Commentaries
MOCO TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS: NOT JUST BIKE LANES AND MASS TRANSIT
How many of you have missed your children’s soccer games, little league games, concerts, school plays, as well as quality time with your family because you were sitting in your car on the beltway, 270, Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, Route 28, Route 29 or any other of our countless county and state roads?
We need to embrace solutions to “all-of-the-above” – NOT just focusing on bike lanes and mass transit. Empty buses crowding busy streets are not the answer. Automobiles are now and will continue to be an important part of the transportation system. A responsible and holistic solution includes proactive road building while properly focusing on public transportation and other alternatives to their best use.
What does All the of the Above mean?
We need to look at inner chain improvements and make use of overpasses and underpasses where available. Add Hot Lanes, make use of reversible lanes, modernize the synchronization of traffic lights, make use of roundabouts where possible, and connect local roads to offer multiple routes, rather than forcing local traffic onto the interstates and other major highways.
Houston, Texas has made use of all of those solutions. They have built new roads, widened existing roads, connected local roads, reset the timing on traffic lights, implemented sensors so that light stays green longer if there is more traffic flowing in any given direction. They have made use of overpasses and underpasses. Eliminated traffic inner chains where possible.
We can do the same in Montgomery County. By working with our partners in Annapolis, we can get the funding needed for transportation solutions that make sense and work in Montgomery County.
Just a few inner chain improvements in the county as well as road widening projects.
- Route 28 going towards Poolesville, MD
- Route 29 from HOCO line to Sligo Creek Parkway (Remove traffic light and use the overpass at University Blvd to create service roads to allow access to existing neighborhoods)
- Beltway exits (Georgia Avenue uses the existing southbound exit to make left turns thereby eliminating the ramp for northbound this would improve safety for pedestrians and motorists)
- Create an overpass at Forest Glen Road and Georgia Avenue
- Create an underpass at Viers Mill Road and University Blvd.
- Add another lane to Rockville, Pike
- Eliminate bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road
- Create a Bethesda Bypass so that local traffic can be taken off Wisconsin Avenue
These are just the tip of the iceberg for road improvements in Montgomery County.