QUICK! MOCO WANTS YOUR OPINION ON GOLDSBORO RD. BIKE PROJECT - IN 24 HOURS!

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation's Division of Transportation Engineering (DTE) has selected a "preferred alternative" for the Goldsboro Road Pedestrian and Bicycle Project in Bethesda. It is now soliciting public comment on the proposal - but made the announcement in a press release only 48 hours before the deadline for public comment. The deadline is Friday, August 29, 2014 (unclear if that is close-of-business, or midnight).

While the selected option took into account previous public input on the possible alternatives, 48 hours seems hardly enough time for the public to engage on this matter. The press release does not even say exactly how one is to provide feedback, but gives a telephone number (240.777.7279) and email for the project's manager, Greg Hwang. I've communicated with Mr. Hwang before on other projects in the county, and found him to be very helpful, so I'm sure he can point you in the right direction.

43 people attended a December meeting on the proposed facilities, and 61 out of 65 submitted comments endorsed one of the possible designs, according to the MCDOT. It is unclear how many of the 61 endorsed Alternate 2, which is the one chosen by DTE.

Alternate 2 (as illustrated above - click the image to enlarge) will provide two 11-foot automobile lanes, one 5' to 5.5' bike lane in each direction, one 5' sidewalk along the northern side of Goldsboro with a green buffer in-between it and the road, some similar sidewalk segments along the southern side, and street lighting. The design will only apply to the portion of Goldsboro Road between River Road and MacArthur Boulevard. A separate bike facility upgrade has been underway along MacArthur for some time, which included a recent striping of lanes, crosswalks and bike lanes near Glen Echo.

Overall, it sounds like a good plan. My only question would be, can we measure what the stormwater runoff impact of the added sidewalk pavement will be on the Minnehaha Branch stream, which flows alongside Goldsboro Road?

7900 WISCONSIN AVENUE BUILDING, SIDEWALK BLOCKED OFF (PHOTOS)

7900 Wisconsin Avenue, an office building slated for demolition in the coming months, has been barricaded with cones. The structure will be eliminated to make way for The JBG Companies' 7900 Wisconsin mixed-use project, featuring luxury apartments and anchored by a Trader Joe's grocery store.

Fitness First remains open on Wisconsin Avenue, but 7900 is vacant with a blank lobby directory.

It is unclear if this is a step towards placement of construction fencing, or to what extent the Wisconsin Avenue sidewalk will be impacted by the demolition and construction ahead. The cones are greatly reducing the sidewalk right-of-way. With the newspaper boxes in place, the open width does not appear to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements. Even walkers were having difficulty passing each other on the sidewalk Tuesday evening. Adjustments should be made to address this.

One other trivial point - the cones are labeled for Aldon Management, which operates several buildings in the Battery Lane area of Bethesda, including the venerable 8200 apartment tower on Wisconsin.

You can see how much of the sidewalk
is taken up by the cones and
newspaper boxes; not very
pedestrian or ADA-friendly

Now-vacant lobby of 7900

When all else fails, duct
tape is the answer

Aldon Management is a
hometown company

The lights are on, but
nobody's home

EXCAVATION BEGINS AT THE LAUREN SITE, SIDEWALK REOPENS (PHOTOS)

Give the developers and construction contractors of The Lauren ultra-luxury condos credit - they have reopened the sidewalk along the Woodmont Avenue side of the property. That's notable in a time when pedestrians are having a hard time navigating many streets in downtown Bethesda due to construction.

The debris of The Hampden apartments has been cleared, and the site graded. Now they are digging, and progress appeared to be made even further on that Sunday.

An open sidewalk - imagine that!

Condo owners will have
a service station-garage-style
auto lift option for their
parking space in
The Lauren's garage

THE FIX IS IN FOR FAIRMONT AVENUE SIDEWALK (PHOTOS)

BUMP!

Here is the final fix for the mismatched sidewalk mess on Fairmont Avenue. If you recall, the new sidewalk in front of the Bainbridge Bethesda luxury apartment tower turned out to be 5-6" higher than the adjoining original sidewalk along the street. Which immediately created a tripping hazard, and restricted access for the disabled, where the two met, and where the sidewalk met the surface between the public sidewalk and the doors of the storefronts.

A couple of creative ramps, and a sizable bump in the loading dock driveway, were the elements of the solution worked out by Bainbridge's contractor: