Closing Georgetown Pike Ramp to I-495

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully MD will just ban Virginia drivers altogether. [/quote]


If Nova could ban MD drivers we wouldn't have the problem we do at that onramp. The Maryland drivers are destroying the neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:simply an asinine idea. it will only make local traffic worse. the problem is a result of over-development, suburban sprawl and poor master planning. pushing the traffic to the roads of the next neighborhood simply will not work, it will just spread the jams further into the local neighborhoods. the solution is not less access to the major arteries but more. widen the bridge, add a river crossing, etc.

the beltway is the ONLY major artery heading to MD and its jammed BOTH WAYS. Limiting access to it cannot possibly help the people who use it and will not change the disaster that is Georgetown Pike. You know what will? Remove its designation as a "scenic byway" and add traffic lights and stop signs! Then improve the intersection at 495 so drivers cannot cheat the turn lanes. That is what exacerbates the issue the most.

Georgetown Pike has been around since George Washington was alive. The houses on the Pike each have 2-5 acres of land, some more. I don't consider that over-development. I live off the Pike and I can tell you that it is without a doubt mostly MD commuters using that road, avoiding the Toll road and Route 7. It's one lane and very curvy in places. The bottlenecks occur beyond Old Dominion due to a stop sign at Swinks Mill and lights at and a bit before the beltway entrance.

You can't really widen Georgetown Pike without major construction as some areas are sheer drops into Difficult Run stream. A bridge was proposed off Fairfax County Parkway and shot down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Georgetown Pike has been around since George Washington was alive. The houses on the Pike each have 2-5 acres of land, some more. I don't consider that over-development. I live off the Pike and I can tell you that it is without a doubt mostly MD commuters using that road, avoiding the Toll road and Route 7. It's one lane and very curvy in places. The bottlenecks occur beyond Old Dominion due to a stop sign at Swinks Mill and lights at and a bit before the beltway entrance.

You can't really widen Georgetown Pike without major construction as some areas are sheer drops into Difficult Run stream. A bridge was proposed off Fairfax County Parkway and shot down.


Your logic escapes me. Georgetown Pike is old and your property is large, thus other people don't exist and traffic is not your problem? I know Georgetown Pike very well myself and it can be made wider, safer, and more accommodating to the volume that is inevitable given the demographics of 2018. Please update your references from the 1700s.

Closing off any access to a vital artery such as the beltway will cause incredible congestion throughout an even wider area. There are better alternatives and unfortunately they will cost big $ and take a long time to install because of the decades of neglect wishing this problem away. Build the bridge, add lanes, create flyovers, or simply enforce the traffic controls since the lane cheaters are predominantly responsible for the gridlock.

[Anonymous]

So none of the residents of McLean drive? Or drive in other neighborhoods? Or McLean residents will commit to not driving in other neighborhoods or using other on and off ramps during the closures?

If this was a dense area well served by transit and people coming to and from the neighborhood had other good options maybe this would make sense.

But for one car dependent suburb to shut out other car dependent suburbanites is hypocrisy of the highest order.

FWIW I don't even drive and doubt I've ever even used this exit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So none of the residents of McLean drive? Or drive in other neighborhoods? Or McLean residents will commit to not driving in other neighborhoods or using other on and off ramps during the closures?

If this was a dense area well served by transit and people coming to and from the neighborhood had other good options maybe this would make sense.

But for one car dependent suburb to shut out other car dependent suburbanites is hypocrisy of the highest order.

FWIW I don't even drive and doubt I've ever even used this exit.

This totally.

[Anonymous]

Have to assume this wouldn’t be on the table for VDOT if Virginia residents had as much need to get to Maryland as Maryland residents do to get back and forth from Virginia.

[Anonymous]

There are a few problems at work with this complete mess that is GTP:

First, there is a cop that has been stationed on GTP because Marylanders do anything at all to get onto that part of the beltway, no matter how.

This includes blocking the box (most of the time), or the occasional Marylander who thinks thy are witty and will drive right TO the cop and pass the island (ie: instead of joining his fellow Marylanders on the offramp - this occasional snowflake bypasses his fellow offenders all together and makes a right AFTER the actual off ramp island - right AT the offramp.)

Witty? Not so much. Especially when the Governor of Virginia lives near the neighborhood and gets completely fed up with effects of Waze and its direct ramifications. So, you have a ramp closure. Congratulations Marylanders, you got what you asked for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So none of the residents of McLean drive? Or drive in other neighborhoods? Or McLean residents will commit to not driving in other neighborhoods or using other on and off ramps during the closures?

If this was a dense area well served by transit and people coming to and from the neighborhood had other good options maybe this would make sense.

But for one car dependent suburb to shut out other car dependent suburbanites is hypocrisy of the highest order.

FWIW I don't even drive and doubt I've ever even used this exit.

Metro goes to and from Tysons, all day to places all over Maryland. Most McLean people who do use this exit (most do not) have other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a few problems at work with this complete mess that is GTP:

First, there is a cop that has been stationed on GTP because Marylanders do anything at all to get onto that part of the beltway, no matter how.

This includes blocking the box (most of the time), or the occasional Marylander who thinks thy are witty and will drive right TO the cop and pass the island (ie: instead of joining his fellow Marylanders on the offramp - this occasional snowflake bypasses his fellow offenders all together and makes a right AFTER the actual off ramp island - right AT the offramp.)

Witty? Not so much. Especially when the Governor of Virginia lives near the neighborhood and gets completely fed up with effects of Waze and its direct ramifications. So, you have a ramp closure. Congratulations Marylanders, you got what you asked for.

PP here. Not to mention, the Marylanders who tried to U turn at that very dangerous intersection for years, but were finally stopped in their tracks.

[Anonymous]

I hope they do this. I have no dog in this fight but Maryland drivers are assholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they do this. I have no dog in this fight but Maryland drivers are assholes.

+1

Fortunately, a lot of people feel this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So none of the residents of McLean drive? Or drive in other neighborhoods? Or McLean residents will commit to not driving in other neighborhoods or using other on and off ramps during the closures?

If this was a dense area well served by transit and people coming to and from the neighborhood had other good options maybe this would make sense.

But for one car dependent suburb to shut out other car dependent suburbanites is hypocrisy of the highest order.

FWIW I don't even drive and doubt I've ever even used this exit.

Metro goes to and from Tysons, all day to places all over Maryland. Most McLean people who do use this exit (most do not) have other options.

Don't some people from Maryland need to get to downtown McLean?

It not currenly very easy to get from MoCo to Tysons by transit. You have to take the Red line into DC, then change to the Silver line. Now if the people of McLean, represented by the McLean Civic Association, were to call for extending the Purple Line from Bethesda to Tysons via McLean, I would say they were serious about transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they do this. I have no dog in this fight but Maryland drivers are assholes.

True, but McLean residents are also assholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course the McLean residents do.

There are quite a few McLean residents AGAINST this proposal!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a few problems at work with this complete mess that is GTP:

First, there is a cop that has been stationed on GTP because Marylanders do anything at all to get onto that part of the beltway, no matter how.

This includes blocking the box (most of the time), or the occasional Marylander who thinks thy are witty and will drive right TO the cop and pass the island (ie: instead of joining his fellow Marylanders on the offramp - this occasional snowflake bypasses his fellow offenders all together and makes a right AFTER the actual off ramp island - right AT the offramp.)

Witty? Not so much. Especially when the Governor of Virginia lives near the neighborhood and gets completely fed up with effects of Waze and its direct ramifications. So, you have a ramp closure. Congratulations Marylanders, you got what you asked for.

PP here. Not to mention, the Marylanders who tried to U turn at that very dangerous intersection for years, but were finally stopped in their tracks.

The intersection is a nightmare but as a resident of McLean and someone who is frustrated on a weekly basis trying to leave my neighborhood- I feel closing the ramp is EXTREMELY short sighted-yes that is right I am AGAINST it! Posting the police at the intersection has been very effective. My vote is for a red light camera!