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I've traveled between the Indian Spring neighborhood (near the YMCA) and the Silver Spring Metro for 17 years - to the Metro in the morning, to Indian Spring at night - variously by bus, car, and foot. One fundamental impediment to easing the flow along this corridor is the limited number of vehicle crossings over Sligo Creek. That's not going to change, so Montgomery County is faced with using other alternatives - and have yet to satisfactorily address congestion on Colesville Road. The reversible lanes often are overkill, creating a wide open roadway along which drivers speed like maniacs. Also, every evening, as one person pointed out, southbound traffic grinds to a shuddering halt. To my mind, the best idea is to look at Bethesda and improve on what they did. Use Spring and Colesville as one-way passages through and around downtown. This would have the added benefit of eliminating lanes of traffic along Colesville between say East West Hwy and Spring. Imagine - a pedestrian friendly space around S#itty Place, AFI, the Fillmore (if it ever arrives), etc. Wider sidewalks - outdoor cafes - you name it! Knowing full well that will never happen, my next best suggestion is to synchronize the lights through Silver Spring. Unsynched lights clog the roads even more than buses parked illegally clogging northbound lanes all the time. A great topic addressing an intractable problem.

by Tom Stock on Dec 15, 2008 1:29 pm • link • report