How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?

[Anonymous]

Well Dolley Madison driver, that sure seems to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. I guess the McLean/Langley rivalry has evolved beyond HS sports.

[Anonymous]

So do all the people complaining telework and have spouses that telework full time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well Dolley Madison driver, that sure seems to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. I guess the McLean/Langley rivalry has evolved beyond HS sports.

PP was saying he's commuting against the traffic (from Maryland to Virginia in the PM), so it may just be spite without the nose-cutting.

I live in the McLean district and don't wish bad traffic on Langley parents or anyone else. I am concerned that shutting down the GTown Pike ramp would make traffic worse in Tysons and some McLean HS neighborhoods (same goes for some Marshall and Madison neighborhoods).

[Anonymous]

Close it at 1:00? But the private schools in MD have quite a number of VA students (mine included). Shouldn't those of us who send our kids to private school be able to drive on the roads we pay for with our taxes, you know, our taxes that also pay for the schools we don't use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kiss afternoon extracurriculars goodbye - courtesy of MD commuters using our local roads to avoid the DTR and Beltway. GTPike is a parking lot during afternoon rush hour. Our local officials don’t care about our kids- that’s been made clear. Those of us in GF would be better off getting rezoned to other schools. More time for the kids and they’d be at the top of the academic pool!

Very true. MD drivers consistently clog up G'town Pike, as they queue up to get on the Beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VDOT is still taking parent input on their proposed pilot program to close the 1495 ramp weekdays from 1-7pm in an effort to discourage MD cut-through drivers and improve accessibility to our public schools and navigation in local neighborhoods. A second VDOT meeting will be held in the Fall. It is critical that parents show up to have their voices heard.

Email VDOT at:

[e-mail]

And copy our local representatives at:

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

How exactly do you expect Maryland residents to get to their jobs in VA, and why do you expect VDOT to close a ramp in the Langley area and divert traffic elsewhere in McLean and Arlington?

I expect them to stay out of our neighborhoods and on roads deemed appropriate for commuter traffic. I also expect VDOT to prioritize the interests of taxpaying Virginians pay for Virginians roads over the interests of Marylanders. Sorry but the fact that Maryland refuses to make appropriate infrastructure improvements to the AL Bridge - which they own - does not make their commute interests my priority. When they want to add another bridge to cross the Potomac at a more northern point or make improvements to the ALB, they'll have my support. Until then, I'm prioritizing the interestes of Virginia kids trying to get to school.

You are prioritizing the interests of the richest people in NoVa over everyone else in the DMV is what you're doing.

Actually, you are wrong. VDOT's own report clearly stated the bottleneck caused by the Georgetown Pike ramp is reverberating throughout the region. If they close it, the traffic will continually flow over the ALB much better. So in fact, this takes into consideration all DMV drivers - not just those Marylanders trying to get home. And in fact, you seem to feel it is okay to let entire neighborhoods in McLean be sacrificial lambs for the convenience of Maryland commuters. It's rush hour. The pain should be shared among all those in the DMV. Right now it's not. The kids in these areas did not choose the locations of their public schools. And they shouldn't have to spend hours on the GTPike to get to their schools or to their activities. The greater public should be considered and the closure proposal does just that. The borders for these schools run nearly 18 miles. So it's not just a wealthy enclave that gets back navigational routes to their public services. It's the entire GF/McLean/Reston/Vienna areas from which LHS and CMS pulls. And anyone traversing the Beltway now gets a smoother flow of traffic too. Win Win.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d like the left turn closed at 123/Blake lane from 7-9 am and 4-7 pm.Who do I contact? The traffic on Blake lane is terrible! It’s everyone cutting through a road with residential area only to get to 66. It’s mainly non-Fairfax county residents. It takes 30 minutes for locals to go just 2 miles. It takes 20 minutes to make a left turn onto Blake Lane from any neighborhood street at that timeframe. It’s worse in the morning with commuters causing school buses and parents to be late as they make their way to the metro. People get off at 123 and head down Blake Lane to get to metro. A residential street has become a commuters short cut.

But, it’s nit Georgetown Pike - not loads of rich people - so we’ll see if vdot looks into it. Maybe they could just add lights at every intersection, so residents can get out of their streets.

Stop with the rich stuff. Anyone can initiate a traffic study with VDOT which is exactly what the GTPike residents did. This has been a two year study. I live off Old Dominion and my neighborhood has initiated three traffic studies over the years. One ended up in us getting speed bumps and a stop sign. Another study got us nothing. We have a third beginning for additional traffic calming measures. It’s a lengthy process and takes a lot of effort but VDOT will work with you. However, you have to assemble a traffic committee with your neighbors, garner signatures etc... it takes commitment. So put your whining about rich people away and get to work solving your problem!

+1
But it's so much easier to just whine about rich people than to actually take any action of their own! So typical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The VDOT engineer said the conditions he witnessed at the GEorgetown Pike ramp intersection was “some of the most aggressive driving I’ve seen in the US.” Let’s hope one of those MD drivers doesn’t kill a kid walking home from Cooper. To the poster above, That sure would be a horrible “first-world” problem.

+1

Fact.

+2

It is indeed a fact that the most aggressive drivers in this area have MD license plates. It's only a matter of time before someone is hurt near the Cooper/Beltway area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we should stick it to the rich people in Langley because who cares about them. Just the thought of them irks me, and reminds me that I will never live up to what my parents wanted for me. When I moved here, I saw how the other half lived, and it really pissed me off! Now, I will commute that way, even if it means I go ten minutes out of my way.

Nailed it. This is exactly the mentality we're dealing with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should stick it to the rich people in Langley because who cares about them. Just the thought of them irks me, and reminds me that I will never live up to what my parents wanted for me. When I moved here, I saw how the other half lived, and it really pissed me off! Now, I will commute that way, even if it means I go ten minutes out of my way.

Nailed it. This is exactly the mentality we're dealing with.

Cry me a river.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should stick it to the rich people in Langley because who cares about them. Just the thought of them irks me, and reminds me that I will never live up to what my parents wanted for me. When I moved here, I saw how the other half lived, and it really pissed me off! Now, I will commute that way, even if it means I go ten minutes out of my way.

Nailed it. This is exactly the mentality we're dealing with.

Cry me a river.

Who? First PP or second PP? I say first PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d like the left turn closed at 123/Blake lane from 7-9 am and 4-7 pm.Who do I contact? The traffic on Blake lane is terrible! It’s everyone cutting through a road with residential area only to get to 66. It’s mainly non-Fairfax county residents. It takes 30 minutes for locals to go just 2 miles. It takes 20 minutes to make a left turn onto Blake Lane from any neighborhood street at that timeframe. It’s worse in the morning with commuters causing school buses and parents to be late as they make their way to the metro. People get off at 123 and head down Blake Lane to get to metro. A residential street has become a commuters short cut.

But, it’s nit Georgetown Pike - not loads of rich people - so we’ll see if vdot looks into it. Maybe they could just add lights at every intersection, so residents can get out of their streets.

Stop with the rich stuff. Anyone can initiate a traffic study with VDOT which is exactly what the GTPike residents did. This has been a two year study. I live off Old Dominion and my neighborhood has initiated three traffic studies over the years. One ended up in us getting speed bumps and a stop sign. Another study got us nothing. We have a third beginning for additional traffic calming measures. It’s a lengthy process and takes a lot of effort but VDOT will work with you. However, you have to assemble a traffic committee with your neighbors, garner signatures etc... it takes commitment. So put your whining about rich people away and get to work solving your problem!

+1
But it's so much easier to just whine about rich people than to actually take any action of their own! So typical.

+2

Hallelujah!

"But, but...I'm not rich....so YOU shouldn't be either!!! WAAAAAH!!! Not only that, I am going to break YOUR crayons!" Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Really? Try getting your MD people to help you out on your side. Sometimes people become successful because they work at it. Big concept, huh?

[Anonymous]

The Maryland drivers are performing a community service by confining Langley residents to their driveways. It means they spend that much less time out in public.

[Anonymous]

My neighbors are in agreement that when we are in front of a Maryland driver on the Pike, we will drive 5 miles under the speed limit. And if we are heading west on the Pime and someone is trying g to make left turn out of a neighborhood, we will do our best to stop and hold up Maryland commuters for the Virginian to complete their turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors are in agreement that when we are in front of a Maryland driver on the Pike, we will drive 5 miles under the speed limit. And if we are heading west on the Pime and someone is trying g to make left turn out of a neighborhood, we will do our best to stop and hold up Maryland commuters for the Virginian to complete their turn.

The first part seems jerky. The second part seems like a nice, neighborly thing to do.