Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You think there will be fewer cars and less demand for road space in the future? Maybe you should think about bike lanes and a trolley on Wisconsin Avenue now, because otherwise, you can think total gridlock that throwing all of the cars that currently diffuse through the grid currently use.

And Metro is a joke until they can get routine operations down. It is a non-starter to think people will turn to metro given the routine delays and outages the system suffers.

Metro is not a joke. I commute on it every day and have for 25 years. It's a much more pleasant experience in the summer than the NY metro and there are a lot more trains than the subway in NY which I also use often. The escalators were a pain and still aren't perfect but they have gotten much better.

+1

Anonymous wrote:You think there will be fewer cars and less demand for road space in the future? Maybe you should think about bike lanes and a trolley on Wisconsin Avenue now, because otherwise, you can think total gridlock that throwing all of the cars that currently diffuse through the grid currently use.

And Metro is a joke until they can get routine operations down. It is a non-starter to think people will turn to metro given the routine delays and outages the system suffers.

Metro is not a joke. I commute on it every day and have for 25 years. It's a much more pleasant experience in the summer than the NY metro and there are a lot more trains than the subway in NY which I also use often. The escalators were a pain and still aren't perfect but they have gotten much better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess the volvo dealer saw the writting on the wall with Euro motors opening a volvo dealership in Bethesda.

The Volvo dealer sold to Euro motors because they wanted to retire, I don't think it was a "writing on the wall" situation?

Not to mention that only folks who like to pay above sticker price go to Euro Motorcars.

Anonymous wrote:I guess the volvo dealer saw the writting on the wall with Euro motors opening a volvo dealership in Bethesda.

The Volvo dealer sold to Euro motors because they wanted to retire, I don't think it was a "writing on the wall" situation?

Wheeeeeee for traffic sewers on our main streets!

Anonymous wrote:You think there will be fewer cars and less demand for road space in the future? Maybe you should think about bike lanes and a trolley on Wisconsin Avenue now, because otherwise, you can think total gridlock that throwing all of the cars that currently diffuse through the grid currently use.

And Metro is a joke until they can get routine operations down. It is a non-starter to think people will turn to metro given the routine delays and outages the system suffers.

Translation aid: "Diffuse through the grid" = "commuter cut-through traffic diverting on to residential streets"

I guess where you stand depends on where you sit.

You think there will be fewer cars and less demand for road space in the future? Maybe you should think about bike lanes and a trolley on Wisconsin Avenue now, because otherwise, you can think total gridlock that throwing all of the cars that currently diffuse through the grid currently use.

And Metro is a joke until they can get routine operations down. It is a non-starter to think people will turn to metro given the routine delays and outages the system suffers.

Anonymous wrote:And closing off Chevy Chase between Western and Bradley does nothing more than make Friendship Heights untenable as a driver. If having all of the car traffic exhaust makes the quality of life better then so be it. I don't think making Wisconsin and River worse than it already is, is a good solution.

And cars aren't speeding down 42nd Street anymore, not with the calming circles.

Commuter and thru traffic should be on Wisconsin Ave,, no? The residential streets of Clevy Chase Village would be a vastly different place if drivers could cut through those streets as a bypass around Friendship Heights -- I don't blame them at all for the traffic calming that's been put in. In DC, you already see turn restrictions from Western Ave, into AU Park, and I expect more of the adjacent neighborhodds will ask for similar treatment in the next few years. If this slows down traffic on Wisconsin further, then the planners need to rethink how much more density they want to put along the avenue. Slower speeds may induce more people to take Metro as well.

And closing off Chevy Chase between Western and Bradley does nothing more than make Friendship Heights untenable as a driver. If having all of the car traffic exhaust makes the quality of life better then so be it. I don't think making Wisconsin and River worse than it already is, is a good solution.

And cars aren't speeding down 42nd Street anymore, not with the calming circles.

Anonymous wrote:I happened to drive down 36th(?) one afternoon near the cathedral and got stuck behind two cars. I soon realized the drivers had no intention of moving as they were in a pseudo NSC carpool lane. Luckily there was a traffic cop at the intersection and after some honking she finally motioned me to go. I was extremely annoyed by this incident. Who the f@&ck gave NSC parents the right to sit idle on a road?! If gds takes over the lot, let them close the darn street to regular traffic--much better than unknowingly traveling down a road only to get stuck.

You're right. This sort of traffic is unfortunately prevalent in Cleveland Park. 36th St gets the NCS traffic, 35th gets the Beauvoir line; the NCRC line ties up Highland Pl several times a day; Newark could be the Cathedral Commons connector; Macomb gets traffic to/from WIS and Eaton (majority out students from out of boundary arrive by car); and Porter gets traffic all the time.

I happened to drive down 36th(?) one afternoon near the cathedral and got stuck behind two cars. I soon realized the drivers had no intention of moving as they were in a pseudo NSC carpool lane. Luckily there was a traffic cop at the intersection and after some honking she finally motioned me to go. I was extremely annoyed by this incident. Who the f@&ck gave NSC parents the right to sit idle on a road?! If gds takes over the lot, let them close the darn street to regular traffic--much better than unknowingly traveling down a road only to get stuck.

Anonymous wrote:Except DC is designed as a grid. Every time access is limited on one street, it impacts other streets. Just ask the people who live around Janney how they like the east side of River being closed off during rush hour.

Close of 42nd and make car traffic worse on Wisconsin, River, 43rd, etc. It is already bad, and everyone should accept this because a private school wants another ball field? Where is the public amenity in that?

I think Wisconsin is where you want the traffic, not speeding down 42nd past Janney to reach Nebraska. Montgomery County figured this out some time ago -- look at how Chevy Chase keeps traffic on Wisconsin and Connecticut.

As for a grid, downtown is a grid, like Manhattan. Upper NW, like most of DC, follows the functional classification of streets rather than a grid system. Local streets are not intended as relievers for traffic on the major arterials like Wisconsin Ave.

As an AU/Tenleytown resident, I would not welcome closing this section of 42nd Street. GDS didn't buy the street, only the lots on either side.

Except DC is designed as a grid. Every time access is limited on one street, it impacts other streets. Just ask the people who live around Janney how they like the east side of River being closed off during rush hour.

Close of 42nd and make car traffic worse on Wisconsin, River, 43rd, etc. It is already bad, and everyone should accept this because a private school wants another ball field? Where is the public amenity in that?

Anonymous wrote:How about we close all the street so no one can drive anywhere?

This is a silly "response" to a serious point. There's a hierarchy of federal street classifications, which DC follows, with Wisconsin being a major arterial. 42nd is basically at the bottom of the food chain, classified as a "local" street. Through traffic, by design, should be on the arterials. Local streets should be used for destination traffic. To the extent that traffic patterns are shifted to put more of the through traffic back on Wisconsin, and avoid using "local," largely residential streets as bypasses, that's sound planning and a good thing for the neighborhood.