NPS: Beach Drive May Stay Closed to Traffic During the Summer

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07/12/2022 14:00

Subject: NPS: Beach Drive May Stay Closed to Traffic During the Summer

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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:It just needs to be reopened permanently. The continued weekend closure is fine and makes sense. The “compromise” is just political face saving because NPS knows that it is getting little use during weekdays to justify this. Permanent closure of Beach Drive also imperils the proposed Connecticut Ave bike lane, because the studies have relied on Beach Drive being open to justify the loss of a traffic lane. Time to get back to normal.

Actually one justification for NPS is that "there were too many people in the park" and that the people were ruining the park.

And I could care less if the streets are lightly used with automobiles.
It's a park!

One of my all time great experiences in a park was Hyde Park in London. NO CARS. Grass that went on forever. It was so wonderful

I read the report. Could you point me where the report says this?

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?documentID=121986

Again, can you point me to where in the report it says that “there were too many people in the park”? I have already read the whole thing. Don’t need a link.

DP but it seems like you haven't gone to the link at all. It's pretty succinct.

Previous proposals for the management of the upper portion of Beach Drive called for making the current full-time closure to motorized vehicles permanent or reverting to the pre-pandemic schedule of weekend and holiday closures. After careful consideration of the potential effects of these alternatives on park resources, as well as consideration of traffic analysis and the many comments received from the public, the NPS sees the seasonal closure as the best way to protect park resources and strike a balance of different uses - whether visitors are walking, cycling, commuting or scenic-driving.

Beginning in late April 2020, the NPS temporarily expanded the closure of the upper portion of Beach Drive. This closure has provided a valuable opportunity for park visitors to recreate more freely and safely within Rock Creek Park. This closure, however, has affected other park uses and has increased the creation of informal, unofficial trails, which can cause natural resource damage. Adopting a seasonal closure schedule will allow visitors to enjoy the park's recreation and nature opportunities during the summer and will allow drivers to commute through the park when there are fewer recreational visitors. In addition, the denser vegetation of the summer season will discourage the creation of and use of informal trails and reduce potential damage to the forest and the important habitat it provides.

That does not say “there were too many people in the park”. It says that with the closure non motorized park users have been more free to cause negative impacts in the park because they are accessing different areas than they were before and this is less likely to happen during the summer when there is more vegetation. It actually doesn’t refer to the number of users at all. A bit embarrassing for you?

Is this Clarence Thomas? Do you need the actual report to say "There are too many people"
Read between the lines.
NPS doesn't like PEOPLE making trails.
So, by their logic, they'll allow cars to drive through the park and therefore there will be less people to use it......or do you need the actual documentation to say that too.