Randolph Civic Association

If you are interested in Bus Rapid Transit on Rockville Pike, please attend one of the following BRT Corridor Study public open house events for an update:

• Thursday, April 28 from 6:30 – 8:30 at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (Cafeteria)
• Tuesday, May 3 from 6:30 – 8:30 at Gaithersburg High School (Cafeteria)

Both open house events will be identical with the same information displayed and presented. Download flyer with more information (PDF).

Mark your calendars. Musicfest is happening on Sunday, April 24th at a new location, 7 Locks Brewing on Wilkins Avenue. Join your neighbors for live music and great craft beer. Admission is free.

In late March, the RCA participated in roundtable discussions as part of a Technical Assistance Panel sponsored by the White Flint Downtown Avisory Committe on the topic “Identifying and Branding the Pike District.” This Technical Assistance Panel is a volunteer group of experienced individuals who have been assembled by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Washington for their relevant expertise. See the April 2016 Echo for a full write up on the event.  The Panel’s presentation slides available for download. (PDF)

May 3rd, 2015, 9:30am – 12:30pm
El Patio Restaurant | website |
Loehmann’s Plaza | 5240 Randolph Rd. Rockville, MD 20852 | map

Featuring music from neighborhood artists and great food!

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Our neighbors that live adjacent to the Montrose Baptist Church and Montrose Christian School on Randolph Road received the letter linked below. The Church and School is interested in a zoning change so the property can be sold and redeveloped with residential town homes. No public meetings for the zoning change have been scheduled yet. This would be a good time to sign up for the neighborhood Yahoo Group if you are interested in staying up to date on future developments.

Montrose Redevelopment Notice (PDF)

Updates to the proposed improvements for the Boiling Brook Parkway / Rocking Horse Road (BB/RH) intersection and the Boiling Brook Parkway / Schuylkill Road (BB/SR) intersection.

Boiling Brook Parkway / Rocking Horse Road

Here’s some follow up based on community feedback for the BB/RH intersection. I asked about putting stop signs in the intersection, and MCDOT was open to the idea, but expressed concern that additional stop signs might make the intersection worse. They would consider this for a potential future improvement. Some in the neighborhood called for stop sign cameras, but those have not been deployed in the State of Maryland. I asked about signs indicating that the stop was a 4 way stop, but MCDOT felt the intersection was too separated for those to be utilized. I had a few requests for traffic lights at the intersection. The RCA commissioned a traffic study about 5 years ago, and the intersection did not meet the minimum traffic requirements to warrant traffic lights. MCDOT was open to conducting another traffic study at the intersection this year.

I should reiterate that any changes will be made with temporary posts and markings, so they are reversible.

Per neighborhood feedback, the original plan was adjusted so that Rocking Horse Road as it approaches Boiling Brook will not be constrained to a single lane. In addition, the right lane on Boiling Brook heading towards Rocking Horse from Ashley will be marked with a right hand turn arrow.

The RCA is also working on increased enforcement at this intersection, and intends to engage the Charles E Smith School on this topic.

Boiling Brook Parkway and Schuylkill Road

For the BB/SR intersection, minor changes were made by adding a crosswalk across Boiling Brook, though a crosswalk should also be added across Schuylkill Road. In addition, the right hand lane of Boiling Brook will be marked with a right hand turn arrow. Some folks questioned the need for the bump-outs at this intersection, and I shared that concern with MCDOT. The bump-outs are necessary to properly implement the new traffic pattern.

That’s it for now; I’d encourage those of you interested in the discussion surrounding these intersections to sign up for the neighborhood Yahoo Group at http://randolphcivic.org/email. Thank you to those that are signed up and have shared their feedback. You may also share your feedback privately with me via email at chad@randolphcivic.org.

Join us Thursday, April 3rd at 8pm at the Veirs Mill Rec Center (map: http://goo.gl/maps/29wFk) for our next RCA General meeting.

We have special guest speakers confirmed from the Montgomery County Parks and Recreation Departments. They will speak to us about the future Wheaton Rec Center and future projects in White Flint: the upgraded Shriver Aquatic Center, Wall Park and the North Bethesda Recreation Center. In addition, we’d like to hear about how our rec center in Veirs Mill Local Park fits in to the County’s plans going forward. Should be a great conversation.

We will also be discussing the traffic improvements at the Rocking Horse / Boiling Brook intersection and the Boiling Brook / Schuylkill Intersection. Based on the feedback from this forum, I sent some follow up questions to MC DOT, and hope to have more information to share.

Last, but not least, there are elections. Hope to see you there.

Mark your calendars for a special RCA Meeting on May 1st at 8pm, at the Veirs Mill Rec Center (map). We have invited all of the candidates for the House of Delegates in our district, District 18, to attend our meeting. Each candidate will introduce themselves and then be available for individual questions from our community members. This is not a debate, but a great opportunity to interact with each candidate. We have confirmations from all of the candidates: Delegate Al Carr, Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher, Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez , Candidate Natali Fani-Gonzalez, Candidate Rick Kessler, Candidate Emily Shetty and Candidate Elizabeth Matory.

A long standing issue in our community is the daily frustration many of us feel as we try to navigate the Boiling Brook Parkway / Rocking Horse Road intersection. Several RCA board members spent a cold December morning monitoring traffic at the intersection with a member from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. It is clear that the intersection has issues. Unfortunately, given the location of the intersection with the creek, our options are somewhat limited. Below you can see the changes that DOT has proposed. Click through for a larger version. The changes are aimed at calming the traffic in the intersection and limiting some of the motions, which will hopefully make for a more orderly intersection. Any changes would be marked temporarily to gain feedback prior to permanent changes being made. Please share your feedback privately with me chad@randolphcivic.org or with the community on our Yahoo Group.