Federal highway dollars fund a number of local projects.

Anonymous wrote:Do you know what year he graduated?

1981, he went by Mickey, not Michael

Anonymous wrote:From Dr. Goodwin - Principal at Whitman

Dear Whitman Community, I am thrilled to convey that Congressman Van Hollen's office has assured me that they are 100% behind the effort to get a traffic signal installed at the River Road/Pyle Road intersection. In a conference call with Congressman's Van Hollen's Office today, we were told that no additional emails or phone calls are needed. They are fully convinced and are aggressively putting steps into motion.

Why is this being elevated to a Federal issue? Give me a break!!! Van Hollen has more pressing issues than to deal with than this State issue.

Do you know what year he graduated?

I just realized that the father was a Whitman grad too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another terrible accident on outbound River this morning. This is the second bad accident (i.e. requiring jaws of life) I've passed in just over two weeks, not having witnessed the fatal accident earlier this week. What is going on lately?!

The problem with River Road west of the Westbard area is that it's engineered for speed - that is, for driving higher than the posted speed. That fact, the wide median separating the travel lanes and little commercial activity, make River seem more like a rural highway than an arterial road through a densely populated area. East of Westbard cars don't speed to the same extent. MD DOT and the County need to do a thorough engineering assessment of River on how to lower drivers' perceptions of the appropriate speed.

It's a state road, so MD SHA needs to do that; the county has no jurisdiction. Other than that, I agree completely. In fact, MD SHA needs to do the same for ALL of the state roads in the county.

Anonymous wrote:Another terrible accident on outbound River this morning. This is the second bad accident (i.e. requiring jaws of life) I've passed in just over two weeks, not having witnessed the fatal accident earlier this week. What is going on lately?!

The problem with River Road west of the Westbard area is that it's engineered for speed - that is, for driving higher than the posted speed. That fact, the wide median separating the travel lanes and little commercial activity, make River seem more like a rural highway than an arterial road through a densely populated area. East of Westbard cars don't speed to the same extent. MD DOT and the County need to do a thorough engineering assessment of River on how to lower drivers' perceptions of the appropriate speed.

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't aware of the sidewalk and obviously not aware of the importance of the cut through for the neighborhood. Just an idea.

Both are enormously huge issues, in all areas of the suburbs.

I drive my child to school in the District and stopped taking River Road because it is too dangerous. In the first month of school there were several accidents and the aggressive driving was out of control.

Another terrible accident on outbound River this morning. This is the second bad accident (i.e. requiring jaws of life) I've passed in just over two weeks, not having witnessed the fatal accident earlier this week. What is going on lately?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The easiest solution is to close the median so no one has to cross. You can enter and exit with the flow of traffic or go the main entrance to the school.

That's a very good suggestion, but where do people turn to get into the correct line of traffic? Is there a safe place further along?

Their is a light a little further up at Whittier.

Wasn't aware of the sidewalk and obviously not aware of the importance of the cut through for the neighborhood. Just an idea.

Anonymous wrote:The easiest solution is to close the median so no one has to cross. The back entrance should only be used to enter and exit with the flow of traffic. There is a main entrance to the school that is a turn from a light. It's not only cutting across to get the the Whitman fields it also cutting back out to head towards DC that's terribly difficult and scary.

That might be the easiest solution if you think that the purpose of River Road is to get drivers between the Beltway and Bethesda as fast as possible, with no pesky interventions from people who actually live in the area. But probably not even then, because there will be a lot of drivers doing U-turns at the next intersection, and U-turns cause their own problems with safety and with traffic throughput.

And what's your solution for the marked but unsignalized crosswalk?

Anonymous wrote:The easiest solution is to close the median so no one has to cross. You can enter and exit with the flow of traffic or go the main entrance to the school.

That's a very good suggestion, but where do people turn to get into the correct line of traffic? Is there a safe place further along?

The easiest solution is to close the median so no one has to cross. The back entrance should only be used to enter and exit with the flow of traffic. There is a main entrance to the school that is a turn from a light. It's not only cutting across to get the the Whitman fields it also cutting back out to head towards DC that's terribly difficult and scary.