So now that Biden is calling back federal workers, can NPS reopen Beach drive to commuters, please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of opening it to cars only during rush hour. It’s a fair way for every taxpayer to use the road.

A lot of the commuters taking that path aren't taxpayers, they are commuting to and from Maryland. If you want to make some point about taxpayers then maybe they should make it a toll road for out-of-state vehicles.

For the purposes of the tax-collecting entity that pays for most of Beach Drive and Rock Creek Park, though, Maryland commuters are also taxpayers.

"Maryland commuters" includes Marylanders who use the Metro, buses, bikes, scooters, and/or their own feet to get to and from work in DC. Just saying.

Yes, true, and as a D.C. resident who never drives to work, I'd be perfectly happy with closing Beach Drive to all cars forever. But my point is, the feds pay for the road there, not the city.

yes, thank you for pointing this out. Rock Creek roads are federal, paid for by all US taxpayers. Now vast amounts of it are only accessible for nondisabled, very physically fit, mostly male, mostly well off bikers.

omg quit your fox-news level trolling. closing beach drive made the park MUCH more accessible for disabled recreational use. you can park in the parking lot and now instead of being confined to a crowded bike lane, you can walk/wheelchair on an entire paved road. you can even try a trike or recumbent bike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beach Drive is a nice place, and closing it to vehicular traffic discriminates against the elderly and disabled and anybody else who can’t get around without a vehicle.

On the flip side, plenty of elderly and others avail themselves of Beach Drive as safe places to walk. I see lots of them there on the weekend. That road is much more accessible to those who want to enjoy RCP but who cannot easily navigate the hiking trails.

yes! I biked the entire length last weekend and I saw several elderly people and a couple wheelchairs. I saw one woman in a motorized chair sitting blissfully watching the creek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of opening it to cars only during rush hour. It’s a fair way for every taxpayer to use the road.

It isn't very fair to the animals or plants. Which is the NPS mission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely agree. And to show how little I drive despite being in the suburbs, I average a new tank of gas every two months. I just think it’s asinine that a handful of very physically able
, mostly male, mostly well off bikers are shutting down major traffic Avenues.

Disabled people can’t bike most of the time, or elderly people, or people with bad knees, or women who worry about safety.

Catering to bikers to this degree and sexist and ableist and I’m so annoyed the nps, who was planning on opening it more, let the bike lobby get to them

Of course, this isn't what is happening. There are many people from wheelchair bound, to little kids, white people, people of color, men, women etc who ride their bikes in the Park, in bike lanes and on our streets. It is dangerous, because people operating their cars have little to no regard to cyclists and pedestrians. As a result, transportation engineers have to reshape our build environment because car operators cannot be trusted in their vehicles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they should close it to commuters, set up a park & ride garage facility in Chevy Chase and dedicated bus to take commuters in and out of DC.

It is called "the Metro" and the good news is, people don't have to drive to Chevy Chase to use it. They can drive to garages that are much more proximate to where they live in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beach Drive is a nice place, and closing it to vehicular traffic discriminates against the elderly and disabled and anybody else who can’t get around without a vehicle.

Then it is a good thing that Beach Drive is not actually closed to vehicular traffic. The ONLY thing it is closed to is people commuting on it from Maryland into DC. If people want to drive on Beach Drive, there are miles and miles of available road and hundreds of parking spots readily available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beach Drive is a nice place, and closing it to vehicular traffic discriminates against the elderly and disabled and anybody else who can’t get around without a vehicle.

Yep. We used to be able to drive, park, then get out and walk around. I am not able enough to bike to the heart of the park, but I can walk a little.

Good news...you can still drive, park and get out and walk around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I completely agree. And to show how little I drive despite being in the suburbs, I average a new tank of gas every two months. I just think it’s asinine that a handful of very physically able
, mostly male, mostly well off bikers are shutting down major traffic Avenues.

Disabled people can’t bike most of the time, or elderly people, or people with bad knees, or women who worry about safety.

Catering to bikers to this degree and sexist and ableist and I’m so annoyed the nps, who was planning on opening it more, let the bike lobby get to them

Of course, this isn't what is happening. There are many people from wheelchair bound, to little kids, white people, people of color, men, women etc who ride their bikes in the Park, in bike lanes and on our streets. It is dangerous, because people operating their cars have little to no regard to cyclists and pedestrians. As a result, transportation engineers have to reshape our build environment because car operators cannot be trusted in their vehicles.

Yup. I live in DC (near RCP and Conn Ave), and I could not be more supportive of all bike- and pedestrian-first changes. I don’t bike at all, but I do walk a lot and have kids who walk a lot, and I will support anything that slows cars down/reduces car traffic. The amount of pedestrian death/injury in this city is obscene, and this thread makes clear why that is—like with guns, we are fine with the death and destruction cars cause. Our rate of car-related death is something like 3x that of Canada and 5x that of the UK. Why are we OK with that?

I’m thrilled that they’ve kept Beach Drive closed and would be happy if they further reduced car traffic through the park. I can’t wait for Connecticut Avenue to have real, protected bike lanes and less parking. If that means it’s less convenient for me to drive, great! I’ll walk more, take public transportation more, and maybe even start biking (which is what studies have shown happens when cities create better/safer biking infrastructure—more people start riding bikes).

[Anonymous]

I hope they never reopen it. It’s national park land, not a commuter route for Maryland drivers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they never reopen it. It’s national park land, not a commuter route for Maryland drivers

+1. but, if they insist on opening it, they should only open it going one way during rush hour...so both lanes open for inbound traffic from 7-9am and outbound traffic from 4-6pm, and closed all other times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree OP. I live on a DC street that has experienced an exponential growth in cut through traffic due to the weekday closure of Beach Dr plus the reduction in drive lanes on Connecticut Ave. A lot of this is rideshare drovers and Amazon/fed ex drivers who will never be eligible to take metro

This is a narrow east-west residential street and it’s utter bullshit that we suffer arterial-road levels of new traffic, all because of 45 hardcore MAMILs who who want to get their miles in on Beach Drive on a Tuesday at 2:30 pm l

Closing major roads to cars just forces traffic onto smaller roads that were never designed for it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree OP. I live on a DC street that has experienced an exponential growth in cut through traffic due to the weekday closure of Beach Dr plus the reduction in drive lanes on Connecticut Ave. A lot of this is rideshare drovers and Amazon/fed ex drivers who will never be eligible to take metro

This is a narrow east-west residential street and it’s utter bullshit that we suffer arterial-road levels of new traffic, all because of 45 hardcore MAMILs who who want to get their miles in on Beach Drive on a Tuesday at 2:30 pm l

Closing major roads to cars just forces traffic onto smaller roads that were never designed for it

This has been proven to be false, time after time after time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they never reopen it. It’s national park land, not a commuter route for Maryland drivers

White cyclists wealthy enough to live close to their jobs telling black drivers who live much farther away from their jobs that they can’t use their roads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree OP. I live on a DC street that has experienced an exponential growth in cut through traffic due to the weekday closure of Beach Dr plus the reduction in drive lanes on Connecticut Ave. A lot of this is rideshare drovers and Amazon/fed ex drivers who will never be eligible to take metro

This is a narrow east-west residential street and it’s utter bullshit that we suffer arterial-road levels of new traffic, all because of 45 hardcore MAMILs who who want to get their miles in on Beach Drive on a Tuesday at 2:30 pm l

Closing major roads to cars just forces traffic onto smaller roads that were never designed for it

This has been proven to be false, time after time after time.

Cite one, single DDOT study from the last 10 years that supports your claim.* All of us who live in the neighborhoods east and west of RCP in the District will be very excited to review this data that we heretofore have never had access to.
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* the traffic study undertaken by DDOT must not include any study conducted between March 15, 2020 and August 2021. It must compare pre-lockdown traffic patterns and vehicle counts -- so pre-March 2020 -- to some point in time post-Beach Dr. closure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree OP. I live on a DC street that has experienced an exponential growth in cut through traffic due to the weekday closure of Beach Dr plus the reduction in drive lanes on Connecticut Ave. A lot of this is rideshare drovers and Amazon/fed ex drivers who will never be eligible to take metro

This is a narrow east-west residential street and it’s utter bullshit that we suffer arterial-road levels of new traffic, all because of 45 hardcore MAMILs who who want to get their miles in on Beach Drive on a Tuesday at 2:30 pm l

Closing major roads to cars just forces traffic onto smaller roads that were never designed for it

This has been proven to be false, time after time after time.

Cite one, single DDOT study from the last 10 years that supports your claim.* All of us who live in the neighborhoods east and west of RCP in the District will be very excited to review this data that we heretofore have never had access to.
----
* the traffic study undertaken by DDOT must not include any study conducted between March 15, 2020 and August 2021. It must compare pre-lockdown traffic patterns and vehicle counts -- so pre-March 2020 -- to some point in time post-Beach Dr. closure.

Cite one study of where it did happen.