Posts about White Flint

White Flint didn't always look like this. In 1988, four years after Metro arrived in the area, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission opened across the street from the station. The Planning Board required a "traffic mitigation" program. As part of this program, the sidewalk in front of the NRC building was set back from Rockville Pike so that it led directly to the Metro. A marked crosswalk connected the sidewalk to the station entrance.

The traffic mitigation program worked very well. Today, 36% of NRC employees commute by transit. As a result, the crosswalk was heavily used. But the Planning Board requirement expired in 2004, and just one year later, MCDOT removed the crosswalk and built a wall to stop pedestrians from making their way across the road at that location.

Now, pedestrians are forced to detour 40 feet to the left, where they must wait at a very slow traffic light. The county claims that the crosswalk was eliminated in the interest of pedestrian safety.

Unfortunately, this claim does not stand up to scrutiny. The only hazard to pedestrians in the crosswalk was that of drivers who violated the law by failing to yield. But this hazard exists at all crosswalks in the county; at crossings without traffic lights, drivers rarely yield to pedestrians.

In fact, the White Flint crosswalk was often full of people, so drivers obeyed the law and stopped more often than elsewhere. From the pedestrian's point of view, this was likely one of the safest unsignalized crosswalks (given the amount of car traffic) in the county.

The White Flint crosswalk was not removed because it was in the best interests of the pedestrians, but rather, because it was in the best interest of the drivers. Throughout the county, MCDOT encourages drivers to violate the law by leaving crosswalks unmarked, even where there is heavy pedestrian traffic.

Sadly, this is not a unique situation. Another wall was built with a similar goal in mind at New Hampshire Avenue and University Boulevard. In both locations, MCDOT could have made it safer to cross the street by redesigning the road to slow traffic and ticketing drivers who failed to yield. But it appears that this is not the approach the department has embraced. Instead, pedestrians take a backseat to the county's drivers.

The proposed skyscraper is part of a massive mixed-use transit oriented development planned for across the street from White Flint Metro. Called North Bethesda Market II, the building will have 345 residential units and measure about 300 feet tall. While the residential tower will anchor the development, the plan as a whole also includes a 175,000 square foot office building and 115,000 square feet of retail space.

Putting skyscrapers in White Flint makes sense. White Flint is Montgomery County's version of Tysons Corner: a huge collection of dense but mostly suburban office buildings and residential high rises. With its Metro station, the area is as perfect a location for smart growth development as there could be in Montgomery County.

The project site plan shows that like the existing North Bethesda Market I, the North Bethesda Market II proposal is basically urban. The public spaces turn their back on Rockville Pike, which is unfortunate, but the urban design is still a big step up from existing conditions.

And then there's the architecture. The bold, modernist ziggurat is absolutely unlike anything else in our region. It is a shocking sculptural statement that succeeds in all the ways it is meant to. It's not the kind of architecture that would make a good city if repeated over 10,000 background buildings, but it will be an undeniable landmark - an icon to the city White Flint aspires to be.

I wouldn't want to see more than one of these, but I like it for what it is.

Forum on TOD and housing in Prince George's, organized by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Envision Prince George's featuring David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners, Rodney Harrell of AARP, and developer Jair Lynch. Monday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 at the CSC Building, across from New Carrollton Metro station, 7900 Harkins Road, Lanham.

Circulator east of the river public meeting to present alternatives and get resident feedback on the route. Tuesday, July 12, 7-8:30 pm at the Southeast Neighborhood Library, 403 7th Street SE, DC.

Action Committee for Transit discussion about how White Flint advocates built support for Smart Growth, featuring Dan Hoffman and Barnaby Zall from Friends of White Flint. Tuesday, July 12, 7:30 pm at Silver Spring Center, 8818 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, in the Woodside Conference Room.

Lunchtime workshop on Eco-City Alexandria with Bill Skrabak of the City of Alexandria and Joe Schilling of Virginia Tech discussing Alexandria's sustainability initiatives and community indicators developed based on best practices from around the country. Thursday, July 14, noon-1 pm at the Charles Houston Recreation Center, 901 Wythe Street, Alexandria.

Maryland Avenue SW plan public meeting to present draft recommendations for the CSX railway corridor between 4th and 12th Streets, SW, and adjacent property. Thursday, July 14, 6:30-8:30 at 1100 4th Street SW, DC in the 2nd floor meeting room.

St. Elizabeth's East public meeting to give feedback on land use and transportation concepts for the redevelopment of the east campus. Thursday, July 14, 7-9 pm at Imagine Southeast Public Charter School (Old Congress Heights School), 3100 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE, DC.

Takoma Langley Crossroads urban design guidelines discussion between the Planning Board and the community. The guidelines will govern development around the future Purple Line stop. Thursday, July 14, 7:00 pm at the Takoma Rec Center, 7315 New Hampshire Avenue, Takoma Park.

You can find these and many more events on the Greater Greater Washington calendar. If you know an event we should include, send it to events@ggwash.org.

Though the sculpture is named for the white quartz that White Flint gets its name from, it doesn't feel like a product of its place. Alluvium's narrative about the power of nature says nothing about the history or culture of White Flint as a community, nor does it provide an opportunity to create a new history or culture in White Flint.

Not only does it resemble the artist's other works, but Sanborn admitted that the piece was largely inspired by the geography of Montana. If anything, Alluvium is an expression of JBG's ability to lavish money on the public spaces in its developments, which is important if they want to draw tenants to apartments renting for nearly $5,000 a month.

Other urban centers in Montgomery County use public art to commemorate tragic events. In downtown Silver Spring, friends and family of fourteen-year-old resident Tai Lam created a memorial to him after he was murdered on a Ride-On bus.

The impromptu assemblage of photos, notes and flowers sat at the base of a streetlight on Ellsworth Drive for several months before the Peterson Companies, which manages the public street on behalf of the county, laid a brick with Tai Lam's name on the sidewalk, smaller, more permanent tribute to the teenager.

Meanwhile, in Bethesda, yoga-wear store Lululemon Athletica turned their storefront into a tribute to employee Jayna Murray, who was murdered by a coworker three months ago. In place of the store's name, the façade bears a stained-glass window with Lululemon's logo and the word "LOVE."

Neither Tai Lam's brick or Jayna Murray's window were commissioned by the Planning Department. Both of them were relatively cheap to make and didn't involve renowned artists. You could argue that neither of them were public art, as Tai Lam's brick is part of an existing sidewalk and Jayna Murray's window was paid for by a store to be used in that store.

Yet both pieces can be seen and interacted with by everyone who passes through the streets they're located on, making it a public intervention. And as tributes to members of the Silver Spring and Bethesda communities, both pieces are already more significant to that community than a commissioned artwork.

Meaningful public art doesn't have to come out of tragedy. Those who commission, pay for and create an artwork should look at the place where the piece will be located and find some reference to draw inspiration from within that community, whether it's a significant event, person, or cultural oddity. Grand statements are nice, but they don't make a unique place. Public art that can celebrate the little things is the way to create local character.

When I used to work at an ice-cream parlor in Rockville Town Square, I'd get phone calls from customers with questions. One thing always seemed to upset my callers: it wasn't about the cost of ice cream, or what flavors we did or didn't have in stock, or even that you had to pay to park there. It was that the only parking came in an underground garage behind the store.

"You mean I have to park in a garage?" they'd ask. "I hate parking garages, and I don't want to shop anywhere where I have to use one."

I don't know how many customers this deterred, but I'm not surprised that people are unhappy parking in a garage to shop at the new Whole Foods in North Bethesda Market. This new development along Rockville Pike in White Flint also contains the tallest apartment building in Montgomery County.

Those used to the vast, free parking lots outside Whole Foods' former location in Congressional Plaza, a few miles away, probably aren't happy about going down a steep ramp and paying $1.50 an hour to store their car. Not only that, but I went there a couple of weeks ago and found the garage crowded and difficult to navigate, though this may be partially due to construction of the still-unfinished shopping center.

Structured parking has been a fact of life in Montgomery County for decades. Silver Spring, Singular found this 1970's-era ad for Bethlehem Steel showing a then-new garage on Ellsworth Drive. There are parking garages, with aboveground and underground portions, in the downtowns of Silver Spring, Bethesda, Rockville and Wheaton. Across Rockville Pike from North Bethesda Market is White Flint Mall, which has had parking garages since it opened almost forty years ago.

I like parking garages because they can keep my car cool in the summer and dry when it rains or snows. However, a poorly designed and poorly lit garage can feel really uncomfortable. They can also give a lousy first impression to people going from their car to a shop, office or apartment building. Underground garages can also make users feel unsafe. When a developer proposed replacing a public parking lot in downtown Silver Spring with a garage to make room for other uses, one neighbor worried it would be a draw for crime.

One way to alleviate these concerns is to bring more natural light into underground parking areas. The garage below Ikea's College Park branch is set into a hill, meaning that two sides are open to the outside. At University Town Center in Hyattsville, underground garages are lit by a shaft reaching to the street above.

There are trade-offs to parking garages. You can't just pull up to a space, you might have to take stairs or an elevator back to the street, and you usually have to pay for a space. But they do conserve land, which can go to other uses.

In North Bethesda Market, there are wide sidewalks with lush plantings and lots of benches. The first thing you see when you come out of the garage is an elegant plaza with a fountain at the center and lined with shops and restaurants. Eventually, this will be just one part of a larger network of urban open spaces throughout White Flint, none of which would be possible with the surface parking lots that line Rockville Pike today.

Building up on parking lots is one of the changes that the Post calls a "threat" to the suburban way of life, whether in Montgomery or across the river in Fairfax, which is undergoing similar growing pains. While there are a few special places where parking lots can be a suburban community's gathering space, most are just places to store cars. If done well, structured garages can do that while making room for the places where people gather and form community. That sounds like a way to make suburbs stronger, not eradicate them.

10 or 15 years from now, as White Flint hits its stride, there will be plenty of destinations drawing people into the area. Some will take transit, but most will drive. They will seek out parking and walk along new pedestrian-friendly streets lined with windows and activity. Many will work and live in this emerging community.

Will those same people look north to the White Flint II area and say, "Hey, let's go shop or eat over there?" And if they are making this decision, will they walk? No way. It will be a barrier. As the new streets and activities emerge in White Flint, they will not extend the grid across the underpass.

Would you really drive ¼ or ½ mile north and find a new parking spot in White Flint II to shop or eat? It's unlikely you'd find something there that will not already be in White Flint. And this is the challenge of White Flint II. What can it become? What can happen there that will make it distinct from White Flint?

This question would be different if the Montrose/355 intersection had remained at-grade. The street grid could have extended north to south. The building infrastructure could have created a seamless transition across the intersection, not much different than, say, Georgia and Colesville Road in Silver Spring. People could and would walk across the area into White Flint II because the transition would be lined with active uses day and evening.

The Montrose Underpass simply reinforces the view that Rockville Pike is a runway to get through White Flint versus moving through the area as a destination itself. Keep in mind that for a driver in a car to make eye contact with a pedestrian, they have to be travelling at about 23 mph (30 kph). So as long as we keep building our roads as expressways, we prevent the opportunity for "engaged" streets where a number of activities coexist safely.

So as we prepare to look at the White Flint II area, we have to take a hard look at what is possible. We have White Flint becoming known as NoBe (North of Bethesda), we have Rockville to the north, with White Flint II mostly in the middle. Will it be SoRo (South of Rockville) or can it establish its own identity? Can we expect the same demand for high-rise construction in White Flint II as in WF I? Will traffic modeling reveal that White Flint I occupies the bulk of the available and projected road capacity?

Or should we expect more like Twinbrook Station, a recent successful project north and east of White Flint at lower densities with a residential focus? Should this be the future of White Flint II, with splashes of retailing that are more convenience-focused than destination oriented? Will there still be a market for destination retail like the Container Store north of Montrose?

Several property owners own land both north and south of Montrose. How they lease south of the road in White Flint I—whether to big box retailers or smaller retail—will have a big impact on what happens to the north in White Flint II. That model does not fit into the urban character of White Flint. Property owners will lease according to the market, and will avoid investments that compete with other uses in the area. This will not only impact the retail market but the residential market as well.

If White Flint I is to be higher-density condo and rental, there may not be enough market share for both areas in the next 15 years. Perhaps White Flint II will be about managing expectations, meaning it may take awhile for the collective vision to emerge. This is the approach that we are investigating for the Long Branch neighborhood, where the near and long term goals are differentiated by the actions we can take to create incremental change.

Maybe 20 years from now the Montrose underpass may be MoCo's elevated expressway. The mistake realized decades later in places like Seattle, Toronto and San Francisco, where lots of money was invested to reverse the damage and open up new opportunities for creating better environments for people, not autos.

Several years ago, a portion of the one elevated expressway that reached downtown Toronto was torn down, about 1.5 miles of it. Support is now building to take down the rest. This is one of the locations around the world where the benefits of tearing down 1950/'60s era transportation infrastructure has and will open up new economic opportunities that also meld well with the greening of urban areas.

There are lots of things to consider when we start the White Flint II Sector Plan.We hope for engaged conversations with property owners, residents and business operators—all of whom will help guide the possibilities that White Flint II can be.

Crossposted at The Director's Blog.

When I arrived in Montgomery County in 2008, the White Flint property owners and members of my staff tried to divert $50 million in funding for the Montrose Parkway underpass, the first phase to reconstruct Rockville Pike, to study a future transit line along the Pike. Our efforts were unsuccessful. While I am sure many love to drive through the underpass, think of the missed opportunity.

I have driven the underpass on several occasions. Frankly, it is not that great. Connectivity is expedited in one direction—east-west—but getting off the road to head north or south is a pain. A regular at-grade intersection with turn lanes, appropriate signaling, pedestrian infrastructure and plantings would have been wonderful and much more effective for the broader public.

You can forget the pedestrian environment on the overpass. I watched a bike commuter ride across and was struck by how brave he was. With new condos just south of Montrose and major mixed-use development plans on the way in White Flint, the whole Montrose project works against what the new master plan is trying to create.

People do not walk over overpasses, they walk where there is something at the edge of the sidewalk that enlivens the space. Current and future residents will have to drive to the shopping north of Montrose if, as White Flint develops, they go north of Montrose at all.

The graphic at right illustrates the point about the Montrose underpass. It shows the I-270/I-370 interchange overlaid on top of Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle.

The Rockville Pike/Montrose Parkway interchange sterilized huge tracts of land that could have been used to create a vibrant urban intersection with buildings framing the street, people on the sidewalks interacting along the street edge, traffic moving at effective speeds and with room for future surface public transportation.

Not doable, some say? I pass along the best example of a street designed effectively for both high motor vehicle traffic and high pedestrian activity: the Champs-Elysées. Think about it. This street has some of the most expensive shopping in the world. Cars stop along the curb to drop or pick up Europe's elite to patronize those shops.

There is a sidewalk that can best be described as too big, tourist numbers beyond comprehension, views that astound, trees galore, yet the road itself carries more cars per hour than many interstate highways. You can cross the Champs on foot at numerous signalized intersections, yet the traffic still moves, except of course on the last day of the Tour de France.

I am not saying the Montrose underpass should have been the Champs-Elysées, but it could have been an at-grade intersection that offered a terrific urban pedestrian experience. That would have also opened up land for development that has been consumed by roadways and created the urban experience White Flint needs while generating a heck of a lot more property tax for the county.

In Montgomery County, we are fortunate that both County and the State leaders are looking in a different direction.

Consider all the initiatives underway:

• The growth policy the Planning Department advocated and that the County Council adopted calls for a part of impact fees assessed on developers to be dedicated to transit.
  
• Zoning that assigns increased density for places close to basic services like groceries and dry cleaners.
  
• Master plans like White Flint, the Purple Line plans for Takoma Langley Crossroads, Long Branch and Chevy Chase Lake, and the soon-to-be-released Wheaton and Kensington Sector Plans.
  
• The state has their "ag print" and "green print" initiatives that are leading into the emerging Plan Maryland program which we hope will result in a rethink of the priority funding areas (areas of growth for each county).
  
• Maryland DOT's leadership in funding infrastructure through smart growth is a national model.

In participating at the FHWA session, it became obvious that here in Maryland we are leading the nation in not only thinking about change, but in preparing for the future as well. It is a great time to be planning here in MoCo.

The Planning Department, the County Council and the state Departments of Planning and Transportation are in sync at many levels. Together we can shift the thinking from one of moving cars, to moving people.

Crossposted at The Director's Blog.

To the north, the city limits of Rockville begin just south of Rollins Avenue and encompass the portion of the Pike around the Twinbrook station. There, the city has conducted another multi-year planning process, also aiming to create a walkable district with street-facing buildings, a more complete street grid, parks and more. In fact, I attended a meeting for this plan over three years ago for one of the earliest articles on Greater Greater Washington.

Rockville came to a different conclusion for the Pike. They want to build a "multi-way boulevard" with through lanes in the center and side roads designed for turning traffic, parking, buses, and bicycles.

Both designs constitute an improvement over the current Rockville Pike, but they solve the problems in different ways. Each has advantages, disadvantages, and simple differences.

Width. The Rockville plan would widen the overall roadway, placing some of the outer lanes on land currently occupied by parking lots. This means that it can't be constructed all at once, but would happen piecemeal as properties redevelop. The White Flint model fits within the existing roadway.

Pedestrians. The White Flint option provides a median so pedestrians, especially ones who move slowly, don't have to cross any large sections at once. On the other hand, the Rockville option keeps the fast-moving through traffic farther from the sidewalks, potentially creating less of a feeling of walking right on a highway.

Bicycles. The Rockville design plans for bicycles to use the curbside lane, which separates them from the main traffic. However, they would still have to mix with turning vehicles, buses, and delivery vans. The White Flint plan, on the other hand, includes a bike lane at sidewalk level between the pedestrian part of the sidewalk and the road.

Transit. Buses will be able to move faster under White Flint's arrangement, and it would be easy to create light rail in the future. The center transitway can also use grass for most of the roadbed except for narrow strips for the buses' wheels, providing opportunities for stormwater retention. On the other hand, Rockville's arrangement puts bus stops closer to the stores that will open onto the street.

Drivers. Drivers might find moving in and out of service lanes confusing or frustrating, as they do on K Street. However, the Rockville plan provides more overall through lanes.

Ironically, DC currently hopes to transform K Street from a model that looks like the Rockville design, though a little narrower (one through lane on each side road plus one parking lane instead of two through lanes, and without a turn lane in the center), into one very much like the White Flint design, though one lane narrower on each side.

Is it necessary to harmonize the two? They could operate next to one another, though there would be some conflict. Buses would have to switch between center lanes and outer lanes. It could be confusing for drivers. And it doesn't lay the groundwork for a rail line along the entire stretch, as ACT has proposed.

Rockville and Montgomery County need to determine whether it's better to let each district go its own way, making their own choices, or whether it's more important to have one, unified street design for the entire corridor, even if that means some areas or some leaders don't get their top choice.

The Rockville Planning Commission is discussing the plan at a meeting tonight, 7 pm at Rockville City Hall.

1. Approval of the Tysons Corner plan: After seven years in the making, the plan will transform the infamous "Edge City" into a sustainable urban community. It's a real first for the nation, and people around the country are watching to see how it turns out.

Change doesn't happen in a vacuum, and this is no exception. It took countless phone calls, letters to elected officials and testimony by the residents of Fairfax and others throughout the region. It must have been the astoundingly frustrating traffic that kept everyone motivated to make change happen.

While the plan will take years to implement, development applications are already moving forward and the approval is the catalyst for making Tysons Corner a walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented community with a vibrant mix of homes, jobs, retail, parks and entertainment.

2. Passage of the White Flint Sector Plan: If you hang around White Flint or joined us for our walking tour, you know that White Flint, like Tysons Corner, isn't exactly a model of walkability. But with the unanimous passage of this plan (PDF), we can look forward to a vibrant, walkable center for North Bethesda anchored by the White Flint Metro station.

The plans include adding new parks and public spaces, an improved local street network, a boulevard conversion for Rockville Pike, a vibrant mix of uses, more housing choices, and better pedestrian/bicyclist access.

3. Pedestrian victories across the District: The Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Greater Greater Washington have led the way in making DC a lot more bike-friendly. But this year saw a lot of progress for pedestrians too. The DC Council passed the Sidewalk Assurance Act, ensuring that DDOT adds or completes sidewalks while they perform scheduled reconstruction of streets that have missing sidewalks. Simple, common sense.

We joined forces with Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action to improve walking conditions along a major dangerous roadway in the District. This grassroots-led effort, that started with volunteers in safety vests taking notes along Connecticut Avenue, concluded with the community presenting a professional pedestrian safety audit and research report (PDF) to DDOT.

Progress continued near the Minnesota Avenue Metro station with the launching of the Nannie Helen Burroughs Great Streets project. We also pushed for fixing the narrow sidewalks at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station as part of the new development project.

4. Saving Metro service: It's been an ongoing struggle to sustain Metro service through these tough economic times, and devastating cuts were closer than ever to becoming a reality. A coalition of transit advocacy organizations, including CSG, Sierra Club, Action Committee for Transit, and Greater Greater Washington, led the way to preservation of this region's most vital asset.

Thousands of signatures sent to elected officials and the WMATA board won increased funding from the jurisdictions and avoided massive service cuts. The cuts would have hurt businesses and workers who rely on Metro every day, delivering a blow to our region's economic vitality.

Speaking of Metro, did you send your email to defend the $230 monthly transit benefit?

5. Capital Bikeshare: Strength lies in numbers, and we're thrilled with the 1,100 Capital Bikeshare bikes and 114 stations throughout D.C. and Arlington. The day the program launched, we saw tons of people on the shiny red bikes. Ridership hit nearly 37,000 trips in the first month.

Leave your bike and lock at home. Hop on a CaBi, ride to a meeting and deposit the bike at a nearby station. No worries. Combined with all the new bike lanes, it's clear that residents are increasingly choosing cycling as a mode of transportation. Just remember to wear a helmet!

Honorable mentions:

• COG reports (both PDFs) called "What Would it Take?" and "Aspirations" (the land use portion of the scenario, NOT the $52 billion in toll roads) confirmed what we've long said: transit-oriented, walkable communities are effective in reducing driving and traffic.
  
• Adoption of our recommendations in the Envision Prince George's report.
  
• Passage of the Alexandria Potomac Yard Plan.
  
• Passage of Arlington's Crystal City Plan.
  
• Governor O'Malley making transit-oriented development a priority in Maryland.
  
• Prince George's winning a HUD Challenge Grant for the Green Line, while the District won a large grant for affordable housing.

Wonder what else happened this year? Check out our year-end highlights.

Stewart Schwartz is Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Back in October, Delegate Waldstreicher cc'd me in an email conversation he was having with Sarah Libby, the friend of one of the tragically deceased young men. She wrote,

I was trying to figure out a way to turn this terrible tragedy into something positive and I was thinking that perhaps there could be some sort of legislation regarding blinking lights around metro stops and large intersections. Adam and Rory were being responsible drinkers in that they took the metro home from the bar rather than drive ... after a certain time, the lights at that intersection [Rockville Pike and Marinelli Road] go from Green and red to blinking yellow and there is no walk sign.

Sarah struck a chord with my life experience. I use the Metro for play as well as work and have walked home after many nights out. The thought of being tragically killed after responsibly using the Metro for nightlife is sobering for anyone. When I asserted that Rockville Pike in its current pedestrian-unfriendly form would be an impediment to realizing the vision of the White Flint Sector Plan, I did so from the both the heart and from personal experience as a pedestrian.

After speaking to staff and the Maryland SHA and MCDOT, Del. Waldstreicher updated Sarah on November 9,

MCDOT and SHA are conducting a station-by-station review to focus their safety efforts on those Metro stops with significant post-midnight pedestrian traffic. For example, I assume there will likely be light changes near stations like Wheaton, Glenmont, and Bethesda (in fact, this has already happened at the White Flint station). Meanwhile, less dense stations like Medical Center and Grosvenor will likely have no light changes. I think this common-sense approach is exactly what we need from both a procedural (less bureaucracy) and substantive point of view.

Delegate Waldstreicher made another fair point,

Hard-red lights at 2 a.m. could possibly encourage non-compliance by drivers (there's no-one around so they'll just go). It may have the same effect on some pedestrians. Even though I believe we are in the right and the net effect will be positive, I don't want to pretend that cycled lights are a silver bullet.

As frustrating as the substance of this point may be, I think it's a valid concern. A traffic light could lull a pedestrian into a false sense of security when a motorist is just going to run them over anyway while ignoring a red light. Sarah subsequently replied:

I understand the concern of non-compliance with the lights during the later hours causing more danger and might I suggest red light cameras in those intersections? ... If nothing else I do believe that the 24 red/green lights will slow people down. According to some witnesses, this young man who killed Adam and Rory was going between 70 and 100 mph.

Being from the area, he like most of us probably knows that all of the lights around here blink after midnight and while yellow means yield, realistically that does not happen. I think that had he known that there is an actual non-blinking light ahead he would have started to slow down, especially if he knew he could get a red light ticket."

The replies from the SHA, MCDOT, and the county police were all very prompt, professional, and responsive. They deserve credit for listening and trying to make things better in the short term. None of the current staff of MCDOT or the SHA is responsible for decisions in the 1960's that turned Rockville Pike into the monster that it is today.

This tragic event shows how quickly people who are otherwise uninterested in transportation policy quickly become experts when it touches their life. It also underscores how much our infrastructure and urban form shape our everyday life. In another email with Sarah, I compared my experiences that inspired me to become an advocate to taking the Red Pill in The Matrix, a metaphor she agreed with. Sarah and the families of Adam and Rory have taken the most painful kind of Red Pill.

Very often, a painful life experience can inspire someone to make a difference in the world. The silver lining of the tragic deaths of Adam and Rory is that the county and state are now closely examining pedestrian transportation policy around Red Line Metro stations. The actions will move Montgomery County towards a more balanced transportation system for all.