Design for speed, collect the dough

Roads

Design for speed, collect the dough

by David Alpert • February 12, 2009 4:22 pm

Maryland is considering a bill to allow more speed cameras throughout the state. Supporters argue that the goal is safety, while opponents claim that local jurisdictions use the cameras more as a revenue tool than anything else. They're both right.

Logo for Montgomery County's speed camera program.

Lon Anderson, director of public and government affairs at AAA Mid-Atlantic, felt that Chevy Chase had taken advantage of the pilot program by designating Connecticut Avenue, a six-lane boulevard that leads into Washington, as a "neighborhood street." Last year, the city reported $1.2 million dollars in earnings from the cameras, he said.

I actually agree with Lon this time. Chevy Chase, and Montgomery in general, has created a double standard with Connecticut. On the one hand, it's a huge, six-lane road with ~~wide lanes,~~ broad sight lines and a straight, flat course that makes drivers feel like they can go about 50. On the other hand, the portion in Chevy Chase has a speed limit of 30, rising only gradually as you move north, and speed cameras hit drivers with fines for simply obeying their instincts.

The average driver would argue that we need a higher speed limit. Maybe. But there's another side to this coin: If the road didn't feel like such a freeway, people would drive slower even without the speed traps. As soon as drivers cross into DC, they slow down. That's not because the speed limit drops, but because the road feels slower. Lanes are narrower. Buildings come right up to the sidewalk. All of the visual cues tell drivers that this is a 25- or 30-mph area instead of a 50-mph area.

If Montgomery County or Chevy Chase Village wants a 30-mph neighborhood street, they ought to design one. Unfortunately, Montgomery is moving the opposite direction. The recent Road Code, which our buddy Lon helped write, bans trees in the medians of boulevards to avoid narrowing drivers' fields of vision. The longer sight lines from treeless medians encourages faster driving. If Maryland officials are serious about slowing traffic instead of just raking in the dough in Chevy Chase, they'd allow trees and start slowing drivers by designing slower streets from the start.

19 comments

Tags: AAA, Chevy Chase MD, Montgomery, Road Code, speed limits, Upper Connecticut

MoCo road code, AAA oppose tree-lined medians (Oct 1, 2008)
Optical illusions slow drivers (Jun 24, 2008)
Speed limits don't match road designs (Mar 23, 2009)
Montgomery making Conn. Ave. more like a freeway (Nov 3, 2010)
What's your experience walking on Connecticut Avenue? (Mar 30, 2010)

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Agreed. People drive however fast as they are comfortable driving. If safety is really a priority, we need to take the focus off of moving as many cars through as fast as possible. They are mutually exclusive goals.

by BeyondDC on Feb 12, 2009 4:25 pm • link • report

six-lane road with wide lanes

Connecticut around Chevy Chase does have wide lanes. If you drive the section where the speed cameras are located (East West Highway to DC) the lanes are very narrow, especially the middle one when minivans creep into your lane.

by Erik on Feb 12, 2009 4:48 pm • link • report

I hope someone issues a successful legal challenge to speed cameras... but I'm not holding my breath

by SG on Feb 12, 2009 4:50 pm • link • report

I meant to say "Connecticut around Chevy Chase does *not* have wide lanes."

by Erik on Feb 12, 2009 4:59 pm • link • report

Erik is right--that segment has extremely narrow lanes, and probably would be better off with two lanes plus a bike lane (or something).

Of course, 90% of drivers know where the cameras are, so they slow down even more right before getting to them. (and then speed up to create mayhem at the rotary, which only 2% of them know how to negotiate properly).

by ah on Feb 12, 2009 4:59 pm • link • report

You're right, the lanes are not very wide there. The fact remains, though, that the road feels like more of a 45-mph road than a 30-mph road. Staying at 30 mph feels like a struggle. Maybe that's because of the wide setbacks and very straight, flat path, but it's a reality, whereas it's not so hard to hold to 30 through Cleveland Park.

by David Alpert on Feb 12, 2009 5:17 pm • link • report

when i was in 3rd grade, one of my classmates got killed in a hit-and-run while crossing connecticut with his dad (in chevy chase). drivers have been speeding on that road for more than 30 years.

that said, when i started driving, i hated taking connecticut in chevy chase because the lanes are so narrow. east-west hwy, now... that's always been a fast, wide-laned road.

by jenny on Feb 12, 2009 5:43 pm • link • report

I agree that Conn Ave, especially between the DC line and East-West, encourages speeding and ought to be two lanes plus a bike lane. It makes too much sense to do...or maybe this is a new era. But I wish they would do it.

by Lindemann on Feb 12, 2009 6:06 pm • link • report

"...and then speed up to create mayhem at the rotary, which only 2% of them know how to negotiate properly"

That's one of my biggest pet peeves with the drivers in this area. A circle is simplest intersection control mechanisms, and has just a single rule: If you're entering the circle, yield to traffic already in the circle. Much simpler than a traffic light. I think drivers somehow overcomplicate it. With local municipalities increasingly using circles for intersection control and for traffic calming, there needs to be some kind of information campaign to educate drivers on how they work.

by Chris Loos on Feb 12, 2009 6:07 pm • link • report

I've never understood the criticism that red lights cameras are just revenue programs. So what if they are? What's next in that line of argumentation?

It's a tax on undesirable behavior.

by Reid on Feb 12, 2009 6:30 pm • link • report

Reid, I think people are uncomfortable about the perceived surreptitiousness and intrusiveness of the cameras. Additionally, they see them as unfair, as though their illegal activities are fine unless a cop is there to arrest them. I'm not a fan of the pervasive monitoring possible with police cameras, but in this case, it's just rationalization down deep.

On the other hand, as people have noted, they really don't do much good. Locals slow down at one point and then immediately accelerate again. Like speed bumps, they just cause congestion from this stressful speed fluctuation. Other strategies. like tree-lined medians and smaller lanes, seem to work better at persistently slowing speeds while keeping throughput high.

by цarьchitect on Feb 12, 2009 7:05 pm • link • report

Not every corner has a stoplight. Connecticut Ave is very hard to cross because speeders close the gaps that would otherwise separate schools of travelers.

I applaud the tax on undesirable behavior. The speed camera is much fairer than human policemen, inasmuch as the camera rewards the infraction more evenly while the policeman catches one driver every half hour and then gets mired in paperwork.

Next, Metro needs pizza- and french-fry cameras.

by Turnip on Feb 12, 2009 7:12 pm • link • report

Connecticut Ave in Chevy Chase has quite narrow lanes and cannot be negotiated at high speeds. Speed camera studies show they are effective over time in reducing traffic speed (let MC make revenue, if this makes for greater safety). It is incomprehensible that so many drivers cannot negotiate traffic circles. Since DC is famous for these, there should be some reference in driver training. Finally, I have noticed that MD and VA drivers (who are used to high speed, multi-lane roadways and traffic lights as opposed to stop signs), show little ability to modulate their speed and vigilance when they cross the border and enter into DC neighborhoods where kids, dogs and cats, and people entering/exiting their cars on the street (because no one has a garage) are at risk of being hit. Do these people drive this way in their own little suburban neighborhoods? Then there are the issues of road maintenance and parking in DC..... don't even want to get started on the business of commuter tax.....

by Christine on Feb 12, 2009 7:36 pm • link • report

@chris loos - I agree re roundabouts. There aren't enough of them in the area for people to be forced to learn. The other problem is the markings and that they're multilane. At Chevy Chase circle, too many drivers are in the wrong lane--right lane for the first turns (Western); Middle for Conn.; left/inside for Western going east. But most people are going down Conn., so they're in all three lanes, which means more yielding all around that would otherwise be necssary.

But, yes, basically it's a free for all.

by ah on Feb 12, 2009 9:11 pm • link • report

How about 2 lanes, a streetcar lane and bike lanes.

There should be a streetcar from Kensington to at least Van Ness, if not Dupont.

And the lanes on CT narrow at Bradley Blvd.

Also, beware of the "green garbage cans". Those are the secondary cameras that are usually placed about a block downstream from the fixed cameras.

by William on Feb 12, 2009 11:37 pm • link • report

I think Connecticut Avenue is for the most part sufficiently designed for 30 MPH traffic, at least south of East-West Highway. The one problem I will point out is that lanes that narrow ought not be placed three-wide without one of them reserved for transit, or at least parking.

One good thing Connecticut has on most other roads coming out of the District into Maryland is a far more gradual transition from urban boulevard to suburban arterial. It's not perfect, and it could use some work, but Connecticut is the best example we have right now.

There are only two through lanes south of Chevy Chase Circle, why have the third lane through a bedroom community? start that third lane north of the Beltway, or better yet, get rid of it all the way to Aspen Hill. Give it over to transit. But the stretch through Chevy Chase proper does not need that third lane.

Considering that it is a residential neighborhood there, go ahead and keep the speed cameras. It's a straight, flat road, and when there's no traffic, cars will go faster than they ought to through such a residential area.

by Dave Murphy on Feb 13, 2009 2:19 am • link • report

"On the other hand, . . . speed cameras hit drivers with fines for simply obeying their instincts."

Oh, how horrible. How very terrible for the poor drivers who might have to pay a fine for "obeying their instincts."

My instinct, as a pedestrian, is to take a baseball bat to the headlights and windshield of at least a few of the cars of the poor instinct-driven drivers. Somehow, I manage to suppress my own instincts, but maybe we should just have an across-the-board solution that lets all of us indulge our instincts no matter what the potential costs to others.

Give me a break. If re-engineering roads helps, that's great. But let's not excuse illegal and dangerous behavior by people who are already over-indulged by the government that should be regulating and punishing their behavior.

by Eileen on Feb 13, 2009 12:35 pm • link • report

David,

Does Montgomery County have much control over the design of Connecticut Avenue? It's a state highway. How do they divide up responsibility for design?

by Omari on Feb 13, 2009 12:48 pm • link • report

Why don't you just put dark license plate covers over your license plate? Maryland is well known for highway abuses. The 65mph freeway speed limit is illegally underposted. Prior to 1974 (pre-55) the freeway speed limit in MD wa 70. With abolition of 55 in 1996, the speed limits were supposed to return to pre-55 levels. Revenue generation at it's worst.

by Jef on Feb 17, 2009 12:07 pm • link • report