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Dave,

I have to disagree with you on this one. I'll take it point by point. Driving - better signage on at the cross-streets, most notably Seminary/Georgia and Colesville/Dale would go a long way to fix most of the accidents. Surely someone has invented a stoplight that could turn off if the lane it hung over was not in service in that direction? I've never seen the downhill slog from Franklin to Sligo, then a 3 into 2 merge, be an issue. Traffic is heavy enough in both directions, even on holidays, to make it pretty obvious, and folks slow down enough between the end of Columbia Pike (at Northwest Branch), coming through Four Corners, and over the Beltway, that they aren't exactly flying.

Walking - both of the examples you cite (Forest Glen and DTSS) are outside the area of reversible lanes on Georgia. On Colesville, there are crossings with *significant* green time for Fenton and Spring Streets. Any other crossing, last I checked would be called jaywalking, and be illegal. I don't think a mid-block crossing is necessary, but a mid-block light could be placed in front of the AFI, and run from noon to 11pm, I guess.

Aesthetics - You have a point here, but Virginia has lots of pretty country lanes (VA 193, Waxpool Road, McLearen Road), and they don't look as pretty when you're not moving at all. If MoCo and the SHA deemed it a priority, they could surely place nicer lights up there, maybe similar to what you see on the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges in Philly. (But if they charge a $3.00 toll to leave DC, I am moving out.)

Biking - once again, Sligo DOES have a median on one side, and on the other, the distance between the two islands for the turn lanes is less than 100 feet. A rail thin median (you'd still need a turn lane there, taking up most of the real estate) would not fit one bike. I've biked through there quite often and never had an issue. I also don't cross on the red light.

Buses - How would further bogging down traffic in the peak direction make buses run more smoothly? I don't see the logic here.

In short, there's only a three block stretch of Colesville that's designed to be walkable, and there are signalized crossings within 100 meters of any point along that strip. The same is true in DC, and I don't see anyone complaining about Connecticut Avenue, or any other similarly wide street there.

On Georgia, unless someone can tunnel 16th Street through to the Beltway, that extra lane is critical, and there are few walkers patronizing the three gas stations and wholesale shops (the Woodside Deli has parking) on the east side. I think that an idea there would be to make Seminary Drive and Seminary Place one way in opposing directions. That could conceivably shorten the red light cycle on Georgia, and give peds a chance to cross at Seminary Place.

To Tom Stock, the lights, amazingly, are synched in the rush hour direction fairly well along Georgia and Colesville, but there are just too many crossing thoroughfares inside the beltway. They all jam together in one place.

by Joe in SS on Dec 22, 2008 8:38 pm • link • report