[RP TownTalk] [TownTalk] traffic concerns

[Andrew Farrington]

I do live on Queensbury Road, as you know, across the street from you.  :) 
I have never had a problem getting into or out of my driveway that 45 
seconds of patience didn't fix.

The "trash" issue that Mr. Hiles raises does resonate with me.  (By the 
way, Mr. Hiles, I would like to offer you my sincere thanks for your work 
toward replacing the rail crossing, and a sincere apology for my outbust 
yesterday.)  I clean up trash along the sidewalk and my front lawn every 
evening when I get home from work.  However, there is not a bus stop in 
front of my house, it's a block north.  I believe much more of this trash 
comes from the fact that I live two doors up from a bar and two blocks 
from convenience stores in either direction.  This will only increase once 
there are tenants in the town center.  I consider it, like my occasional 
moment or two waiting to get out of my driveway, a consequence of inner 
suburban living.  I chose to buy where I did, rather than in Bowie or even 
the deep interior of Hyattsville.  I like being just a couple of blocks 
from main roads and close in to the city.  I also like the pedestrian 
traffic of people coming and going to and from the bus stops.  I fantasize 
that when the town center is filled, perhaps it will be cost-effective for 
Public Works to clean up the trash on a daily basis.

My high school buddy grew up on Queens Chapel Road in University Park, and 
I can tell you why that road is closed to through traffic.  When WMATA dug 
the subway tunnel from College Park to PG Plaza, they dug straight along 
its path.  The road and the houses on its north side began to shift, sink 
and break.  WMATA closed the road to through traffic -- but /not/ to buses 
-- in order to limit the sinking and therefore their liability.

There's also not a MARC station, nor a downtown seeking to attract tenants 
-- tenants who will need customers -- on Queens Chapel Road.

Andrew Farrington
4605 Queensbury Road

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 bruce.wernek at mindspring.com wrote:

> 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