and his ilk are effective at pushing their radical anti-car agenda, pro gridlock agenda!
They are going to pull the same stunt on Goldsboro Road between MacArthur Blvd and River Road in the next year or so. No more right turn ramps at River Road ("too dangerous for pedestrians and bicycles to have to deal with traffic making right turns"), no ability to pass turning vehicles because of dedicated bike lanes, etc. All for a mere $22,000,000 (yes, that's right, 22 million dollars spent on bike lanes on ONE mile of road).
Robert, you could really be a citizen advocate by sending that video and one on Old Geo'twn Road to the state DOT with a compliant. Little Falls would be county I guess. But we have to push back on this. No one is anti bike but this is just nuts. Pretty soon there won't be any alternative route around these shrunken roads.
1:50 - You mean that partisan rag that does not have one single Republican or conservative on their staff? The one that announced today significant layoffs? Yeah, Washington Post is not worthy to start the fire in your fireplace.
2:43 - where did you get that number? I'm not disputing it but wow!
I am a fan of bike lanes and am all for creating safer roads. But this is just plain stupid. There are two bike paths on both sides of this section of little falls. I have yet to see anyone bike there, it looks horrible, and I promise you that there is going to be an accident on the merge after dorset. Needs to end now. What a waste of money.
Took a nice idea during the pandemic (closing the road on weekends in the summer), and created something 99 percent of us don't want. This is what gives government a bad name. No winners here.
Traffic seems to be flowing pretty good in that video especially if this is rush hour
I, too, have noticed the new traffic snarl on Old Georgetown Rd. due to the bike lanes. I never see a bicycle commuter on this road, and the idea that thousands of cars a day will be jumbled into 2 lanes for the sake of nearly non-existent bicyclists is annoying. The amount of fuel spent by cars idling whilst waiting several traffic-light cycles to get through the intersections is an environmental nightmare, not to mention the loss of productive time. Is this an effort to squeeze us onto Mass Transit? My apologies to the few bicyclists who may use these lanes, but you don't lose the platoon for one troop. It is (or was last I checked) legal for bicyclists to ride on the sidewalks in Mont. Co.; I used to do so. This decision is daft.
Montgomery County could care less about the actual safety of neighborhood streets or what it’s inside the beltway residents want. No one who lives in 20815 or 20816 wants the linear park. Regency Centers has been allowed, with McDOT’s blessings, to utterly destroy the Springfield Neighborhood. It’s a wonder a child hasn’t been killed there yet.
One infrequently mentioned aspect of this foolish, unnecessary effort is that Montgomery County Department of Parks sits under the County Planning Board, all of whose members - including its arrogant and disgraced head, Casey Anderson - recently resigned under a cloud of corruption and infighting. Included among the litany of complaints was a lack of following required procedures for public vetting and input under the Open Meetings Act. See here: http://www.theseventhstate.com/?p=15828
This project deserves far more scrutiny from that standpoint.
Casey Anderson was drunk on power when this project was put in place!
This is a joke! Reopen the roadway! The CCT is now a speedway for spandex weekend Tour de France amateurs and electric bicycles that cover nearly 30 mph who do not obey the rules of the CCT or any road that has been turned into a weekend warrior bike lane. JOKE. Wake up community fight back.
The Springfield neighborhood and Westbard Avenue look like a post apocalyptic wasteland and will for awhile. All because an out of town developer needlessly wanted a road moved.
Years of construction and mayhem and the neighborhood might get another chain restaurant like Panera Bread at best. They already had the basics of life: Giant, Starbucks, banks, a drugstore, pet store, county liquor, toy store, cleaners, barber and hair salon. The shopping center needed an update, not this mess.
Wait for the loads of traffic from the new apartments, being forced onto roads on a diet.
The worst part is the fiction that Giant cashiers, butchers and parcel pickup staff will be able to afford the new million dollar luxury townhomes.
Looks like enough people don't cycle. How about leaving the car at home and biking to work?
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8:35 - great job on this. Someone please copy this effort for Old Georgetown road. Thanks!
I drove through there several times at night.
In addition to abruptly having to switch lanes
I had to deal with deer dashing across, while
the opposite traffic high beams blinded me.
Where did you find $22 million cost?
8:15 PM - The most annoying thing there is the caffeinated SUV
mamas tailgating me while I am trying to avoid the street craters.
The only actor missing on that stretch of road is Mad Max!
" Is this an effort to squeeze us onto Mass Transit?"
As Gilda Radnor used to say - "You Betcha!"
Control. It's all about Control.
Easily solved with dynamic toll that fluctuates based on demand. The money could be collected via ezpass and donated to a charity of choice. The main goal is not to take in more money for the incorporated city or county but instead to moderate demand. Prices are the only way. Imagine if a movie theater allowed anyone to walk in free of charge. It would look worse than this road.
The problem with Dave's solution is that we already pay for the roads so essentially what you're advocating is double taxation, (except drivers of EV's who don't pay any road tax in MD).
Since bikes & pedestrians now essentially own 1/2 of LFP and 1/3 of Old Georgetown Road, tax them via toll to use & maintain it. You could station toll booths every block and have police & cameras monitor for scofflaws, maybe even geo-cache their cell phones and send them fines for the 1st offense, double for 2nd, 3rd times the charm for the swat team.
This is nothing compared to what they've done to Old Georgetown Road.
9:52 - correct. Not even remotely close. That whole card or is completely ruined. People on here and elsewhere really need to write letters. In that case it's a state road.
I heard there was a law suit regarding Little Falls Parkway. Good for them! It's DRIVER SUPPRESSION!
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