Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Many attendees of the Land Use/Transportation Committee of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board meeting on Monday night agreed that more bus service is needed between these neighboring urban centers.
What's the quickest way to get from Friendship Heights to Bethesda? If you're taking public transportation, you could take Metrorail or the bus—but the bus will take a bit of time, even though the neighborhoods are close and have a direct highway—Maryland state Route 355—connecting them. At a meeting of the Land Use/Transportation Committee of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board on Monday night, Phil McLaughlin, manager of operations and planning for the county's Ride On bus service, said that it's a 15-minute trip from Bethesda to Friendship Heights on the No. 34 bus, and that the bus runs every 15 minutes every day. But many attendees at the committee meeting shook their heads, saying that the buses only run about every…
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Many see the proposed hiker-biker path for the east side of Wisconsin Avenue as a pointless project requiring the loss of too many trees. Others see it as a way to increase connectivity between Friendship Heights and Bethesda.
The 8-foot-wide paved path proposed for the east side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda elicited both cheers and jeers from a standing-room-only audience that packed the Town of Somerset Town Hall on Monday night. The audience had gathered to hear Maryland State Highway Administration officials and Montgomery County Council Member Roger Berliner speak about the project, which is intended to be a shared-use, hiker-biker path along the so-called Wisconsin Avenue 'Green Mile,' much of which runs alongside the Chevy Chase Club. The path was proposed by some Chevy Chase residents, including some from Chevy Chase Village, many years ago, and has been in the county's master plan for some time. As Wisconsin Avenue is a …
Friday, September 7, 2012
Opposite the "Green Mile," the sidewalk on the western side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda is well-shaded.
Opposite the "Green Mile," the sidewalk on the western side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda is well-shaded.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Five decaying elm trees along Wisconsin Avenue come down this week for reasons of safety.
Maryland State Highway Administration crews worked this week to remove five decaying elm trees along the east side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda—the so-called "Green Mile" along which a sidewalk is slated to be built. The Administration determined earlier this summer that the trees needed to be taken down for reasons of safety. "Many [of the trees being taken down] have large branches hanging over the roadway close to traffic and have been struck numerous times by vehicles, creating a public safety risk for motorists and pedestrians," according to a state highway administration news release. Tree removal is scheduled to be completed, weather permitting, by Friday, Sept. 7. Read more about the tree removal on …
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Removal of five elms along Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda is scheduled to start Wednesday, Sept. 5.
Five large, decaying elm trees from the "Green Mile" are slated to come down this week, weather permitting. The elms line the east side of Wisconsin Avenue (Maryland state Route 355) between Cumberland Avenue and Norwood Drive (adjacent to the Chevy Chase Club's property), and are part of the Green Mile—a stretch of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda that is known for its mature trees. The Maryland State Highway Administration is planning a sidewalk along that path. The state highway administration's "recent evaluation of the trees resulted in this decision to remove them," according to a state highway administration news release. "Many [of the trees] have large branches hanging over the roadway close to traffic and …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Crosswalks are not included in the sidewalk planned for Wisconsin Avenue, critics note.
Construction of the "Green Mile" sidewalk appears to be a done deal, Town of Somerset Council members agreed at this month's council meeting. To construct a sidewalk along this tree-lined stretch of northbound Wisconsin Avenue—Maryland state Route 355—between Friendship Heights and Bethesda, 120 trees and 255 shrubs likely will need to come down, according to plans from the Maryland State Highway Administration. "A lot of trees need to come down ... and removing some of the trees could enhance the lifespan of those that are there, [Maryland State Highway Administration officials] say," Town of Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin said at Somerset's August council meeting. Council members from the Town of Somerset—which is across Wisconsin …
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
With its bright orange markings, this Wisconsin Avenue tree doesn't stand a chance.
To make room for a sidewalk, more than 50 trees likely will need to be taken down from the "Green Mile," which runs along the east side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda, according to Maryland State Highway Administration plans. Some of the trees are old or decaying, and are already marked for attention, such as the tree pictured here. Read more about the Green Mile on Chevy Chase Patch:
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A sidewalk on the eastern side of Wisconsin Avenue between Bethesda and Friendship Heights has long been part of the master plan, council president says.
The impending end to more than 50 trees along Wisconsin Avenue to make room for a sidewalk has been making headlines. But, the 'Green Mile'—the tree-lined, eastern side of Wisconsin Avenue (a state highway) between Friendship Heights and Bethesda—has been marked for a sidewalk for many years, explained Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner to Patch. "We take our master plan very seriously, and it was something that was thought to be a very important pedestrian link. It is part of our master plan. So, it's hard to say that the state highway has done something wrong in going forward with the sidewalk." The sidewalk, as currently planned, will be about 8 feet wide. The Maryland State Highway Administration's plans carefully mark…
Friday, July 6, 2012
Town of Somerset Council members discussed the pros and cons of taking a formal stance on the construction of a sidewalk along the eastern side of Wisconsin Avenue between Friendship Heights and Bethesda.
At July's Town of Somerset Council meeting, council members discussed possible town responses to the Maryland State Highway Administration's plan to build a sidewalk on the eastern side of Wisconsin Avenue between Grafton Street and Bradley Lane. This strip of state highway, which runs between the northern edge of Friendship Heights and the southern part of downtown Bethesda, has a sidewalk only on the western side, adjacent to the Town of Somerset, the Village of Drummond and Chevy Chase West. But there are still several bus stops on the eastern side of the street, which is without a sidewalk. That side of the street, adjacent to Chevy Chase Village and the Chevy Chase Club, is lined with trees, and is known as the "Green Mile." Building …
Monday, July 2, 2012
What your friends and neighbors are saying on Chevy Chase Patch.
Chevy Chase readers were outspoken in weighing in on the most recent local news headlines. The stories that created the most buzz were about a Wisconsin Avenue sidewalk and perennial bad traffic. Have a topic you’d like us to cover this week? Email Editor Laura L. Thornton at laura.thornton@patch.com. Sign up for daily news updates from Chevy Chase Patch here. Will the 'Green Mile' of Wisconsin Ave. Lose its Green? "A walkway would be nice and it could be done without tree removal but whenever it's gov't planned, it has to be X wide, leaves no buffer between pedestrians and speeding motorists, and defeats the purpose. So if the sidewalk will destroy the beautiful golden mile, then no. If it's that important, then come up with a way to have…
Robert Smythe
10:42 am on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Yes, more buses, hopefully ones that burn natural gas instead of dirty diesel. The proposed Purple Line would be a huge misallocation of scarce funds that would likely become another ICC -- an environmentally destructive, underused, enormous waste of money that could be better spent on reasonable traffic solutions such as buses. For the price of the Purple Line these buses could and should be … more ›