Tuesday, July 8, 2014

County Addresses Comments Received on Plyers Mill Traffic Calming Project



CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COUNTY'S RESPONSE TO COMMUNITY COMMENTS

On Friday, March 21, 2014, Montgomery County Department of Transportation attended a community meeting organized by members of the Kensington Heights Civic Association, McKenney Hills - Carroll Knolls Civic Association, and Plyers Mill Road residents.  At the meeting, Montgomery County officials Jeff Dunckel, Seifu Kerse, and Rick Earp discussed with residents plans for improving pedestrian safety by constructing traffic calming features, sidewalks, and enhanced pedestrian crossings on Plyers Mill Road between Drumm Avenue and Georgia Avenue.  Experience with traffic calming projects at other locations in Montgomery County has demonstrated that traffic is slowed to posted speed limits with a resulting decline in pedestrian collisions.  With the decline of speeding and the addition of new improved pedestrian facilities, communities report - - and pedestrian crash data confirms - -  traffic calming projects result in much safer and more walkable communities.  

The County posted plans for the Plyers Mill traffic calming project previously on this site, and residents were asked to provide comments.  The County has addressed the comments provided, and a response can be viewed here.  Based on community feedback, the County has revised the plans.  The revised plans can be accessed at the links below.

Plyers Mill at Brunswick
Plyers Mill at Douglas
Plyers Mill at Drumm (1)
Plyers Mill at Drumm (2)
Plyers Mill at Maybrook (1)
Plyers Mill at Maybrook (2)
Plyers Mill at Saint Margaret

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the Project Manager, Seifu Kerse, at seifu.kerse@montgomerycountymd.gov.  

20 comments:

  1. Is there someone else to whom I can direct my issues and concerns regarding this project, as I am getting no reply to my questions from the project manager, Seifu Kerse? Thank you.

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    1. Dear Rebecca:

      Thank you for your comments regarding the draft traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road between the Town of Kensington and Georgian Avenue. We appreciate your input and concerns for traffic and pedestrian safety.

      We are continuously following up all the comments which are posted and will address them in a timely manner. The input from you and your neighbors is valuable to make the planned traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road much better and effective. Please continue to be involved in the process.

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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  2. We live on Plyers Mill Road and are concerned with proposed changes to narrow the road in an attempt to "calm" traffic. Plyers Mill Rd is a Snow Emergency Route. If an emergency is declared, which occurred twice this past winter, it is illegal to park on these emergency routes. During this past winter's snowstorms, our neighbors & we were diligent in moving our cars off the road to facilitate clearing for emergency vehicles, even when a snow emergency wasn't formally declared. But now Montgomery County is planning to install permanent, immovable structures on this street, in the areas where we were told we could not park during a snow emergency. So, it appears the law regarding keeping snow emergency routes clear is a farce. Snow plow trucks are unable place snow tightly against a curb; this past winter there were 12-18" of snow piled up next to our curb, in the street, which made it impossible to safely park in the parking lanes in front of our homes. Placing an island & concrete bumpouts in a line across Plyers Mill Road will unsafely narrow the driving lanes, particularly if we continue to have winters as snowy as the past one. Placing these structures across the road in such close proximity to the school and park will also cause a bottleneck at those points, resulting in a backup of traffic at the start of the school day, in the afternoon when school is dismissed, and during soccer season when multitudes of cars are dropping off/picking up soccer players and spectators. I feel this traffic slowing plan using an island, concrete bumpouts and flex poles to narrow Plyers Mill Road endangers Montgomery County residents who rely on fast emergency responses; drivers who use Plyers Mill Road, including school buses and parents picking up their children from the school; bicyclists; and the many residents who use Capital View park for soccer, sledding, and other recreational activities. In fact, concrete bumpouts caused so many problems and accidents in our previous communities in Columbus Ohio
    that they were removed after a few years. Surely there is a better, safer method of controlling traffic than placing obstructions on a road that is an emergency route and main thoroughfare for Kensington/Silver Spring, Montgomery County.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Rebecca, we had a public meeting at the end of March at Oakland Terrace elementary school where we invited the county to come in and present the plan and answer questions. I made a point of putting flyers on every house on the street so people could attend. Seifu was kind enough to come and answer questions. These bump out's will in now way impede the ability for a snow plow to come down the street.

    And I disagree that Plyers is a main thoroughfare. It is a residential neighborhood that has many people cutting through who do not respect the speed limit and the fact that families live on this street.

    As for fast emergency response the road bump outs that the county has designed allow for the EMT vehicles to drive down the street unobstructed.

    These traffic calming measures are important so that we are able to keep the speed down on the road so that we can reduce the chance of a kid from the elementary school from getting hit by a speeding car. In my 12 years living on the road I have seen no less that 6 major accidents in front of my house including a flipped car. For a residential road that has a 30 mile an hour speed limit in a residential neighborhood we need to calm the traffic in a big way and this is a first step.

    I am happy to discuss further on the facebook page we set up. https://www.facebook.com/PlyersMillRoadCoalition?ref=hl

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  5. I understand you had a public meeting and we did get the flyer. But we had other responsibilities and were unable to attend the meeting on that date. That's why I'm trying to get answers about the plan, because the maps that have been posted do not have a detailed key.

    I understand the need to control speed on a busy road near a school/park. But there are other measure that can be used, rather than turning the road near the park green space into a concrete jungle. I'm wondering if anybody on the committee or at the DOT researched the problems other communities have had with the concrete structures, including communities that have had them removed. I was told that speed bumps will not be considered because "people don't like them." Of course people don't like them, because they force drivers to slow down! Supposedly speed bumps are not permitted on arterial streets (Plyers Mill is considered an arterial street, not a primary residential street) but there are speed bumps on the Kensington part of Plyers Mill Road. Why not install speed cameras? Why not an increased presence of law enforcement? I see no less than 3 drivers, many with children in their cars, making U-turns on this "No U-turns" section of Plyers Mill every day at the start and end of school hours and during soccer season, but have never seen a driver pulled over for that infraction in front of our house.

    I will be happy to post my request for more information on the Coalition site. But you saying that you disagree with me will not convince me that 2 concrete bumpouts and an island lined up across a section of Plyers Mill Rd to narrow the street is a good plan. I would like answers to our questions from the engineers and official coordinators who are making the plans and decisions. We have been so far unable to reach them via email, as instructed above.

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    1. Dear Rebecca:

      Thank you for your comments regarding the draft traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road between the Town of Kensington and Georgian Avenue. We appreciate your input and concerns for traffic and pedestrian safety.

      We are continuously following up all the comments which are posted and will address them in a timely manner. The input from you and your neighbors is valuable to make the planned traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road much better and effective. Please continue to be involved in the process.

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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  6. This past weekend my husband & I marked out the proposed concrete bumpouts and islands in front of our house with boundary cones and chalk, using the plan posted on this site. Our neighbor to our west and we are very concerned that we will not be able to safely exit our driveways using the current plan labeled “Plyers Mill at Maybrook”. As it is, we have installed a turn-around drive in our front yard (it is not a parking pad, as one of the committee members wrongly assumed) because we feel it's necessary to exit our driveway facing forward to the road. We cannot safely back out of our driveway due to heavy traffic and reduced visibility, and it is next to impossible to back up into our driveway from the road at certain times of the day due to the volume of traffic. Therefore, we use the turnaround for our own safety and that of others. The only time we park on the turnaround is during a Snow Emergency when we are required to remove our cars from Plyers Mill Rd.

    As we suspected, it will be extremely difficult to make a right turn out of our driveway, towards Kensington, with the reflector poles and the island in the proposed locations. To avoid hitting the reflectors & concrete curb, we must drive forward, we cannot make a sharp right turn out of our driveway. When we drive forward, though, there is barely enough room to avoid hitting the island with our front left tire or hitting the reflector with our left front bumper. We also found that it will be extremely difficult to back out of our driveway (for contractors, delivery trucks, visitors who will no longer be able to park close to our house) to head toward Georgia Avenue because of the location of the island and reflector poles, and next to impossible to thread a vehicle between the island and the concrete bumpout across the street. We can’t even imagine how we’ll enter Plyers Mill from our driveway, and how cars will flow smoothly through that area, when there are a few inches of snow piled up against the curbs of the islands and bumpouts.

    (continued in next post)

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  7. We’re hoping there can be another solution to calming the area of Plyers Mill between Maybrook Avenue and Maybrook Place. During the almost 2 years we’ve lived here, we’ve observed pedestrian and vehicular traffic on a regular basis, at all hours of day, evening, week and weekend. There are, at most, 5 children who walk past our house on this side of the street after school; and those children cross Plyers Mill at the crosswalk next to the school where there is a crossing guard, as they should. Besides our neighbor who takes her dog to the park, pedestrians cross the street near our house only if they’ve parked their cars in front of our house during park activities. Pedestrians from blocks north, east and west of us cross Plyers Mill at Maybrook Place or Maybrook Avenue. Pedestrians who park their cars along the north side of Plyers Mill for park activities aren’t going to walk half-way down the block to use a crosswalk to get back to their cars, especially when the parking spaces in the immediate area will be eliminated by the concrete bumpouts and rerouting of the street. They will cross at the area where their cars are parked, as they do now. We’re baffled as to why a crosswalk is planned for that area where there has been very little pedestrian traffic. Also, installing structures that will cause a bottleneck of traffic during the highest school and park activity hours at one of the most congested areas of Plyers Mill doesn’t seem like a practical, safe solution to the problem, for reasons I’ve stated in previous posts.

    I encourage the engineers and others that are a part of this Plyers Mill project to park your car in front of our house and observe the traffic flow after school and particularly during high volume park activities on Saturdays and soccer evenings. Please, mark out the proposed structures that are planned for the road in this area; pull into our driveway with your cars, vans and trucks; and try exiting in both directions, heading forward and backing out. Try doing this during school dismissal and on soccer Saturdays and busy evenings. Sometimes the best laid plans may look perfect on paper but when it comes to implementing them, they turn out to be terribly impractical and faulty. We feel this is the case with the proposed plan for Maybrook (2).

    Thank you for reading our concerns. Our neighbors will also be contacting you via email and regular post to express their concerns and reservations about the Maybrook (2) proposal.

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    1. Dear Rebecca

      Thank you, for your concerns for traffic and pedestrian safety along Plyers Mill Road. Your input is valuable to us and the community at large. We will investigate your concerns and take appropriate actions based on the findings.

      Sincerely,

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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  8. I do not support this project and foresee it causing more problems and not solving the speeding problem.

    I've visited and photographed several examples of unsightly and poorly maintained curb extensions and traffic islands. Many of these were poured concrete slabs with zero esthetic value. I have contacted Seifu about this concern. There was clear evidence of vehicles hitting these structures leaving bent and missing plastic pylons, metal signage and deteriorating concrete. This proposed project is expensive to build, expensive to maintain over the years and quite frankly, an eyesore.

    A curb extension and island are planned in front of my property and I have simulated entry and exit from my driveway and have determined that it will be more difficult and unsafe. Entering my driveway with a tailgater close behind who is pinned in between these structures is not safe.

    The complete loss of off-street parking where these are built will send visitor vehicles in search of free spaces up and down the block. I also agree that snow removal will be made more difficult and inefficient, which is bad news for a county snow emergency route.

    A couple of years ago when it was proposed to seek county help to slow traffic I supported the effort by asking for a combination of stop signs and speed bumps. I understand these proposals were turned down. I cannot support this proposed plan because it will be expensive, unsightly and unsafe for some of us and cannot hope to slow down the actual speeders who use Plyer Mill Road.

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    1. Dear John:

      Thank you, for your comments regarding the draft traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road between the Town of Kensington and Georgian Avenue. We appreciate your input and concerns for traffic and pedestrian safety. Yes we exchanged emails and I thought we were finally on the same page.

      We are monitoring all the concerns and compliments posted on the blog and will address all in a timely manner. The input from you and your neighbors is valuable to make the planned traffic calming plan for Plyers Mill Road more effective and aesthetically pleasing for all road users including pedestrians. Please continue to be involved in the process.

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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    2. Dear John,
      Thank you for posting your excellent comments on this issue. Our neighbors and we are mailing our comments to members of the MCDOT because we're not sure if anyone other than Mr Kerse, who has been gracious enough to reply here, is reading them.

      The address for Seifu Kerse and for Jeff Dunckel (MCDOT Pedestrian Safety Coordinator) is:
      100 Edison Park Dr. , 4th Floor
      Gaithersburg MD 20878

      The address for Arthur Holmes, Director MCDOT is:
      101 Monroe St., 10th Floor
      Rockville MD 20850

      The deadline for submitting comments is April 30. We encourage you and your neighbors to also submit your comments and concerns in writing to the above addresses. Thank you.

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  9. As the deadline for comments draws near, I'd like to add one last comment regarding the Traffic Calming plan for Plyers Mill Rd. I will split this comment into two sections because of character limitations on these blog posts. In the almost 2 years we’ve lived on Plyers Mill Road, we’ve come to realize that those of us who live in the houses directly across from Capital View Park are very cognizant of community members, including the children, who use this street. We do not park our vehicles on the south side of the street, adjacent to the park, unless absolutely necessary, because we know it's much easier and safer for parents to line up/park in those spaces when they pick kids up from the school. We also accommodate people who use the park for a variety of activities by leaving that parking lane free for their use. We're very diligent in moving our vehicles off the road when it snows, even when a Snow Emergency is not declared, to facilitate clearing of this arterial route for emergency vehicles and traffic. We feel it's a part of being responsible citizens of this community and Montgomery County…our unwritten code of observing and respecting the needs of others. Therefore, my husband and I cannot support a plan that hinders an easy, safe flow of traffic and eliminates parking for the people who use the school and park, and for those of us who live here, who bought our homes in part because there was safe, convenient parking nearby. We fail to see how installing structures that will force drivers to repeatedly circle Maybrook/Jennings/Plyers Mill while searching for parking or while waiting to pick up students/park goers, that will cause a bottleneck in one of the most congested sections of Plyers Mill, can be considered safe or positive for anybody concerned.
    (continued in next post)

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  10. In the Montgomery County Pedestrian Safety Initiative developed by Isiah Leggett, Strategy 7 is “Modify Behavior through Enhanced Enforcement and Education.” We believe enforcement of the law should include accountability from the people who break the law, but this Traffic Calming plan does not do that. Signs on Plyers Mill claim this is a Speed Camera Corridor. They also state that fines will be doubled between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm on School Days. But drivers on this road know that the speed is not being photo enforced, and that they won't pay a standard fine, let alone a double fine, because no one is enforcing the speed limit! There is definitely not “enhanced enforcement.” And the same will hold true for the proposed obstacles being planned for this street. Drivers will quickly learn that it's easy to maintain your speed while swerving between concrete curbs without slowing down, especially when they never have to stop at the proposed crosswalk in front of our house because there will rarely be pedestrians using it. Drivers will continue to speed up between traffic calming structures, to make up for time they'll lose while being caught in a bottle neck during school dismissal and busy sports days at the park. Their behavior won't change, they won’t stop speeding, because they aren't and won't be held accountable for their actions. They won't suffer consequences of breaking the speed limit laws. However, those of us who live in these homes, who pick children up from school, who use the park, will be suffering the consequences of impractical and ineffective measures installed to slow those drivers. The value of our home will be diminished because of lack of parking and because our neighborhood, which we care about and chose after a nine month search for a home in Montgomery County, will become an ugly collection of battered concrete and chipped metal poles. We realize that the road is public property, that we are not “owed” the parking and the pretty view which we now have, that the County is not responsible for our continued happiness or contentment in our home and neighborhood. But the County does have a responsibility toward our safety and welfare and, in our opinion, this proposed plan does not facilitate that responsibility. There must be a better solution to stop, educate and hold accountable the speeding drivers on Plyers Mill Road, and we're asking the experts involved with this plan to please reconsider and come up with a more practical, effective solution!

    Thank you for taking the time to read our concerns and comments.
    Rebecca and Dan Stanton

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    1. Dear Rebecca:

      Thank you for your April 23. 2014 comments regarding the draft traffic calming plan along Plyers Mill Road. We appreciate your continued effort to make Plyers Mill Road much safer for pedestrian and all roadway users.

      The Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations will evaluate all inputs and concerns of the community in finalizing the plan. Please continue to be involved in the process it helps us and the community in improving traffic and pedestrian safety along your neighborhood streets.

      Again thank you, for your concerns and interest in pedestrian and traffic safety.

      Sincerely,

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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  11. I am apposed to the proposed Traffic Calming plan for Plyers Mill Road. Montgomery county should turn this speeding problem into an asset. Place speed cameras and collect the fees instead of spending precious tax dollars to ruin Plyers Mill Rd. traffic flow and create more congestion. I would like the fees collected used for improving Homewood-Capital View Park. The park could use water fountains, restrooms, a picnic table, gazebo, multi-use perimeter trail, and a small covered outdoor stage with amphitheater. The local property values would be raise substantially and there would likely be a greater sense of community for local residents. The unrealized potential of the park is too great to ignore. A few park enhancements funded by speeders' fees and the tax money saved by not paying for more unsightly concrete and signage is better for the future.
    Respectfully,
    Dan Stanton

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    1. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Stanton:

      Thank you for your April 24. 2014 comments regarding the draft traffic calming plan along Plyers Mill Road. We appreciate your input.

      The Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations will evaluate all inputs and concerns of the community in finalizing the plan. Please continue to be involved in the process it helps improving traffic and pedestrian safety along your neighborhood streets.

      Again thank you, for your concerns and interest in pedestrian and traffic safety.

      Sincerely,

      Seifu Kerse
      Traffic Engineering Studies Section
      Division of Traffic Engineering and Operations

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  12. The Plyers Mill Road claimed it's 1st Victims this morning.......My Neighbors car was parked in front of my House My wife's car in front of his a neighbor across the street attempt to back from her drive way and a person coming in the opposite direction lost control of his car and struck the parked neighbors car pushing it in to my wife's car This is not going to be the 1st time and certainly won't be the last......This is unacceptable and if have to legal action will be tken

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  13. I love the fact people are talking about Pedestrian Safety and Standards. This is a great forum and Montgomery County should be proud in taking the initiative and doing this.

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