The county is about to put some of Silver Spring’s busiest roads through the wringer to make them safer for pedestrians to cross, MoCo exec Ike Leggett announced.
At a snowy press conference along Colesville Road, Leggett said Wednesday that the county and state would audit three local streets where cars tend to smack into pedestrians: Colesville Road between East-West Highway and Spring Street; Georgia Avenue from Thayer Avenue to Spring Street; and Piney Branch Road between Flower and Carroll avenues.
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| MoCo exec Ike Leggett (center) unleashed the county’s new pedestrian-safety initiative on Wednesday. Photo: J. Deseo/SSP. |
“Every pedestrian injury and fatality is one too many,” Leggett said. “We need to make significant improvements to resolve this crisis.”
The audits would determine what kinds of improvements are needed along those roadways. New crosswalks could be installed, and countdown signals — like the 18-second timer on Georgia Avenue at Colesville Road — would be reviewed over the next three years.
Other changes could be implemented as a result of the audits. According to an outline of the program, sidewalks could be repaired (or built from scratch). Fences — like the one along the Wayne Avenue median between Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road — could be installed to steer pedestrians away from risky crossings.
Creating order out of chaos on Silver Spring’s streets could cost up to $300,000 for each of the three targeted roadways. Education and outreach programs could ring up another $100,000 each year.
Improved street lighting and biannual lamp inspections are also in the game plan. A swath of University Boulevard between Colesville and Piney Branch roads has already been pegged for better lights.
When it comes to keeping drivers in check, the county hopes to expand its photo speed-enforcement program, which has been busting speeders in 35-mph zones since the spring. A permanent speed camera was recently installed along Wayne Avenue near Dartmouth Avenue.
Leggett’s announcement came one day after a Metro bus struck and killed a pedestrian in Rockville, and about one week after a car hit an Indian Spring boy and sent him to the hospital with a broken leg and fractured skull.
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Why does it take three years? Anyone who spent five minutes at the corner of Colesville & Georgia would see the problems and figure out the solution.
Keep in mind that although there may be an 18-second timer on Georgia and Colesville, there is always vehicular traffic coming from the north that is making a left from Colesville onto Georgia Ave which prevent pedestrians from crossing the south side of Georgia to the north side for at least a good 5 seconds. By the time you are ready the cross, one needs to hustle to cross the street. I don’t know how our elderly are able to cross that intersection. Those buses that make that turn also need to slow down. It’s sad to say but a bus will hit someone at that intersection one of these days unless something is done immediately to address the problem.
Car drivers in the Washington, DC area are way too aggressive.
Here’s a solution: no left-hand turn from Colesville to Georgia Ave. If I am not mistaken, you can’t make a left turn from Georgia onto Colesville. I would make the Georgia-Colesville intersection a no left-turn zone.
I agree with what’s been said.. these intersections are all no brainers…
All of them – not enough time for pedestrians to cross, unless your standing at the corner when it changes and are fairly young and fit and can walk fast, you can’t make it across a LOT of intersections in town.
Colesville onto georgia – No left turn would work… or just enforce the arrow, cars continue turning for SOLID 5-10 seconds after they’ve lost their arrow leaving about 7 seconds on the count for pedestrians. Or just don’t start the walk count until 10 seconds after their arrow’s gone if you want to resign yourself to the fact they’re gonna break the law there no matter what.
Give pedestrians the opportunity to cross whenever it’s there. Otherwise, they’ll do it without the walk sign and they won’t always get it right. My example here is spring and georgia. The two directions on spring get their lights seperately, yet there’s only a walk sign during one of theose times. When spring is going one way, with a left turn arrow, the crosswalk not in the left turn should get a walk and visa versa for the other direction. If you waste pedestrians’ time too much for no good reason, they’ll start ignoring the signals.
You already can’t make a left turn from Colesville to Georgia, at least coming from the direction of the Metro. Trust me, it causes me no end of hassles getting home.
I see a lot of illegal right turns at night. Maybe they should have better “no right turn” signs, like those LED ones?
I’d also caution against laying all of the blame on cars. There are a LOT of peds who don’t wait for the lights, or start crossing when there’s a green left turn light heading against them, and so forth. Pedestrian safety education is just as important as driver education, IMHO.
The reversible lane concept on Colesville Road between Georgia and Dale Drive has outlived its relevance, and that whole stretch needs to be rethought to keep up with the changes in DTSS. Traffic is heavy in both directions, and causes chaos during rush hour in the direction with only two lanes, as drivers realize they’re in the wrong lane and try to merge, others get stuck behind a car that wants to turn left and are trying to merge into the one remaining lane, sometimes all traffic gets stuck at certain intersections such as Fenton Street, where the left lane is stuck behind a car that wants to turn left and the right lane behind a bus at the stop right at the intersection, causing you to miss the light. In short, confusion, frustration and chaos. I think it is time to go back to a standard three lanes in each directions, with no left turns allowed.
Editor’s note: The contributor’s screen name has been modified. — JD (Dec 10, 2007)
It’s time to get rid of the rush hour reversible lanes on Colesville road. Traffic is now equally heavy in DTSS in both directions and the direction with only two lanes is chaos between cars in the left lane that want to turn left, cars in the right lane stuck behind buses at lights, and drivers unfamiliar with the lane switch trying to merge/switch lanes. Recipe for gridlock, frustration, and confusion, not to mention aggressive driving and accidents.
BACK to ped issues – we need:
- safe ped passage past block-long construction sites such as on Rt 410
- more median strips/islamds – esp – south section of Georgia Ave
- ped ONLY crossing times at GA & Colesville – allowing diagonals
- “no right on red” enforced throughout downtown SS
- ped only crossing times ( diagonals) at Colesville & 410
Kathy J says they should enforce No Right Turn on Red throughout Downtown Silver Spring. It should be enforced where it exists, but where the restrictions are posted should be reassessed. For example, once the construction is completed at Spring and Second, the restriction should be ended for right turns from northbound Second to eastbound Spring. I’ve never seen a pedestrian crossing that intersection while waiting for the green light so I can legally turn right. The No Turn on Red restriction makes sense only where there are enough pedestrians to justify it, not at every intersection downtown.
Also, parking should be eliminated in the “non-hour direction” along both Georgia and Colesville during rush hours. Traffic is now heavy in both directions, and the elimination of the right lane by parked cars is causing a lot of congestion. This would help both drivers and pedestrians. Frustrated drivers trying to make lights because they’ve been caught in back-ups only makes it more dangerous for pedestrians.
How about more than 25 seconds to cross Georgia at Ellsworth? I never make it even halfway across before the 18 second countdown begins, and by the time I get to the other side it’s always down to 5 seconds.
Where does this leave the elderly or disabled? It’s ridiculous. Certainly drivers could afford to sit another 10 seconds.
Back (again) to pedestrian safety: How about enforcing jaywalking laws and slapping VERY hefty fines on those who show a blatant disregard for walk signals? A day in jail for 3-time offenders?
You know who I’m talking about – the people who cross in the middle of a green-lit intersection and hold up their hand to stop traffic with a sense of entitlement? Next one I see, my foot might conveniently slip off the brake.
One of the reasons people jaywalk in DTSS is because the traffic lights are timed for cars and not people. While I do not condone jaywalking, the fact of the matter is there are intersection where a pedestrian is forced to jaywalk if they want to get across the street. Georgia and Colesville is a prime example. Try crossing Colesville at 16th St near the traffic circle. It is impossible unless you jaywalk. Why there isn’t a crosswalk there I don’t understand.
The area is saturated with cars during rush hour. I see the drivers getting more frustrated. There are ALOT of angry drivers on the road. I see more cars blowing red lights. I see more gridlock, particularly at 410 and Colesville. It is a mess! They should set up more red light cameras in the area. They should also look into congestion pricing. If you are determined to drive on Colesville during rush-hour maybe you should pay to do that.
“One of the reasons people jaywalk in DTSS is because the traffic lights are timed for cars and not people.”
There are people in the car, and that is the fundamental point a lot of you are missing. They have a right to use the roads as much as the peds. And I’d guesstimate that more people in cars are crossing an intersection than pedestrians in 95% of cases. The car-centric focus of _roads for cars_ is not a particular problem that is need of solving. Indeed, the one certain way of making traffic even worse (and encouraging aggressive driving on yellows) on Georgia is to slow it down even further.
Saying that “well, crossing lights are inconvenient sometimes, so people will ignore them” is silly. Traffic lights are inconvenient quite often to me, yet I don’t run reds even when I can get away with it (why do we need red light cameras? Do that many people run reds?). A sense of entitlement on the side of peds or drivers needs to be avoided. There are enough roads for all of us to share.
Ped-only traffic crossings are also a terrible idea. I know that I come off as a voracious “I drive EVERYWHERE” guy in this post, so let me point out that my wife and I take extended walks in the Silver Spring area (eg, more than a mile) 3-4 times a week, and are quite interested in not getting run over. The traffic lights are fine. Just learn some patience. Peds don’t wait any longer to cross than drivers do in most cases.
One concept that I really like is what they did near Wheaton Mall (or whatever they try to call it now) – put up fences on the median to discourage jaywalkers. It helped quite a bit.
I will agree, though, that the circle near 16th Street and Colesville is an unholy terror for peds and drivers alike, and needs some sort of revamp. And those reversible lanes on Colesville are awful, too – although I’m less certain about doing away with those.
Thayer Avenue, you touched on one of my pet peeves. I am sick of people (usually young people) strolling across roads regardless of whether or not they have the light with them. This morning walking to work I saw a man do that: slowly walk across Georgia, despite the fact that cars were rushing towards him. They slowed down, of course, but I’m sure that like you (and me), the drivers harbored fantasies of hitting the gas instead of the brakes. I would love to see this miscreants stopped and fined. One day, by ommission or commission, somebody will run one of them over.
On a related note, there should be a light on Colesville between Wayne & Fenton. Part of the reason businesses suffer on the north side of Colesville is because it’s very inconvenient for people to cross over (say, to that new Ethiopian restaurant). You either jaywalk, walk up or down a block, or just shrug and forget about it.
why do we need red light cameras? Do that many people run reds?
I see cars running red lights all the time. Stand on the corner of 410 and Colesville during rush hour and you are bound to catch at least one driver running a red light every minute. To be fair, I also see people jaywalking at that intersection all the time.
I do, however, notice that drivers are driving more aggressively these days. Maybe its the stress of being in traffic and the stress of the holiday season, as well as the stress of dealing with crazy jaywalkers who dart in and out of traffic.
“I see cars running red lights all the time. Stand on the corner of 410 and Colesville during rush hour and you are bound to catch at least one driver running a red light every minute.”
Completely true. That is one place where I’d agree that a red light camera should go. But they also need to lengthen the left turn light a bit – you can barely get four cars across during rush hour.
It’s great that they’re doing a study of pedestrian traffic, but I agree with many here that they should extend their consideration somewhat. Why not also study E-W (410) from Georgia to 16th as the pedestrian and motor traffic on it is getting much heavier.
Also, the study of Colesville needs to also include the circle at 16th. I walk my dog in the area 2-3 times a day and can’t tell you how nervous crossing here can make me. It was actually better before they installed sidewalks and pedestrian curbs (lowered to street level with those bumps for the blind) over the summer. Of course, they failed to install either crosswalks or pedestrian warning signs at the same time. It’s almost as if the county was trying to encourage accidents.
“The car-centric focus of _roads for cars_ is not a particular problem that is need of solving”
“One concept that I really like is what they did near Wheaton Mall ”
The fundamental point that YOU are missing is that the county has invested a lot of money and effort in making DTSS an new urban, DOWNTOWN envirnoment. And urban evironments ARE pedestrian centric. And if we don’t adjust our traffic patterns to facilitate that we’re simply fighting what we’ve worked hard to create. NYC is the most desired place to live on earth because they don’t say “forget about the pedestrians.. let’s get these cars through the city in a timely fashion”… If you chose to drive through an urban center, you do that with the prior knowledge that is going to cost you some time, because you are NOT the center focus of traffic patterns in those places. If you don’t like it, park at a garage outside the beltway and take the metro in.
Springvale Roader, you bring up a very good point about the young people ignoring the lights, crosswalks, etc.
Just last week I saw (and I am not kidding) three kids during the afternoon rush hour going from the McDonalds to the SS Metro area (by the buses). Despite lights and crosswalks on all four sides, they walked diagonally across the intersection, slowly and arrogantly, making sure that everyone in cars knew that they were the kings of the intersection. And yeah, they had their pants pulled 1/2 way down their asses with their boxers sticking out.
Woodsider, that’s a hell of a story, but alas, I’ve actually seen the same thing (diagonal crossing at that vey location, slowly and contemptuously).
I have been walking to and from the metro for years, and I see this kind of thing all the time. So here’s my question: WHERE ARE THE POLICE? Even if it’s just a temporary enforcement operation, say for a few months, at least it would help to stop this problem. If these kids or their parents (I use that term loosely) were fined $500, they would think twice about doing it again.
You bring up an interesting question, Springvale: Where are the police?
I’m not knocking Montgomery County’s finest, but they are seriously short staffed. Fifty cops for the entire third district, from Eastern Avenue to the Howard County line! That’s lots of real estate to cover.
As a result, things that may be considered “quality of life” crimes (eg, jaywalking, traffic-law enforcement) are placed on the back burner.
The PD is now considering other means to keep things in check — speed cameras and red-light cameras.
Do these automated law-enforcement tools help or hurt pedestrian safety?
“The fundamental point that YOU are missing is that the county has invested a lot of money and effort in making DTSS an new urban, DOWNTOWN envirnoment. And urban evironments ARE pedestrian centric.”
Ellsworth Drive and the nearby section of Fenton – I agree, those should be pedestrian-centric. And, largely, they are. None of the commentators here have expressed any concerns that I’ve seen.
Georgia, Colesville, E-W Highway, and 16th are major regional traffic arteries. You cannot make those into purely-pedestrian-centric areas, because you will screw up traffic for the entire area. I am sympathetic towards making areas pedestrian-centric where it is reasonable and feasible. It is _not_ feasible to make the Georgia and Colesville intersection a pedestrian love-fest where traffic is halted half the time so you can leisurely stroll across the street diagonally.
Again, my wife and I walk quite often. We don’t use the car unless we’re travelling more than a mile or so away, or need to haul back something large with us. I am entirely sympathetic to the idea of trying to make things safer for pedestrians. But pedestrian safety is not always the same as pedestrian convenience – again, very similarly to the driver side of the equation.
RE: Sidewalks
About darn time. I live off of Flower, between Piney Branch and Carroll. At night, the street is poorly lit, plus the ’sidewalk’ on the east side of the street is a rutted, broken ribbon of asphalt mostly overgrown by shrubbery that makes you walk on the street in places. Of course I could walk on the other side, but then I’m risking my life crossing the street twice when I go to the grocery store. :)
I doubt that the county has any designs on making SS pedestrian-centric, but there’s nothing wrong with making it a little more pedestrian-friendly.
It’s an undeniable fact that Georgia and Colesville, and to a slightly lesser degree, E-W Hwy & 16th, are “major” arterials. And, they always will be. With no freeway leading into the heart of DC, it’s pretty much a given that surface streets are going to forever take a heavy traffic load.
In SS, I’m a pedestrian 95% of the time I’m in the downtown area, so my perspective is a bit skewed. I would like to see things a little easier on us walkers. This starts with better signs and lighting, and should be reinforced with police enforcement. (Drivers, if I’ve got the walk light, I’ve got the right-of-way. Please try not to run me over because you “can.”)
That being said, especially at the intersections along Colesville between E-W & Georgia, I’ve seen some pedestrians that need some serious fining and/or jail time. Someone before talked about teens walking diagonally from the McD’s to the bus station . . . I’ve seen old men with walkers making this trek! More than once!
And, at the GA-Colesville intersection, I’ve often wondered why it’s so difficult for people to wait the extra 10-15 seconds for the walk light to change on the crosswalk between Discovery and the Panera (and thus allowing the left turning cars to actually make it through the intersection). These jerks back the cars up, which then block the crosswalk after the light changes as they try to clear the intersection.
Oh, and as for Jennifer’s question: red light cameras would probably be helpful. I’m less certain about speed cameras – speeding on Georgia isn’t a serious problem that I’ve noticed, except for maybe that crosswalk at Noyes.
Yeah…one is taking their life in their hands by using that crosswalk at Noyes and Georgia. A traffic signal, speed bump or possibly those flashing pedestrian crosswalk lights is needed at that location.