Whitman community meets again to show support for safety improvements at River Road intersection

Signal poles MD SHA has simply
left on the side of River Road
since last August, a situation
Whitman HS principal Alan Goodwin
last night called, "ridiculous"

A community meeting held at Walt Whitman High School last night showed that public support for safety improvements at the intersection where 3 members of a Whitman family died last year hasn't just persisted, but has grown. While 54 residents attended a June 7, 2016 meeting on the same topic, more than 90 showed up last night - nearly double the turnout a year after the fatal crash on River Road at Braeburn Parkway.

Emotions are still raw in the Whitman community, and some feel the Maryland State Highway Administration has been dragging its feet in implementing interim and permanent safety changes at the intersection. Referencing his candid remarks at a memorial service for the Buarque de Macedo family, Whitman Principal Alan Goodwin recalled, "I said I was sad, but I was mad. And I still am. They still haven't done anything."

"I said I was sad,

but I was mad.

And I still am. They still

haven't done anything"

- Whitman principal

Alan Goodwin

An interim move, installing warning flashers and signage near the intersection, was started by SHA suddenly in late August - and just as quickly, abandoned. "Poles lying in the road since [August]...It's ridiculous," said Goodwin. That interim project mysteriously appeared to restart in recent weeks, with SHA workers spotted surveying the site. Richard Boltuck, the Bannockburn resident who has led the community effort to make the intersection safer, credited Delegate Marc Korman for getting that project moving again.

I have to say that Korman, the only elected official to attend the meeting in person last night, is also the only elected official representing Bethesda to have earned consideration of reelection in 2018. He is regularly in attendance at important community meetings, while other elected officials are either absent or send a staff member. In contrast, I literally have never seen anyone else from the District 16 delegation at a public meeting I've attended since the last election. Councilmember Roger Berliner is usually absent, as well. He and Senator Chris Van Hollen did have staff members representing them at last night's event.

Boltuck was able to report progress on several fronts. The warning flasher project is now expected to be completed by the end of March, four months behind schedule. Second, he has been told an SHA concept study on the community's preferred option - a signaled intersection connecting River Road to Pyle Road on either side where today there is just a crosswalk - will be completed in the next few days. The results will then be reviewed by SHA engineer Anyesha Mookherjee.

Half-installed signal
pole for warning flashers
on side of westbound
River Road

After Mookherjee's analysis is incorporated into the final version of the study, it will be made public in early May, Boltuck said. If the study shows the reconfigured intersection is warranted and viable, Boltuck said, there would be some right-of-way issues to be resolved between the state and any affected property owners. Then an engineering design phase would be necessary before actual construction could take place. While SHA has repeatedly determined the current intersection doesn't warrant a traffic signal, Boltuck said an SHA engineer recently called the River-Pyle realigned intersection "an elegant idea."

Boltuck said his optimism was also boosted by the large turnout at the meeting last night, which was held partly to again remind SHA of the community support for changes. "It's reassuring to see that we have this level of support a year after" the accident, he told attendees at the outset of the evening.

One resident suggested dropping the "Cadillac option" under study now, in favor of putting all political pressure behind adding a traffic signal to the existing intersection, saying an SHA worker at the site had scoffed at the idea that the more expensive plan would ever be approved. Boltuck said that would be counterproductive at this stage, until SHA makes public its determination on the $25,000 study nearing completion.

Should the SHA dismiss the River-Pyle intersection concept, then the community will have to decide on its next move, Boltuck said. He stressed that he and his fellow volunteers would not arbitrarily choose an option, but would come back to the community for a public vote like the one that was held last June.

Three other options the SHA has already told Boltuck are "non-starters," are reducing the speed limit, speed cameras, and declaring that block of River Road a "school zone." Many people have also suggested simply closing off either the rear entrance of Whitman, or the median at the intersection itself. Goodwin dismissed the former idea, saying the school opposes that not only because they don't have the authority to do it, "but also because we don't want to."

Goodwin emphasized unity over division, however. "While we may not all agree on what needs to be done about the intersection, I think we have 100% agreement that something has to be done." He said the current intersection is poorly designed, and that "nobody knows how to navigate it." Goodwin suggested skeptics watch traffic at the intersection in the morning for some "serious entertainment," as students, commuters and school buses frantically interact there.

The popular principal is still emotional about the loss in his school community. "You can tell just by my voice that I feel tense about it," Goodwin said after starting the meeting with a moment of silence for the victims. He exhorted attendees to stay energized in their efforts: "Walk away, please, with your emotions riled up."

MD SHA installing lights at River Rd. intersection where 3 died in Bethesda crash

Updated 6:53 AM August 29: SHA crews worked over the night Saturday, but work on the signals ceased on Sunday; lanes were open again; 3 traffic signal poles that resemble the 2 already installed are now laid out on the grassy median just before the intersection on the westbound side of River Road

The Maryland State Highway Administration is installing traffic lights around the River Road/Pyle Road/Braeburn Parkway intersection where 3 were killed in a horrific crash in February this year. But they haven't announced what they are doing publicly. Instead, a sizable crew has simply shown up at the site this weekend, closed lanes, and begun to install some type of signals. It appears they are aiming to install them in time for the new school year, and are essentially working around the clock to get it done. Many Walt Whitman High School students turn at this intersection to reach the school, just as that Whitman family did the night their vehicle was struck.

So far, two gleaming metal posts identical to those supporting signals at Wilson Lane have been planted. These are some distance from the intersection, and appear to be for warning lights, as opposed to full traffic signals. Workers are digging extensively between the pedestrian crossing east of the intersection and the new pole on the left side of the westbound lanes. The other pole is on the right side of the eastbound lanes, between Orkney Parkway and Braeburn Parkway.

It's interesting that traffic signals of any kind - full, warning or otherwise - were not among the SHA's most recent list of proposals released this Spring. So this is a considerable backtrack by SHA, and comes after a secondary study period this summer.

More intriguing, is that the project neither appears on the SHA projects list, nor has been announced via press release. The only indirect reference by the State of Maryland that even hints this is happening, is on the CHART road closure list. But all that page says by way of explanation for the lane closures this weekend is "signal work - interconnect."

WMATA has temporarily closed the bus stop at Pyle Road for the T2 (Stop number 2001325). A temporary bus stop has been placed 100' down the road. But the agency attributes the closure only to "construction."

A review of social media accounts of elected officials who have championed a traffic signal finds no announcements, either.

Stay tuned for further updates on this "secret" project.

MD SHA agrees to study now-deadly River Rd. intersection at Pyle Rd./Braeburn Pkwy. (Photos)

About thirty-six hours after three people died at the intersection of River Road and Pyle Road at Braeburn Parkway, the Maryland State Highway Administration agreed to reconsider making safety changes there. The intersection provides secondary access to Walt Whitman High School via an access road that links to Braeburn Parkway.

The SHA said Monday it would perform a thorough study to see if any changes are warranted to improve safety. Thousands in the Bethesda and Walt Whitman communities have signed a petition calling for a traffic signal. Other potential changes could include flashing signals, new turn restrictions, or sealing off the median to prevent cross-traffic turns altogether.

Existing turn restrictions
during school commuting hours

View from the access road
towards River Road