Street Rants - Greater Washington DC

[mrsman]

I've wanted to do a topic like this for a while.  Much of the discussion on this forum deals with Interstates and other limited access highways, so I want to bring the attention to surface streets.  And I know that there are quite a few people here who live/have lived in the DC area who can provide an appropriate discussion.

Basically, rant about a problem with a surface street that you encounter in the Greater Washington area and provide a solution for that problem.  And let's keep the solutions within the realm of realistic to avoid getting into the Fictional Highways area.  Restriping, adding/removing bumps, stop signs, signals are OK.  Plowing through a new freeway or a significant widening where you have to tear down buildings is not OK.

Greater Washington should be limited to DC, MD (Montgomery, Prince George's), VA (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax).  If you have a rant of another area, start a new topic.

I welcome comments on my posts as well as new rants for other streets within the area.

Here's a few that I will rant about:

1) Location:  12th St NW between Constitution and Pennsylvania

Problem Description:

12th Street is fed by an off-ramp from I-395 heading into town from the 14th Street bridge.  The off-ramp leads to a 3 lane northbound tunnel under the Mall, ending at Constitution.  From Constitution, 12th Street northbound has 3 northbound lanes and a parking lane with rush hour parking restrictions, but the parking lane is not wide enough for a 4th traffic lane.  There is also a painted median, and 2 southbound lanes and a parking lane between Constitution and Pennsylvania.  North of Pennsylvania, 12th is one-way northbound 2 lanes (4 lanes during rush hour due to parking restrictions).

The stretch between Constitution and Pennsylvania is frequently congested northbound (especially morning rush hour), yet there are very few cars southbound.  This is because the street is mostly northbound, except for this block.  Also, to compound the problem, the 3 lanes south of Pennsylvania are not perfectly aligned with the 4 lanes north of Pennsylvania, so there are some issues when the cars try to jockey for position at this intersection.

Solution:  By restriping 12th street, this backup can be largely alleviated.  When looking northward, the yellow lines should be moved slightly to the left to allow for 4 wide lanes northbound (3 lanes + parking lane with rush hour restrictions) and 2 wide lanes southbound (1 lane + parking lane, rush hour restrictions are really not needed at all southbound).  There is likely even room for bike lanes here too in at least one direction.  During rush hours, the 4 lanes  northbound will flow into the 4 northbound lanes north of Pennsylvania.  During non-rush hours, the traffic in the left lane will have to either turn left or merge into the next lane to the right.

2) Location: Forest Glen Rd, east of Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD

Problem Description:  Forest Glen Rd is largely one lane in each direction.  Traffic generally flows pretty well.  Along side Holy Cross Hospital, you see: one lane westbound, one lane eastbound, a bike lane eastbound, and a right turn lane eastbound from Forest Glen to the hospital parking lots (separate entrances for visitors, staff, and emergency room).  The problem is that westbound traffic sometimes comes to a standstill every time someone wants to turn left from Forest Glen Rd to the hospital.  Even though there are probably more people coming eastbound from Georgia Ave, the traffic entering into the hospital is largely seemless because those drivers are making right turns.  If there were only one eastbound lane without a right turn lane, the right turners would not likely block the eastbound traffic, whereas westbound traffic is blocked due to left turners waiting for a gap to make their turn.

Solution:  This solution is fairly simple.  Reconfigure the stretch of Forest Glen in front of the hospital to:  one lane westbound, left turn lane, one lane eastbound, bike lane eastbound. 

[Alps]

Location: all
Problem: signals not timed for through traffic
Solution: Time major diagonal and/or vertical roads for 25 mph.

[mtantillo]

Location: All
Problem: too many cars, not enough lanes.
Solution: ?

[cpzilliacus]

2) Location: Forest Glen Rd, east of Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD

Problem Description:  Forest Glen Rd is largely one lane in each direction.  Traffic generally flows pretty well.  Along side Holy Cross Hospital, you see: one lane westbound, one lane eastbound, a bike lane eastbound, and a right turn lane eastbound from Forest Glen to the hospital parking lots (separate entrances for visitors, staff, and emergency room).  The problem is that westbound traffic sometimes comes to a standstill every time someone wants to turn left from Forest Glen Rd to the hospital.  Even though there are probably more people coming eastbound from Georgia Ave, the traffic entering into the hospital is largely seemless because those drivers are making right turns.  If there were only one eastbound lane without a right turn lane, the right turners would not likely block the eastbound traffic, whereas westbound traffic is blocked due to left turners waiting for a gap to make their turn.

Solution:  This solution is fairly simple.  Reconfigure the stretch of Forest Glen in front of the hospital to:  one lane westbound, left turn lane, one lane eastbound, bike lane eastbound. 

There is an interesting history here.

Forest Glen Road east of Md. 97 was (in part) Md. 192.  State maintenance ran between Md. 97, past the hospital to Sligo Creek Parkway.  Then it was county-maintained from the parkway to Dallas Avenue.  At that point, Md. 192 resumed and ran east to the intersection of Forest Glen Road and Stirling Road.  Forest Glen Road became county-maintained Sutherland Road there, which ran to Lanark Way, which in turn tied in to U.S. 29. 

All of the state segments were decommissioned and turned over to Montgomery County in about 2001. 

The problems you describe have existed for decades.  There is an assortment of NIMBYist and long-standing opposition to any improvements to Forest Glen Road.

[cpzilliacus]

Location: All
Problem: too many cars, not enough lanes.
Solution: ?

Explain the above to elected officials that believe in "faith-based transportation planning" and ineffective "solutions" (especially most types of public transportation).