After things looked bad, and then worse, things are now turning around with the National Naval Medical Center transportation planning.
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A $750,000 study of the pedestrian and bike paths around the current
National Naval Medical Center should start this summer and be finished
next spring, while building improvements for bikers and walkers could
start in September 2010 and take about one year. The study is being funded by a Defense
Department grant.
The study would look at either expanding or building new paths along Cedar Lane, Rockville Pike and Jones Bridge Road, and new signage and safety improvements for bikers and walkers in neighborhoods directly south of Navy Med and the National Institutes of Health. Gonzalez said the improvements' current ballpark cost is $5 million, compared to estimates from the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority of $14 million to $59 million for new access infrastructure to the Medical Center Metro station.
Technically, this study isn't part of the BRAC, but it would be impossible to ignore the impact of the base expansion in the study and planning. The study would look at either expanding or building new paths along Cedar Lane, Rockville Pike and Jones Bridge Road, and new signage and safety improvements for bikers and walkers in neighborhoods directly south of Navy Med and the National Institutes of Health. Gonzalez said the improvements' current ballpark cost is $5 million, compared to estimates from the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority of $14 million to $59 million for new access infrastructure to the Medical Center Metro station.
Local residents have questioned the effectiveness and long-term wisdom of several of SHA's [BRAC-related] possible intersection enhancements. They have pushed for alternative solutions such as enhanced bike and walking pathways.
Gonzalez said his department will study building a new path on Cedar Lane north of NIH; widening, relocating or otherwise enhancing the current path on the east side [WC: I think this actually on the west side] of Rockville Pike along the Navy Med campus; and possibly widening Jones Bridge Road or constructing a new path for walkers and bikers. Construction money would come from the county at the approval of the County Council.
In neighborhoods south of Navy Med and NIH, county DOT will study new
signage and enhanced safety measures to existing paths and roads, but
no construction will take place in these areas according to Gonzalez
This would create better connections to the CCT and North Bethesda Trail, but not really to Rock Creek. View Larger Map
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