The National Institutes of Health doesn’t comply with a federal recommendation for how many parking spaces it should have. Correcting that would probably help alleviate congestion in Bethesda.

Photo by thisisbossi on Flickr.

Whether they use Wisconsin Avenue, East-West Highway or Old Georgetown Road, a lot of cars go to and from Bethesda every day. To alleviate rush hour congestion, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has suggested parking ratios of one spot for every three employees. The idea is that the high ratio will encourage workers to take transit or carpool instead of clogging up the roads with more single-passenger vehicles.

If an agency manages its parking well, workers who most need parking (whether it’s because they don’t have good transit or need to make more frequent trips to and from the office) can get it, while those who can use the excellent transit in this location or share a car will have good reason to do so.

But the NIH, which is Montgomery County’s biggest employer, has chosen to ignore the NCPC’s suggested ratio in favor of 2:1. The 2:1 standard dates back to 1992.

The NIH recently issued the final Environmental Impact Statement for expansions it’s planning for its main campus, the bulk of which are an additional 3,000 employees and 17 new buildings. For the new buildings, the NIH says it will comply with the recommended 3:1 parking ratio.

But for its existing facilities, which house its 20,000 employees, the NIH is sticking with the outdated standards.

NIH sits at a busy interchange, and it’s not pulling the same weight as its neighbors

The NIH argues that it needs to keep the 2:1 ratio for the bulk of its workforce because so much of it comes from places that are both far from Bethesda and not close to transit. But the same could be said of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center or the many businesses in downtown Bethesda, and all of these places abide by the NCPC’s 3:1 recommendation.

In fact, when Walter Reed Army Medical Center was combining with Bethesda Naval Hospital, employees coped with a ratio of nearly four employees per parking place.

Given that the NIH sits at a major “choke point” between Old Georgetown Road and Rockville Pike, 355, and Wisconsin Avenue and is adjacent to downtown Bethesda, there are major traffic repercussions when it puts its own parking desires above all else. If we can expect an organization to lead the world’s Ebola treatment efforts, we can also expect a parking plan that complies with the federal government’s suggested ratios. The military has done it right across the street in the face of the same challenges.

Bethesda has changed in the past 20 years. By adapting, the same way its neighbors have, the NIH can do its part to serve the needs of the greater community.

Tracey Johnstone is a recovering political pollster who is completing a dissertation on Russian economic reform. She is also secretary of the Action Committee for Transit. She has lived in downtown Bethesda since 1996, and previously lived in Toronto, Moscow, and Alexandria (before the Metro).