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.

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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.

The total length is five (5) miles. You're talking about it as though it were the the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.

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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.

You still can.

love how suburban MD residents who neither commute to DC nor even *use the freakin’ park!* are opining here.

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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.

You must be lying or uniformed. You can drive and park at several parking lots and walk onto Beach Drive. It’s actually more accessible now.

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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.

You still can.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

yeah the entire park should be paved for disability access

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.

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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.

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.

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.

Or, I know, maybe there could be a dedicated bus to take commuters in and out of DC, except it would run underground in tunnels instead of through national park land, and connected to other buses so it could carry more people, and on rails to make the ride faster and smoother? And it could make special stops at places where there is already an excess of parking available? We could call those stops "stations".

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Anonymous wrote:As the PP said, there are other options if you are concerned about traffic backups

This is an idiotic response. Many people in this city commute by car. Despite what the 100 loudest members of the bike mafia say, that's not going to change anytime soon. Metro ridership is way down, and was dropping long before the pandemic. Build the city that people want, not the one you wish they wanted.

where do you live and where do you work? we can help you with a metro commute. otherwise, no, no sympathy for people who could easily get to metro but “just prefer to drive.”

Not the PP, but my DH used to commute via Beach Drive when he worked in Arlington. We live in Silver Spring, but not right near a metro station, and the bus/metro option would take forever. It was a total PITA when Beach Drive closed. He works somewhere else now, but it's not hard to imagine why people used this route during their commute. The DMV is not as connected as we'd all like it to be.

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.