A plan to change the traffic pattern near the Capital Crescent Trail crossing at Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda, Maryland, has some residents asking officials steering the project to hit the brakes.
The plan seeks to improve safety at the crossing, but some residents say the Parks Department missed the mark, and these changes will lead to long traffic backups during rush hour when there are more cars on the road and pedestrians on the trail.
The Montgomery County Council approved an updated plan in January to reconfigure this part of the road, taking the 0.4-mile section of Little Falls Parkway between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue down to one lane each way with a median in between.
“We feel that there are already traffic backups and that those backups will get worse as additional development comes to Bethesda,” resident Carl Becker said.
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Some residents have been concerned about the safety at the crossing for years and say the proposal being reviewed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission will only make things worse.
“Myself along with 6,000 other residents are not happy,” Becker said. “The configuration you see here now is not safe. Bicyclists and pedestrians and young kids have to cross two-vehicle lanes and look both directions at one time. We know that’s not safe.”
The proposal also includes a new bike lane, lane markings, separators and signal changes. If approved, the National Capital Planning Commission would likely give the final sign-off in June.
Transportation
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County Executive Marc Elrich is joining calls for the Parks Department to go back to the drawing board. He sent a letter to the NCPC last week saying the road should go back to two lanes each way until there’s a better solution.
“This was meant to be a connector into downtown Bethesda,” Elrich said. “What they’re doing is forcing traffic through the neighborhood, which makes the neighborhood streets unsafe. That’s not a good outcome.”
