SILVER SPRING, MD – On
Thursday, the Montgomery County Planning Board will review the 2008 Highway
Mobility Report, which provides a comprehensive view of traffic conditions in
the county and recommends strategies to ease travel.
The annual update focuses
on both current congestion and forecasts future traffic conditions, measuring traffic
flow through intersections and corridors throughout the 496-square-mile county.
The
report identifies the county’s 10 most congested intersections, such as the daily
snarl at Great Seneca Highway (MD 119) at Muddy Branch Road, but also suggests
traffic relief projects – such as intersection improvements, grade separations,
and road widenings – to be considered by the Planning Board and County Council as
they review the county’s bi-annual growth policy and recommend capital project
priorities to the state. Among the relief projects, planners recommend bringing
bus rapid transit to chronically congested corridors. Bus rapid transit
provides a dedicated lane for express buses, allowing them to bypass traffic
jams.
To
identify the county’s most troublesome intersections, transportation planners
performed Critical Lane Volume (CLV) analyses for 422 intersections. The CLV analysis
relies on calculations involving traffic movement, traffic signal phasing and
other factors. Intersections landing on the list, ranked from most to least congested,
include:
1. Great Seneca Highway (MD
119) at Muddy Branch Road
2. Georgia Avenue (MD 97)
at Randolph Road
3. Frederick Road (MD 355)
at King Farm Boulevard
4. Connecticut Avenue (MD
185) at Jones Bridge Road
5. Rockville Pike (MD 355)
at W. Cedar Lane
6. Shady Grove Road at
Midcounty Highway
7. Norbeck Road (MD 28) at
Bel Pre Road
8. Connecticut Avenue (MD
185) at East-West Highway (MD 410)
9. Norbeck Road (MD 28) at
Avery Road
10. New Hampshire Avenue (MD
650) at Randolph Road
Planners
report some good news for the top 10, however. Improvements at two intersections
that made the 2006 most-congested list – Georgia Ave (MD 97)/Forest Glen Rd and
Frederick
Rd (MD 355)/Ridge Rd (MD 27) have reduced congestion levels intersections by 26
percent and 47 percent, respectively. Analyzing which intersections improved
helps justify the need for infrastructure improvements, planners say.
Two
intersections on the 2008 list will likely be improved as part of the National
Naval Medical Center base realignment project along Wisconsin Avenue, while two
others along MD 28 are slated for less traffic when the Intercounty Connector
opens.
The report also identifies roadways, or corridors, with high levels of traffic
congestion. Planners identified those corridors using lane analysis as well as
Global Positioning System (GPS)-based travel time and speed surveys. Congested
corridors include:
- Rockville Pike/Frederick
Rd (MD 355) - Georgia Ave (MD 97)
- Norbeck Rd (MD 28)
- Columbia Pike (US 29)
- Connecticut Ave (MD 185)
The future transportation snapshot is partly based on an analysis of traffic
within policy areas – which divide the county in 21 regions – and looks ahead
to the year 2012. Called Policy Area Mobility Review (PAMR), the method
forecasts future transportation demand and compares auto to transit travel. PAMR was recently adopted by
the County Council as part of the 2007 Growth Policy, which is updated every
two years. The traffic report recommends adoption of 2009 policy area
traffic mitigation requirements that would take effect July 1.
The policy area analysis
indicates that four areas – Germantown East, Gaithersburg City, Montgomery
Village/Airpark and North Potomac – will require full trip mitigation, or
actions that offset the impact of new vehicles on the road network. The growth
policy requires traffic mitigation in policy areas that tip the congestion
threshold before new development can be approved. In the report, transportation
planners also compiled a list of active or planned projects intended to relieve
congestion along some of those congested corridors.
Copies of the Highway Mobility
Report are available at Park and Planning Headquarters, 8787 Georgia Ave.,
Silver Spring, or access it online at
www.mc-mncppc.org/transportation/hmr/hmr2008.shtm.
The report includes a map of the 10 most
congested intersections.
WHO: Montgomery
County Planning Board
of draft highway mobility report
WHEN: Thursday, May 15, approximately 10:30 a.m.
Ave., Silver Spring, MD