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

If it is a public road, it isn't "cut through" traffic. Cut through traffic is when there is a field, and some drives across it to get to their destination. A road is a public space, meant to be used for people getting one place to another. That isn't 'cut through"

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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.”

No one want your help Karen. Metro all you want. You can pry my car keys from my cold dead hands. I will never step foot on metro. I would prefer to arrive alive and on time.

That's fine. Nobody is forcing you to take Metro. If you want to drive, then drive. And then, when you complain about traffic backups and inconvenience, and people respond with "Have you considered taking public transit instead?", you can respond with "You can pry my car keys from my cold dead hands."

At least he will not be attacked on your Metro

Anonymous wrote:It should reopen to bus traffic.

It was never open to bus traffic.

Anonymous wrote:The amount of transportation resources dedicated to the tiny, tiny number of bicyclists in this city is astounding.

.05% is astounding? Really?

Anonymous wrote:The arrogance of the bike mafia is just mind-blowing.

Labeling people in what you believe to be a degrading manner is very Trumpian. What you call "bike mafia" are in fact your neighbors, work colleagues etc.

Anonymous wrote:Having it closed when the federal workers come back is going to only end up with a ridiculous amount of traffic being pent up on other streets with stop lights and massive traffic back ups.

You understand, Biden is at the top of the NPS pyramid in terms of leadership, right? And you understand that Biden's transportation policy is to move away from cars and to mass transit, bikes and ped, right?

So given that, why would they re-open Beach Drive to cars?

Anonymous wrote:You could get most of the throughput back if you switched Connecticut over to using smart lights and give people a green wave at 25mph. Then we don't need to use a park as a commuter route.

You mean like synchronized traffic lights on the major routes, like other cities do? Don't hold your breath. DC has never figured that out. It sometimes seems like traffic on a major route has to stop at every. single. traffic. light. Vehicles stop for a red light, the signal finally goes to green and then the visible green light a block ahead then turns to red. Think of the wasted time, gas consumed and idling exhaust involved. Of course, keeping Beach Drive closed while narrowing Connecticut Ave seems foolish. Then the twice-diverted traffic just adds to Wisconsin and Reno Rd's mess.

Anonymous wrote:I've been commuting by bike on Beach since the closures ... It's amazing and beautiful, and I see a lot of bike and foot traffic on it every morning.

People are really using the park like a park.

+1

Cars that are simply passing through negatively impact the experience of the park for people who are there to specifically use the amenity itself. Cars can take alternate routes. There is no alternate Rock Creek to enjoy.

You could get most of the throughput back if you switched Connecticut over to using smart lights and give people a green wave at 25mph. Then we don't need to use a park as a commuter route.

I've been commuting by bike on Beach since the closures ... It's amazing and beautiful, and I see a lot of bike and foot traffic on it every morning.

People are really using the park like a park.

Anonymous wrote:Use mass transit and stop complaining about congestion / street closures. YOU are the reason, and the problem.

Next thing we'll hear that it's about climate change!! It's all about saving the planet!!!

I get a little tired of the bike bros and the "YIMBY" activists incessantly signaling their virtue on their spandex sleeves. You can prattle on about how your e-bikes and urban micro-units will save the planet, but then think about the multiple, same-day Amazon deliveries you get or getting Door Dash to bring your breakfast.

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Anonymous wrote:I think NPS is blaming covid for a lot of things that they wanted to do all along. Like tickets at the National Zoo. There were fights and gangs nonstop that they couldn't control. The tickets have stopped all that.

NPS has wanted to close Beach Drive for a while. Beach Drive really hurts the park. It’s just like the 4 wheel drive cars on the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It goes against the mission of the park. NPS has no mission or directive to easy commute times in DC. I can see all of Beach Drive in the park getting permanently closed and surprised did not happen during the pandemic. NPR service is doing this at other parks.

If the Parks Service really "wanted to close Beach Drive for a while" why did they undertake a multi-year, multi-million dollar rehabilitaiton of the road that was completed one year before the pandemic?

Anonymous wrote:NYC closed Central Park and Prospect Park to cars. This is just one of the things that’s happening.

Most of New York City also has a street grid system. Would you like to see more commuter traffic from major arterial roadways and other busy routes flushed through DC's narrow residential side streets? Between closing Beach Drive and bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue, that seems to be what the bike lobby and DDOT have in mind.

Use mass transit and stop complaining about congestion / street closures. YOU are the reason, and the problem.

Anonymous wrote:NYC closed Central Park and Prospect Park to cars. This is just one of the things that’s happening.

I love it when posters compare DC to NYC. NYC is over ten times the size of DC with at least twice the population density. What they do or don’t do is irrelevant to us.

BTW - I have a friend in the know who says the Beach Drive closures aren’t permanent. NPS is open to reassessing based on how traffic patterns evolve.