Some Congestion Small Price to Pay To Protect Walkers

By Robert Thomson
Sunday, September 7, 2008

With main roads so crowded, many residential neighborhoods find their once-quiet streets have become Plan B for commuters. Drivers use them to avoid chokepoints.

In Montgomery County, the intersection of Georgia Avenue and University Boulevard is a choker, and cutting onto Arcola Avenue is Plan B. The county's Department of Transportation has remodeled the avenue to make it safer.

But the unusual effort, which restricts traffic in various ways, provoked many questions from readers. Here's an example.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

How did this dangerous redesign of this road come to pass? There are no signs indicating when two lanes become one lane. The parking lanes preclude trying to get around vans and trucks.

Large trucks and vans ride up on the so-called "pedestrian safety zones" because they can't maneuver around them, and avoid parked vehicles. The concrete walk-throughs now create a bottleneck to drivers around the clock. What committee or organization came up with this plan that makes Arcola Avenue more dangerous to pedestrians and drivers?

Nadine G. Sparer Silver Spring

Aliza Kwiat, who also lives in the area, wrote in to say that the plan "seems like a typical Washington solution, to create traffic congestion where it was not a problem in order to promote safety!"

I've visited the avenue three times to check the installations and watch traffic flow. The concerns are understandable. The road looks very different: Travel lanes are reduced from four to two, and there are new hunks of concrete in the middle of the roadway or jutting out into it. But I think drivers will get used to it, and we'll wind up with a safer road.

Montgomery County is using engineering techniques that are likely to become much more visible throughout the Washington region.

Drivers tend to go slower and pay more attention on roads that are narrower, or at least look narrower. And pedestrians get a fighting chance of crossing roads where they have shorter distances to walk and can stop in protected areas.

Last year, the county made similar changes to upper Connecticut Avenue to slow traffic and protect pedestrians.

In planning the Arcola Avenue project, the county did traffic studies and considered community concerns. The speed limit along this section of Arcola is 30 mph, but checks showed that most drivers were doing 42 to 44 mph.

The traffic studies indicated that narrowing the travel space by reducing the number of lanes and adding a two-way center lane for left turns wouldn't significantly reduce Arcola's ability to handle the traffic volume, said Thomas D. Pogue, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

The county did consider more traditional traffic controls, such as adding traffic signals and stop signs, but decided they wouldn't match up well with the traffic conditions.

Bump-outs, the concrete protrusions from the roadsides, were installed to narrow the roadway, direct and calm traffic or improve the sight distance from a side street. Pedestrian refuges give crossers a safer place to stand when they're caught in the middle of the road.

Parking is prohibited in areas where it could impede travel lanes, but there are some parking pockets between the bump-outs. The bus stop situation will annoy some people and please others: At some points, the buses will stop in the travel lanes. The stopped buses block drivers from going around while exiting passengers might be crossing in front.

Sept. 11 Traffic

Thursday morning's dedication for the Pentagon Memorial, an invitation-only ceremony, is likely to extensively disrupt traffic over a wide area. Arlington police will block many major roads near the Pentagon during the morning and early afternoon.

The schedule calls for these points to be closed from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Washington Boulevard eastbound at Interstate 395 and Columbia Pike and westbound at Memorial Bridge, I-395 and Hayes Street; southbound I-395 to the Pentagon south parking lot; and Columbia Pike from Joyce Street to the Pentagon south parking.

Police say these roads will be closed at 3 a.m. and reopened when conditions permit: South Fern Street from Army Navy Drive to the Pentagon; South Eads Street from Army Navy Drive to the Pentagon; Rotary Road throughout Pentagon south parking; and the north-south connector road at the Pentagon.

Dr. Gridlock appears Thursday in the Extras and Sunday in the Metro section. You can send e-mails todrgridlock@washpost.com. Include your name, community and phone numbers. Some letters are published. Get There:http://blog.washingtonpost.com/getthere.