GGW rails on pedestrian conditions near White Flint

[Scrabbleship]

Two stories from this week that might clarify the urbanist/transit fan divide, both from GGW regarding conditions near White Flint station.

1: The 3' high by ~150ish' long median wall near the NRC, which blocks access from the C8/81  terminal to the Metro gets attacked for being pedestrian unfriendly.

2: The recent development of the parcel between the Metro and the garage has led to a long, unlit scaffolding on the North side of Marinelli Road that has local residents feeling unsafe.

And this is what Montgomery County hopes will be the next Bethesda or Silver Spring? None of this makes the "redevelop White Flint" movement look good, IMO.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

And this is why I don't really care for GGW and the bloggers, since their suggestion of how to improve the situation is not any less dangerous than the status quo (DISCLAIMER: I haven't been up by the White Flint Metro entrance in years).  OK, so maybe a fence like what existed on Wisconsin Circle (and might still exist there) would be preferable to a wall.  But the government agency there might now require a wall instead of a fence.  Let's not ignore all the possibilities.  Montgomery County may have not had a choice about that. 

Does the wall have the "keep right of median" black on white sign?  If not, put that in (but it appears to from the photos).  What exactly is wrong with the current crosswalk?  I'm not sure exactly how far it is from the C8 stop to the corner right now, but I wouldn't want a bus stop too close to that corner considering how many cars and buses are making that right turn and then might find a stopped bus in front of them. 

Also, GGW ignores or isn't aware of the the history behind the situation there.  There used to be a bus loop (and large surface parking lot) on the west side of 355, right where the underpass ended.  Now the Marriott stands there.

EDIT:  The Wisconsin Circle median has a chain running its length that prevents crossing, but also has plantings.  The previous median just had a 5-6 foot high fence with some trees in the middle every so often.

[Scrabbleship]

Side facing Rockville Pike has the sign, Side downhill on Marinelli does not. IMO, it'd have made more sense to put a wall on the sidewalk at NRC than on a random median if it was tota

I think articles like this demonstrate the disconnect between bloggers (who are more often than not urbanists) and the powers that be who see a totally different picture; two other topics that appear frequently on GGW are objections to concrete bollards put up for the sake of the "illusion" of security and of snow fencing in Rock Creek Park to keep people off of the grass. It also might demonstrate a generational disconnect as a lot of said voices are relatively young.

[Sand Box John]

Scrabbleship
It also might demonstrate a generational disconnect as a lot of said voices are relatively young.

You got that one right. I when to GGWs meet and greet in Hyattsville last Thursday, I found vast majority of those in attendance to be under 30.

[Scrabbleship]

Scrabbleship
It also might demonstrate a generational disconnect as a lot of said voices are relatively young.

You got that one right. I when to GGWs meet and greet in Hyattsville last Thursday, I found vast majority of those in attendance to be under 30.

I'd adjust it a bit more to under 35, maybe under 40 tops. When I went to the first meet and greet (RFD, February '09), Jim Graham was a special guest and he was probably the oldest person in the room next to the people from ACT (Ben Ross and company) by 10 years.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Well designed bollards can fit in very well with their surroundings and are an effective security measure.  I suggest these people take a field trip to Israel and see how that can be done properly before declaring it to be merely an "illusion."  We can even play now, do you see the defenses against a suicidal truck driver whose vehicle is laden with a bomb in these photos?





Getting back on topic, you could put one on each curb, but I think you could still get some adventerous people who might hop them and cross mid-block anyway, and you would need to create openings in the barrier for the bus stop, which means now people can cross there if they use that opening.  I think the number of people who would try scaling an obstruction in the middle of the street is practically zero.  If the goal is to prevent mid block crossings (and other considerations such as aesthetics are totally ignored), one guarantees success, the other does not.

[Sand Box John]

Scrabbleship
I'd adjust it a bit more to under 35, maybe under 40 tops. When I went to the first meet and greet (RFD, February '09), Jim Graham was a special guest and he was probably the oldest person in the room next to the people from ACT (Ben Ross and company) by 10 years.

This meet and greet was no more then a dozen. Only a couple of people, excluding myself, were over 30.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

How many people typically attend these sorts of things? 

[Sand Box John]

WMATAGMOAGH
How many people typically attend these sorts of things?

This was my first, so I can't say. I would guess there were more folks at the one attended by Jim Graham.

I only went to this one because of its convenience to the location I was at when I finished my daily courier run.