Mr. Ben
Arnold makes a great point in his Letter to the Washington Examiner Editors:
“Death Lane is not Md.’s only road design problem.” (5/22/12). Of course, I
have my own to add.
I’ve been pointing out a lot of stupidity concerning the Archstone apartment complex in Gaithersburg to the City since last year.
The first design issue is allowing Teachers Way to become a through road. It’s called “Teachers Way” for a reason – that’s where the Middle School is. How clueless does one have to be to dump several hundred cars on to such a road?
The next issue is direct automobile access onto Diamond Avenue. I was originally told by the liaison to the Gaithersburg Planning Commission that there would be no Archstone access onto Diamond Avenue. So, what do I see about a month ago? Yup, you guessed it. Not one but two exits onto Diamond Avenue.
The third Archstone issue is on-street parking in along Diamond Avenue.
Why are two and three a problem? Diamond Avenue is an old two-lane road that is the major access to Shady Grove Road and Rte 355/Frederick Avenue and is not only heavily travelled by cars but also Ride-On and school buses. Even in the best of times, morning traffic comes to a complete halt when the buses or trash trucks or mail trucks stop. That area needs improved traffic flow not worse.
And you know that those parking on Diamond Ave. won’t wait their turn and open up their car doors into oncoming traffic. Likewise pedestrians already jaywalk and crazy Maryland drivers try to run pedestrians down even if we are in the crosswalks.
What’s also funny is the advertising literature for Archstone. It’s misleading to imply folks can take the MARC train into DC at night. It doesn’t run in that direction. One of the workers came into Java Junction and got an earful from another lady and me. He thought, poor soul, we’d be all happy. We told him about the traffic concerns and the train noise. He thought we were talking about the Metro. We both shouted “CSX”. I added not only do they run all night long, but toot their horns for several minutes at a time. And, forget about getting any sleep near Christmas because the freight trains run every 20-40 minutes. The lady said what I was thinking: they may get people into Archstone but it will be hard to keep them there. The construction worker knew he met his match and left quickly.
I’ve been pointing out a lot of stupidity concerning the Archstone apartment complex in Gaithersburg to the City since last year.
The first design issue is allowing Teachers Way to become a through road. It’s called “Teachers Way” for a reason – that’s where the Middle School is. How clueless does one have to be to dump several hundred cars on to such a road?
The next issue is direct automobile access onto Diamond Avenue. I was originally told by the liaison to the Gaithersburg Planning Commission that there would be no Archstone access onto Diamond Avenue. So, what do I see about a month ago? Yup, you guessed it. Not one but two exits onto Diamond Avenue.
The third Archstone issue is on-street parking in along Diamond Avenue.
Why are two and three a problem? Diamond Avenue is an old two-lane road that is the major access to Shady Grove Road and Rte 355/Frederick Avenue and is not only heavily travelled by cars but also Ride-On and school buses. Even in the best of times, morning traffic comes to a complete halt when the buses or trash trucks or mail trucks stop. That area needs improved traffic flow not worse.
And you know that those parking on Diamond Ave. won’t wait their turn and open up their car doors into oncoming traffic. Likewise pedestrians already jaywalk and crazy Maryland drivers try to run pedestrians down even if we are in the crosswalks.
What’s also funny is the advertising literature for Archstone. It’s misleading to imply folks can take the MARC train into DC at night. It doesn’t run in that direction. One of the workers came into Java Junction and got an earful from another lady and me. He thought, poor soul, we’d be all happy. We told him about the traffic concerns and the train noise. He thought we were talking about the Metro. We both shouted “CSX”. I added not only do they run all night long, but toot their horns for several minutes at a time. And, forget about getting any sleep near Christmas because the freight trains run every 20-40 minutes. The lady said what I was thinking: they may get people into Archstone but it will be hard to keep them there. The construction worker knew he met his match and left quickly.
You can add
your voice to mine by contacting the City with your traffic, road design,
multi-dwelling complex concerns in Gaithersburg: cityhall@gaithersburgmd.gov
