On Tuesday, October 9, 2018 from 6:30 PM– 8:30 PM at Bethesda- Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) Montgomery Parks and MCDOT will host a meeting on the Capital Crescent Trail Crossing at Little Falls Parkway.
The Capital Crescent Trail Crossing at Little Falls Parkway project focuses on developing a permanent, safer crossing for all trail users, and minimizing vehicular traffic delay. Montgomery Parks hosted the first Community Meeting on June 13, 2018. After receiving public feedback, staff have developed concept alternatives which will be presented. The public can review each plan, ask questions and comment before or after the brief presentation.
This past June, they presented 12 alternatives for improving the crossing and after comments they're now coming back with more detailed ones.
The 12 options were broken into 3 types. One group would create a controlled intersection either by moving the trail crossing to one of the nearby cross-streets or by adding a traffic light at the crossing. Another group would grade-separate the trail. And finally others would put Little Falls Parkway onto a road diet or even close that stretch of road entirely. You can see the designs here (if you go to the June presentation, it's confusing because there are a lot of errors. Many of the images are mislabeled and some designs are presented repeatedly with different names. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't noticed when presented or corrected before being posted. Seems like the bare minimum).
They also presented improvements that are already in the pipeline. That includes (1) a trail connection along Little Falls Parkway and Hillandale Road, to the existing trail to the Norwood Recreation Center (2) an improved crossing of Hillandale where that trail connects (3) a new trail on the other side of Hillendale up to the Capital Crescent Trail.
Of the alternatives presented, I think the grade separated ones and the one with a closed section of the parkway are the safest, but the closed section one is unlikely to be approved. Moving the trail to Hillendale or Arlington Road is a non-starter, IMO.
I like the underpass, seen below, and think it has some possibility of happening.
The roundabout may be the most interesting, and perhaps they could combine the two.
But alternative 8, closing the parkway for that block, would without a doubt make for the most pleasant, safe and useful trail.
While I would love an overpass or underpass for the trail, I am not sure the County will fund it. I am not sure why you don't like the reroute to Hillandale or Arlington. A similar reroute existed at Connecticut Ave. for the Georgetown Branch Trail for years. Yes, it required a slight detour and stopping your bike, but I don't see why that is a problem or a hardship.
Posted by: David Kathan | September 28, 2018 at 11:44 AM
What makes the trail great is that its a straight shot from Bethesda to G-town. This will really hurt pedestrians more than cyclists. Who wants to walk/run an extra 100+ yards? If they moved the trail they would need a Trumpian wall to keep people from find ways to cross on foot in the current spot. It would probably be even more dangerous than it is now.
Posted by: Turtleshell | September 28, 2018 at 11:58 AM
A similar reroute existed at Connecticut Ave. for the Georgetown Branch Trail for years.
Yeah. And it sucked. Rerouting sucks. Stopping sucks. People will commute for ~30 min. Add 1 minute to their trip and you reduce the number of people who will bike commute by 3%.
Posted by: washcycle | September 28, 2018 at 01:07 PM
Reroute to the HIllandale signal probably makes the most sense. Maybe they can do it before the last stanchion is broken off.
I have the minority view of a cyclist who goes through the area on LFP and I get a lot of hate these days, when I claim the remaining northbound lane at Hillandale. It's good for my sprint, but it would be nice to have the lane back, and closing the pkwy would be a PITA. Personally, I don't mind riding through traffic circles, but I'm strange.
Posted by: Smedley Burkhart | October 01, 2018 at 02:16 PM
A reroute is a recipe for problems. I like the traffic circle option a lot.
Posted by: Crickey | October 04, 2018 at 11:10 AM