[RP TownTalk] [TownTalk] traffic concerns

Tue Apr 25 11:31:54 UTC 2006

Steve

Apparently, you don't live on Queensbury Road.  Try backing out of your driveway at rush hour.  It's great fun.  Particularly, when the train is passing through and people are pulling in and out of your driveway to turn around.  This traffic also creates ingress/egress problems at the Fire Station on Queensbury.

Route 410 is a viable option for bus traffic with the pull over lanes.  Sidewalks are cheap and these would be part of the improvements for Rt 410 bus stops.  

Riverdale is the "pass through" town because everyone uses Queensbury to bypass the Rt 1/Rt 410 intersection and take Queensbury to Taylor to get back on Rt 410 or Queensbury to Lafayette to River Rd for Kenilworth access.  I suspect there are numerous other variants.  

I am fed up with the attitude that we have to accomodate these "commuters" when there are main roads available for this purpose.  They have a different attitude at University Park, they closed the leg of Queens Chapel Rd between the intersections of the Queens Chapel Rd/Rt 410 and Queens Chapel/Rt 1 to cut down on traffic.  Guess where that traffic has moved to? Rt 1.  How do these commuters avoid the Rt 1/Rt 410 intersection?  See paragraph 3.  What does this say about Riverdale?  We'll put up with it.  With some prudent placement of directional traffic signs at rush hour, I could get out of my driveway.

Bruce

-----Original Message-----
>From: Dannielle and Steve Glaros <glaros at earthlink.net>
>Sent: Apr 24, 2006 10:45 PM
>To: Town Talk <TownTalk at riverdale-park.org>
>Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] [TownTalk] traffic concerns
>
>I just wanted to add my two bits about bus service and about 
>transportation in Riverdale Park in general.
>
>In my opinion, we need to have more transit options, not less. This 
>means increased, regular bus service to both Metro stations--PG Plaza 
>AND College Park. The College Park Metro is underutilized by our town, 
>in part because it is hard to get to. I don't think we shift the 
>Queensbury bus line to 410 for three reasons: it will make bus service 
>even slower on an ever-more clogged highway, the utter lack of 
>sidewalks and limited pedestrian access to 410 will make it an 
>absolutely less appealing option for riders (and thus shriveling 
>ridership), and it will make the Town Center a less appealing location 
>for business. If the bus is crowded to capacity during the rush hours 
>then surely we have some leverage with WMATA and The Bus to get better 
>buses and more frequent service. I take the Alexandria DASH bus service 
>every day and it runs pretty well. That should be our model. And, I'd 
>bet that one full bus on our streets causes a lot less damage than if 
>each rider were to drive separate cars or SUVs.
>
>More transit options means more frequent MARC service. More transit 
>options means tying Metro, MARC, and bus services together, making them 
>an efficient, viable alternative to cars. If our mass transit options 
>are more efficient, timely and frequent, then perhaps car traffic will 
>lessen, maybe not completely, but perceptibly. The only way to ease 
>traffic is to get people out of their cars by giving them other 
>options. We cannot build our way out of congestion. In Montgomery 
>County they widened I-270 to as many as eight lanes (I think), does 
>anyone here think that lessened traffic? Most studies of sprawl 
>indicate that widening roads, etc, relieves congestion only temporarily 
>until additional development leads to increased traffic and congestion.
>
>Another way to ease congestion would be to make Riverdale Park a more 
>walkable community. Our town is chopped up into far too many bits by 
>410, Rte 1, the railroad, and the Anacostia. Pedestrians have few 
>options if they want to walk from one part of town to another. 
>Footbridges across these dividing lines and sidewalks along all town 
>streets would help reconnect our splintered town and make it easier for 
>each of us to get out of our cars to visit our neighbors or (God 
>forbid) shop. It would be healthier for us too.
>
>None of this is easy or cheap and none of this will stop those who use 
>our town as a short cut (although setting up a speed trap on River Road 
>would slow them down and bring in much-needed revenue). However, we 
>need to make this town more walkable and more transit oriented, because 
>development will occur here and all around us. Let us provide options 
>for all who live, work, or travel in Riverdale Park other options than 
>hopping in their car and further clogging our streets. Other towns have 
>done this, we can too.
>
>Steve Glaros
>
>On Apr 24, 2006, at 3:40 PM, Maureen E. Farrington wrote:
>
>>
>> I got my driver's license about a week before I graduated from 
>> college.  I
>> rode the bus a lot.
>>
>> The 83 (runs along Rte 1 from the Rhode Island Ave Metro to Cherry Hill
>> Road) is the bus that I most often see as a natural gas model, so they 
>> are
>> around the county.
>>
>> I like that the buses on Queensbury slow traffic down.  There's no 
>> reason
>> to go faster than 25-30 mph on my street.
>>
>> -Maureen
>>
>> On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, ickyfoot wrote:
>>
>>> "Poking around on wmata.com, I saw a claim that PG county is getting
>>> more than our share of the hybrids, because we had more than our share
>>> of the very oldest model of diesels.  If you saw three, then maybe
>>> that really is the case."
>>>
>>> Wow.
>>>
>>> I'll believe that they are actually delivering more to our county 
>>> when I
>>> start to see more. The F4 route is in DESPERATE need of upgrading, yet
>>> over the period of time from late October through mid April I rode on
>>> one hybrid bus and only one or two natural gas ones (which have been 
>>> out
>>> for over a year now). I hope the triple sighting this weekend bodes 
>>> well
>>> for the immediate future. Many of the buses currently running the 
>>> route
>>> are shaking piles of metal strapped together with duct tape and 
>>> hangers
>>> (or may as well be).
>>>
>>> And I can tell you from direct experience (i.e. riding on a bike
>>> directly behind buses) that the hybrids and especially the natural gas
>>> buses are just so much cleaner. You can't even smell them, really. 
>>> They
>>> are still fairly loud compared with a car, but they are much more
>>> tolerable than the regular diesel buses.
>>>
>>> -E
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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