Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 09:42     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
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.


The Langley/Great Falls crowd expects special treatment. Whether it's keeping the poor kids out of their schools, keeping their kids out of the schools with poor kids, or keeping Maryland cars off roads near their homes.

If VDOT closes this ramp, the traffic won't magically disappear. It will just spill over into other neighborhoods in McLean, Falls Church, and Arlington that already have their fair share of traffic. If Arlington and Fairfax politicians allow this, they should be removed from office.


I am the OP. My kids are young and I don’t know the political history with Langley High School. Our house is in a very quiet residential area. Georgetown Pike is only one lane where we turn onto it. It is a huge bottleneck and it happens to be on our route to our zoned elementary, middle school and high schools are located.

Ironically we picked our house because we thought it would be quiet and safe in a good school pyramid. I would not have bought the house knowing we would be in bumper to bumper traffic to and from school everyday.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 09:19     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
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.


The Langley/Great Falls crowd expects special treatment. Whether it's keeping the poor kids out of their schools, keeping their kids out of the schools with poor kids, or keeping Maryland cars off roads near their homes.

If VDOT closes this ramp, the traffic won't magically disappear. It will just spill over into other neighborhoods in McLean, Falls Church, and Arlington that already have their fair share of traffic. If Arlington and Fairfax politicians allow this, they should be removed from office.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 09:10     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t an additional crossing over the river help matters? Aren’t the folks in Potomac, MD opposed to a new crossing? What happens if HQ2 comes to the DMV - either side of the river? These problems will simply multiply. Someone get Mr Hogan interested in these issues. 495 has a bleak future otherwise and Georgetown pike will just be collateral damage. OP, you have our sympathy but only the folks with MD plates have the votes to change status quo.


To date, Maryland hasn’t wanted to cut into agricultural districts on their side of the river. Agree we should start writing to Hogan. It’s another reason to close the ramp to 495 too. Until MD drivers begin feeling real pain in their commute, they have no reason to pressure their own officials for change. Why should they when McLean residents are taking the hits for them?!!! Forcing MD drivers back down to the Beltway where the belong for commuting will help force their hand on action.


Of course an additional river crossing will help! However, the rich people in Potomac want rush hour traffic through their community exactly as much as the rich people in Great Falls (Langley) want it through theirs. So it will never happen.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 08:47     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Not in your neighborhood but regarding ES bussing....our Es bus used to be the first stop and kids were home within 5-10 min of dismissal. Now, there are two stops prior to ours and with the HS start time change the kids are home 35 minutes after dismissal. We sometimes walk home in under 15 minutes. When the HS had early release the whole last week of school the kids were easily home almost 10 min earlier. I hadnt realized the trickle down impact that had...
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 08:20     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t an additional crossing over the river help matters? Aren’t the folks in Potomac, MD opposed to a new crossing? What happens if HQ2 comes to the DMV - either side of the river? These problems will simply multiply. Someone get Mr Hogan interested in these issues. 495 has a bleak future otherwise and Georgetown pike will just be collateral damage. OP, you have our sympathy but only the folks with MD plates have the votes to change status quo.


To date, Maryland hasn’t wanted to cut into agricultural districts on their side of the river. Agree we should start writing to Hogan. It’s another reason to close the ramp to 495 too. Until MD drivers begin feeling real pain in their commute, they have no reason to pressure their own officials for change. Why should they when McLean residents are taking the hits for them?!!! Forcing MD drivers back down to the Beltway where the belong for commuting will help force their hand on action.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 08:16     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
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!
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 07:52     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t an additional crossing over the river help matters? Aren’t the folks in Potomac, MD opposed to a new crossing? What happens if HQ2 comes to the DMV - either side of the river? These problems will simply multiply. Someone get Mr Hogan interested in these issues. 495 has a bleak future otherwise and Georgetown pike will just be collateral damage. OP, you have our sympathy but only the folks with MD plates have the votes to change status quo.


Yes, the MD commuters would benefit from an additional crossing AND it has been MD that has been the biggest roadblock to it.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 07:51     Subject: Re:How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:Op again. How long does it take the school buses to get the kids home from school?

I have not received a bus schedule yet. I hope it isn’t like a 1 hour bus ride to go approximately 2.5 miles. School starts at 8:35 and ends at 3:20. I was hoping the bus would come after 8 and kids would be home before 4.


My kids went to schools in the McLean pyramid and had longer bus rides than that and we are .5-1.5 miles from the schools and we don’t have the same traffic patterns. For example, in HS they could walk home the mile and a half faster than the bus took. In ES, they there the first or second stop and had to roam around for 30 minutes before the bus got to the school. We are about a half mile from the school. In the afternoon it was quicker as they were the 1st or 2nd bustop then too.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 06:50     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
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.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 03:50     Subject: Re:How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
OP, from where you live, you could also go west on GT Pike and down Old Dominion to get to Churchill Road. Sometimes the stoplight at Old Dominion and Balls Hill gets backed up, but it could be better than the mess on GT Pike.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2018 00:17     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Wouldn’t an additional crossing over the river help matters? Aren’t the folks in Potomac, MD opposed to a new crossing? What happens if HQ2 comes to the DMV - either side of the river? These problems will simply multiply. Someone get Mr Hogan interested in these issues. 495 has a bleak future otherwise and Georgetown pike will just be collateral damage. OP, you have our sympathy but only the folks with MD plates have the votes to change status quo.
Anonymous
Post 08/18/2018 23:32     Subject: How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
0nce or twice a month, a driver causes an accident on the GTPike that delays the buses - mostly those heading to GF. For Back to School nights, plays or concerts at CMS, leave at least an hour before or you will miss your event.
Anonymous
Post 08/18/2018 23:03     Subject: Re:How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op again. How long does it take the school buses to get the kids home from school?

I have not received a bus schedule yet. I hope it isn’t like a 1 hour bus ride to go approximately 2.5 miles. School starts at 8:35 and ends at 3:20. I was hoping the bus would come after 8 and kids would be home before 4.


Unfortunately after least a few times during the year the bus runs late for pickup/drop off and getting to school bc of the traffic. Like 20-30 mins late sometimes.


Ugh. Sounds awful.
Anonymous
Post 08/18/2018 23:00     Subject: Re:How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Anonymous wrote:Op again. How long does it take the school buses to get the kids home from school?

I have not received a bus schedule yet. I hope it isn’t like a 1 hour bus ride to go approximately 2.5 miles. School starts at 8:35 and ends at 3:20. I was hoping the bus would come after 8 and kids would be home before 4.


Unfortunately after least a few times during the year the bus runs late for pickup/drop off and getting to school bc of the traffic. Like 20-30 mins late sometimes.
Anonymous
Post 08/18/2018 22:36     Subject: Re:How bad will Georgetown Pike be during school drop off hours in McLean?
Op again. How long does it take the school buses to get the kids home from school?

I have not received a bus schedule yet. I hope it isn’t like a 1 hour bus ride to go approximately 2.5 miles. School starts at 8:35 and ends at 3:20. I was hoping the bus would come after 8 and kids would be home before 4.