Rockville Pike Planning Meeting

[DavidMS]

http://www.rockvillemd.gov/rockvillespike/

On Tuesday Mar 18 there is a feedback meeting on the Rockville Pike improvement project.

7-9pm at the Legacy Hotel Conf Center 1775 Rockville Pike. Salon 1 & 2 meetings rooms.

I will be planning to go.

[DavidMS]

1. Report from Rockville PIke Planning Meeting

The short version is that it appears the goal is to boost density near the Rockville Metro and Twinbrook Metro Stations. The center of the pike will probably remain low density because there is a lack of (road) transportation due to the Country Club. The other major improvement is to turn the pike into a Boulevard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard#United_States_and_Canada) with access roads to the side to improve traffic flow.

The plan is better than what is there but will not immediately provide the high densities required for proper mass transit.

Right now the road is a very long suburban strip mall with some office complexes. The result with be more mixed use development.

The downside is that improving traffic flow will simply put off the day when we get metro expansion (in Rockville), light rail lines and trolleybuses to feed the metro system.

Somthing is better than nothing.

[Mabus]

2. Thanks for the update

I guess I'm wondering how much the access roads (back home we call them frontage roads) will cut into the shopping centers, how much they will cost and how they are planning to route traffic during their construction.

I really need to read the materials that you linked to earlier. Thanks for the update.

One thing I would really like to see is more synchronization of the lights in the area. We drove down Viers Mill and onto Connecticut into DC the other day and had green lights most of the way. Because the lights were synched up the traffic really flowed and there was much less congestion.

On the other hand, when I take my husband to the Twinbrook Metro every morning we turn right onto Viers Mill from Aspen Hills Dr. and run into a red light at Viers Mill and Twinbrook Parkway that seems to last forever. We sit at the light while the traffic to our right has a green light and keeps moving. What ends up happening is that the turn lane traffic blocks the through traffic, cutting down on the number of lanes for free flow of traffic northward. And by the time the turn signals change to green again for the left turn lane(s) traffic in the two left hand lanes is backed up almost all the way to Aspen Hills.

I guess this is just something I just wanted to get off my chest because I sit at the traffic light at VM/AH waiting to turn on to VM so I can sit in traffic again waiting to turn onto the Twinbrook Parkway. And once I get on TBP, I get to sit in traffic again waiting for the lights to change along it. It's just seems like a little tweaking on the timing of the lights would provide better flow along some of the major arteries and the feeder roads.