Pedestrians
Pedestrian Metro access suddenly turns into grade-separated interchange
Today is the deadline for the region to submit its application for the federal competitive TIGER grants. Eagle-eyed Montgomery County residents noticed a strange and sudden change in the proposal: money for better access to the Medical Center Metro station became a pedestrian underpass under Rockville Pike, and then morphed into a "multimodal" underpass that will accommodate motor vehicles.
Photo by eddie.welker.
Suddenly, hopes for a new elevator entrance on the NNMC campus have turned into fears of walking along a narrow sidewalk of an underground roadway with traffic zooming past.
The TIGER grant proposal is a grab bag of ideas from various jurisdictions. There's the K Street Transitway, a bunch of priority bus corridors, some freeway bus ramps in Virginia, regional bike sharing, a Takoma/Langley transit center, a new Metro entrance at Rosslyn, and some access improvements at Medical Center to make it easier for NNMC workers on the east side of Rockville Pike to access the station, whose escalators are on the west side near NIH.
WMATA studied options to improve access, including a shallow pedestrian underpass somewhat like the one at White Flint, a new elevator entrance directly to the station along with emergency exit stairs, and a combination. As I explained earlier, the new entrance seems far superior to the underpass, and costs about the same amount. It'll save about 6,000 people a day 3½ minutes each, twice a day. It also will add important emergency fire egress from the station, which currently doesn't comply with laws for fire safety.
Nevertheless, the Montgomery County executive branch submitted a request to include the tunnel, not the elevator entrance, in the TIGER grant. The July 15th TPB presentation on the grant lists this item as a "pedestrian tunnel." Subsequently, ACT reported that Councilmember Marc Elrich got a Transportation Planning Board resolution broadening the grant to keep open the option for a direct station entrance.
In the presentation for tomorrow's TPB meeting, this suddenly turned into a "multimodal tunnel," costing $47.3 million instead of the $30 million listed in July. According to officials involved with the project, this will pay for a wider tunnel, big enough to accommodate motor vehicles, though not for any vehicular access ramps. At first, therefore, it will just let pedestrians and bicycles travel under Rockville Pike. In the future, buses going to and from NNMC could use the underpass instead of having to turn left off Rockville Pike, and buses could travel from NNMC to the Metro station or NIH using the underpass as well.
Their thinking makes a certain amount of sense, but only if you are thinking about NIH and NNMC from an auto-centric point of view. Montgomery County is focusing on getting people and bicycles out of the way of its cars, so that more cars can travel through the area. Sidewalks along subterranean roadways are very unpleasant for pedestrians to walk on. It wouldn't be so terrible for bicycles going between NNMC and NIH, but how many will do that?
If most people are riding shuttle buses to and from the Metro station, an underpass would help the shuttles reach the station faster, but it also comes at the expense of helping people walk and from the station instead. With an east side entrance, shuttles could reach the entrance without crossing Rockville Pike at all. And one source familiar with the plans said that the tunnel doesn't connect directly across the street, but sits at an angle, forcing pedestrians to walk a longer distance. I've asked officials to confirm the details of the geometry here.
Finally, are we really sure only buses will use the underpass? That's a lot of asphalt that will remain empty most of the time. It seems only a matter of time before cars can use it too, and then it becomes another grade-separated, pedestrian-hostile grade separated interchange. Moreover, sources in Montgomery County say they have found out about some plans to run new ramps off the Beltway at the Pooks Hill Interchange, along the Beltway sound wall, through NNMC, and then to NIH. If that's true, then a project intended to help pedestrians reach NIH and NNMC, part of a grant proposal to improve transit in the area, will be turning into one piece of another huge investment in making Montgomery County more drivable instead of more walkable and bikeable.
This change has caught advocates, legislators, and residents by surprise. County Executive Ike Leggett promised to keep community members informed via the BRAC Implementation Committee, but this sudden change has slipped in without public discussion or even disclosure. People will be asking questions at tonight's meeting, 7:30 pm at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center. They deserve some answers; better yet, the people of Montgomery County and employees at NNMC deserve a second Metro station entrance.
 | 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.   |
Comments
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by kidincredible on Sep 15, 2009 4:29 pm • link • report
by Guy 1 on Sep 15, 2009 4:39 pm • link • report
by mch on Sep 15, 2009 7:07 pm • link • report
by цarьchitect on Sep 15, 2009 10:35 pm • link • report
Also, don't forget that Medical Center is also a Metro and Rideon Bus hub. Having buses pull into that area and then out adds several minutes to each route. Cutting down the number of shuttles and cars that are merely crossing the street will reduce the time busses spend waiting in the station.
As for the tunnel not going perpendicular to the street, I don't see a problem as long as they also have an entrance to NNMC there. The current entrance isn't particularly close to any building entrance and it has high traffic. If the tunnel was directed to a pedestrian entrance, that would actually be an improvement.
I'm giving a lot of benefit of the doubt on this topic, but I'll wait to hear more before jumping to conclusions.
by dd on Sep 15, 2009 10:36 pm • link • report
by Chris on Sep 16, 2009 8:55 am • link • report
by Casey Anderson on Sep 16, 2009 2:00 pm • link • report
by Daniel Kessler on Oct 8, 2009 12:24 am • link • report
Separate vehicle and pedestrian routes over Wisconsin Ave
with direct vehicle access from the Beltway to NNMC & NIH
1. Fed-only Vehicular Route from Beltway over Wisconsin Ave to NIH
Direct Beltway access for NNMC & NIH employees, consisting of a road along the north edge of NNMC from Beltway to a bridge over Wisconsin Ave into NIH beside the commercial vehicle inspection facility.
ALL NNMC and NIH employee traffic from East of Bethesda would be removed from Connecticut Ave, Wisconsin Ave, Jones Bridge Road. Imagine removing that many cars out of your way? What is your time worth?
As a bonus, during a disaster or daily gridlock, all back and forth vehicular traffic between the two fed med centers would travel OVER the public road, never having to breech their respective security barriers.
2. Public Pedestrian Walking Route UNDER Wisconsin Ave at Medical Center Metro, built with SLOPED RAMPS - ADA all the way, with NO STAIRS, NO ESCALATORS, NO ELEVATORS, NOTHING that will break down, use power, or need repairing.
My Rant
I've been living in and around the DC area since 1966, and have noticed several curiosities about this region's transportation infrastructure. Before responding with flames, first examine "our" Metro designs, requirements, implementations, who pays, who benefits and then cast stones.
Perhaps you too will notice that the metro system was designed, located, operated and (mis)managed for the benefit of those who DON'T ride it.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Taking a page from the world of flesh, the best way to cripple is to limit flow rate of nutrients. Since the construction of the Beltway in the early 1960s, how many more lanes have been added that cross the Beltway (i.e., radials)?
Why don't the workers at NIH and NNMC have a number of parking spaces equivalent to the numbers of these state income tax generating employees?
Name one reason why any competent person would choose to move to the DC area just to work for the good of the nation at locations like NIH and NNMC?
Do you reallllllly want to live in Grover Norquist World where everyone is "free" of the yoke of taxes, free of the misery of government, free of the rule of law that taxes can buy if they haven't been wasted upon wars of childish pique?
READ THE MAP
Why was the original metro station at National airport NOT in the airport, but instead an exposed walk across roads and parking lots? Who has their own personal private guarded parking lot right next to National airport? Who decided what kind of public transport system would bepaid for out of public funds?
Why was the west side of the Red line one of the first functioning segments of the "public" transportation system?
Why was it located where it is and why does it have the most stations/mile (hint: it is located along one of the most valuable / expensive stretches of retail shopping in the USA and not located where high concentrations of riders actually live - they have to DRIVE from their homes and pay to park at Metro stations ?!?!?).
Why bother building a Red Line Medical Center metro station in the first place (early 1980's) if it would NOT include pedestrian access to BOTH medical centers on BOTH sides of a six lane artery?
Who was the most important patient at Navy Med in the early 1980's and who paid for his government housing, food, health care and private airline? How did he treat the US citizens that maintained safe air travel for "little people" who can't afford better than than commercial airlines? When was the last time he ever paid for his own air travel?
Name all the other metro stations under a six lane artery that have only ONE exit on one side? What are the biggest financial/cultural and social differences between what goes on at the two major addresses within walking distance to the Medical Center station, and all other red line stations?
Name the fastest growing patient population at NNMC and ask yourself "if I had the same affliction, could I get myself across one lane of traffic, let alone six?"
Why do some fed agencies (e.g., NASA, NSA, CIA) rate access ramps to/from adjacent highways?
The BIG UH-OH
If you think oil drilling interests won't invest in functional disaster response beyond paper and toner to print fairy tails, consider the gap between the disaster planning documents and actual preparation and training for the DC area.
You DO have your own personal disaster response plan, one that includes all loved ones, includes sub-sections for seasonal environmental differences - extra sun screen or extra wool socks.
You DO fully test your plan on a regular basis against real traffic at the worst possible travel times/dates/weather.
For mass casualty-generating disaster in DC, think "Blizzard of 1996", then add hysteria that "They" have targeted your town and then add real injury from road rage.
If/when the next mass casualty happens downtown, and if lower Montgomery county is still intact, the PLAN is for NNMC, NIH Clinical Center and Suburban to function together as a joint GO-TO treatment site. (Said plan from the same type of crooks that spend your public transportation funds to best serve private interests.)
Without you having to know anything about what kind of treatments occur every day inside Suburban, NIH and NNMC, consider what you do know:
After a disaster sufficiently damaging to activate this joint response plan, will any vehicular traffic have any room to move on any road/sidewalk/front yard near/outside these three medical centers?
Other than tourist from the mid-west, do your really believe locals will move over to allow emergency vehicles to pass? Can you imagine anyone with a gun passing up their only chance to commandeer a ride through un-relenting gridlock?
Will the gates of NIH and NNMC that open onto Wisconsin Ave be locked and barricaded against all non-emergency vehicles (See Road Warrior movie-scene of access control into fuel compound)
Do you know which of the three faculties you are supposed to go to?
Think the armed guards will know this for you, and want you to to get close enough to have a chat?
Think you will be allowed to drive onto either fenced fed facility? if allowed access, where will you park?
Remember: we voted in "our representatives" that passed laws forbidding enough parking for fed employee scum. What make you think there is a place for you? or your car wont be towed or ticketed (remember the traffic tickets the day after the snow storm?)
When the armed guards won't let you bring your car onto either fed base "for security reasons", do you abandon your car? leave it in the road along with all the other trapped cars that ran out of gas?
If you can walk in, do you really need treatment?
If you really need treatment, can you walk at all?
Now, some observations from within Suburban, NIH and NNMC:
First and foremost
> TRAUMA is AGAINST THE LAW in Montgomery County <
No Trauma, no trauma preparation, no trauma practice, no trauma supplies, no trauma treatment.
In a typical year, accidental death by vehicle is twice the number of murders, and together they average no more than one a week, that is one practice per week spread across the entire county that has how many emergency beds?
If you need lots of treatment for lots of trauma, get yourself to where the military sends their trauma students: Baltimore, Miami and LA. MoCo don't DO trauma.
Then what does go on in these three Emergency Rooms:
Suburban Emergency Room beds fill up on weekends from commercial nursing homes that won't pay for in-house weekend clinical care. You have my sympathies when you think that you will get quick pain relief from a kidney stone at 4 am Sunday cause "you'll be first in line cause their ain't gonna be no line". No line but no response either - all ER beds are full and all personnel are fully occupied serving pancakes to weekend wheezers in their pajamas.
Patients in NIH Clinical Center are research material for studies into what is not already known how to treat. NIH does not have an "Institute of mass cal". One time there was a clever scheme to use the WORDS "Ambulatory Care Research"to snag fad funds for a big new building - must have worked since that building was built. As we all know, the the role of our elected representative is to pass legislation telling other people what they should be doing differently or allocating Other People's Money to buy what they would not have spent that money on.
The good news: Most NIH in-patients are REALLY sick, so NIH has a big morgue and well practiced mortuary professionals (providing they can/want to fight their way into work during a real mass cal)
NNMC outsources their ER to a private firm to handle the typical patient load: children with fever or sprained ankles and retirees with chest pain. Nothing to handle a mass cal patient load (Trauma is even more against the laws of the UCMJ - military get put on report if the damage themselves -Government Property- outside duty hours).
At NNMC, the top "medical problem" that draws in the most patients is baby birthing. Sure, lots of drama, lots of slippery fluids all over the place, lots of fast life-saving interventions.
However much birthing treatments may mimic mass cal treatments, most mommies don't take to everyone else in the room wearing max barrier protective moon suits. And a real mass cal triggered by direct human action will be toxic, or will have to be considered toxic until some low-level munchkin breaths/drinks/touches and lives.
To see how hard it is to work wrapped inside the highest level protective covering, try doing your job while wearing a dive mask and breathing through a snorkel tube. See how many eye/hand errors you make, see how long you can do your job before exhaustion or frustration makes you want to quite this foolishness. Before you do take off the mask, scrub yourself from head to toe with lots of undiluted bleach.
You may take hope in the one-day-a-year mass cal drills that these three centers host. Hope away. These drills are scheduled, scripted and produced to show to whomever might see it on the local news show.
Few employees are tasked to participate, while all other employees are warned in advance to stay away from the exercise players, the exercise areas. So when it happens for real, most employees have NO idea how to help. What little disaster management there will be available will be under-served with the well-meaning but uninformed.
The exercise area is well marked, the "patients" movements and behaviors are all scripted - no frantic hordes breaking through any opening in search of medical salvation, or at the very least clean drinking water and unused toilet paper.
On the one hand, Drill Patient appearances are stunning - made up with beautiful moulage, fake blood dripping, rubber guts hanging out, as if most were in a train wreck. But how can mass cal numbers of people be hurt in a train wreck big enough to shut down DC and activates the slog to Bethesda when our passenger trainload is so small?
For those "relatively" few really damaged in a "train wreck" like disaster, almost every real person with such real life-threatening, blood dripping wounds will be left where they were damaged if everyone knows they should head for the hills. Any such wounded that get past the armed guards and onto the hospital grounds and seen by a clinician will promptly get a special black ticket to the exclusive Expectant Club reserved for all the extra special people with extra special needs. The entrance to Expectant Club will be guarded by extra-large armed guards.
Note, that in a real mass cal downtown, the largest numbers and earliest arrivals in Bethesda will be some of the healthiest and most self important: the worried well that are scared INTO running, healthy enough TO run, and have lived for this moment to drive their SUV on a sidewalk or through a flower bed.
Really really sick/injured will not be moving themselves about. Recall Richmond in GWTW, Melanie in labor while Scarlet wades through the sea of prostrate dead and dieing in search of the lone doc.
The dates of these "training" exercises are scheduled for those months with "nice" weather, at times with plenty of sunlight (better for the TV cameras).
Never during freezing rain.
Never on a moonless night.
Not one of these drills practiced moving 100s to 1000s of patients, be they ambulatory or not, across Wisconsin Ave or Old Georgetown Road with or without these roads totally empty, or totally packed with immobile cars, or totally Mad Max/Death Race 2000 ...
... if only there was some way over or under that wide road at Medical center Metro station, some route open only for annual disaster drills, or at worst, allow only commercial vehicles with drivers having top secret clearance, and then some more guards to shout at people to get out of the way of the vehicles, ....
So, here we sit fat dumb and annoyed about a few lies about a tunnel when for DECADES we have accepted crap from the con men working for private profit from public payments. e.g.,
Metro access on one side of 6 lanes of commuter-packed Wisconsin Ave when all those metro stations surrounded by shoe and jewelry stores have two-sided access.
A military that won't buy access to its treatment facilities for cars - like direct beltway access - any more than it bought a tunnel or bridge so its wounded warriors would not have to practice dodge ball across six lanes of commuter traffic.
No metro parking at the Medical Center station located in the midst of the DC Disaster/Go-To hospitals.
No controlled access for either pedestrians or vehicles between the two fed med go-to treatment facilities.
Laws passed in our name to prevent fed employees from having parking with their employment.
Even when we aren't being lied to, the truth we buy is lowest bidder/highest price.
How could anyone expect otherwise when business to business contract laws trump ALL other laws, rules and rights of mere mortals.
by Ray on Jun 19, 2010 4:46 am • link • report
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