Shady Grove Sector Plan
Transportation Focus Group II - November 19, 2002

Attendees:
John Compton, Mayor, Washington Grove
Shelley Winkler, Washington Grove Resident
Scott Kubly, WMATA
Pam Lindstrom, Gaithersburg resident
Sandra Marks, City of Rockville
Ollie Mumpower, City of Gaithersburg
Terrence Hancock, State Highway Administration
Gary Erenrich, Montgomery County, DPWT

Sue Edwards, Karen Kumm, Claudia Kousoulas, Sandy Tallant, Community-Based Planning
Tom Harrington, Dan Hardy, Transportation

The meeting was a continuation of the October 22 Transportation Focus Group discussion. It began with a review of the planning process and transportation issues in the planning area.

Transportation and Land Use in Shady Grove

There is a continuing change in center point of jobs in the region. Jobs are no longer focused on downtown and are moving to mid-County, I-270 area. Trip lengths are getting shorter, even if time is getting longer. A downtown-focused transit system will not adequately serve future needs.

Does it make sense to assign a jobs/housing ratio in an artificially defined place like the Shady Grove Planning area? Shouldn't the jobs across the street at the King Farm be considered? (The relatively small Shady Grove Planning Area has a jobs/housing ratio of 5.4, 13,576 jobs and 2,548 housing units.)

Land use and transportation decision in the I-270 Corridor are having an effect on traffic patterns.

Need to carve a niche out of existing uses at Shady Grove to create an urban village that is supported by and supports transit improvements.

What are the transportation goals in Shady Grove, moving people to, from and through the area? These goals should be defined and kept in mind through the planning process.
(The Shady Grove Purpose and Outreach Report outlines some of these goals.)
An end of the line station has certain strengths, bringing riders to the core, and that should be considered in land use decisions. Regardless of land use, people will still drive to station, but nearby residents are more likely to use Metro.

The challenge of this plan will be resolving the tension between established industrial uses and the demand to put housing in this location. The Plan needs to determine what Shady Grove should be.

What is the market demand for housing and the need for affordable housing? (According to participants in the Housing Focus Group, there is high demand for affordable and lower priced market rate housing.)

Transit Efforts

County DPWT's transit effort is focused on capturing long distance commuters onto transit as soon as possible after they enter the County. They are trying to coordinate and expand park-and-ride lots with bus service.

Residents want to reduce the traffic commuting through the area. Expanded Metro service (not necessarily a rail expansion) to Metropolitan Grove connecting with the CCT should be an actively studied option in this Plan.

MARC service is limited and doesn't effectively extend the line beyond Shady Grove. However, it would be efficient to extend along that line, supplementing trains with buses to provide midday service.

MARC operations should be reengineered to meet potential service demands. MTA is doing a MARC master plan. Improved service creates a real transit option that supports an urban village development pattern.

County DPWT is reviewing the WMATA CIP and believes the plan is inadequate since it doesn't solve the turn-back problems at Grosvenor Station, doesn't recognize the CCT or the inner purple line, and places Maryland priorities at the Wilson Bridge to PG County.

Metro's 10-year CIP calls for expanding yard and shop space at the Shady Grove Station. But should end-of-line yards be the standard? Are there innovative construction techniques that use less land (reserving it for other uses) while still allowing maximum use of train cars?

An end-of-line yard minimizes "dead-head" hours (non-revenue generating trips), and the maintenance yard is already in place at Shady Grove. Expanding there keeps industrial use in one area.

Need also to consider parking: garages at Metro and for residents. Should apply rail-volution ideas in this plan, such as shared parking and techniques to reduce parking demand.

Consider orienting and connecting bus/HOV lanes along ICC and I-370 directly to Metro station, over Shady Grove Road, creating a direct link for riders and giving them a time advantage over single occupancy vehicles. Consider also a similar route for general traffic, with a parking deck over Metro yards.

ICC and Regional Road Options in Shady Grove

Among the various options for east-west road improvements between Norbeck and Shady Grove, a new ICC right-of-way is the only option that improves local traffic in the Shady Grove area. Using existing roads to handle increased traffic flow only worsens congestion on local roads. All the alternatives, however, are equally alarming.

Since Shady Grove would be an access to the ICC at I-370, Shady Grove Road would carry more traffic.

This plan should make direct statements and proposals to deal with the ICC's impact on the already limited capacity of local roads.

SHA is making a number of transportation improvements, including the CCT study and some intersection improvements in the area. The Gude Drive intersection improvement for congestion relief is being considered for study as a full-fledged interchange. Currently Gude carries a lot of east/west traffic, but has no connection to I-270. Though it seems like it's working, should it be a priority? Is it worthwhile to build an interchange.

The County is widening Shady Grove to six lanes, to be completed by June 2004. A noise wall study has been discussed, but there is little room to install the walls.

Local Road Issues

Vehicles speed along Shady Grove Road.

The idea of MD 355 as a boulevard is good, but in reality it serves as a through route and through movement needs to be maintained. However, it should be viewed as a slow, urban road and its design should not encourage fast traffic. The Plan should examine the engineering feasibility of running MD 355 as an underpass at King Farm Boulevard, and consider the same for portions of Shady Grove Road. Undergrounding is the most expensive option.

Through Gaithersburg, MD 355 is be redesigned to better accommodate pedestrians. The redesign creates an urban boulevard with a median replacing the center left turn lane. It is also planned to have urban-style sidewalks, an eight-foot bikeway on the west side, and lights timed to ease pedestrian crossings. So far, these improvements have been made site-by-site as properties redevelop. The City is exploring the best way to complete the renovation. They want to make it a state priority.

City of Rockville has been working with SHA on pedestrian-friendly signal timing on MD 355, which has been a challenging balance of local and regional interests.

It's almost impossible for pedestrians to cross Shady Grove Road and MD 355 at the King Farm due to light timing.

All new grid streets proposed in the 2000 charrette should be built with a slow design speed: raised intersections, narrow lanes, neck-downs, and other pedestrian-friendly, traffic calming devices.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Environment

County DPWT is working with WMATA to make bike connections to Metro and is looking at bike improvements along Shady Grove Road.

Need serious treatment of bike access to Metro, including from the west side of the Station, along and across MD 355 from the King Farm, and from Derwood to the Rock Creek Trail.

Within the King Farm there are bike routes along King Farm Boulevard and a series of other routes that connect to the Millennium Trail, Rockville's "bicycle beltway. "

Also need to provide bike facilities in the short term, rather than waiting for 10 or 20-year life of master plan. Bike facilities also need to be provided up front as an incentive to change behavior. They should be given primary attention in timing, safety, and convenience to encourage use. The Plan should create a short-term action list of bicycle improvements.

Metro stations with good bike access make a measurable increase in Metro/bike use. In-place trails build use. Falls Church Station in Arlington has one percent of riders coming in on bikes, which is a significant number of users. It is surrounded by an extensive system of trails and doesn't need a large parking garage, though it isn't an end-of-the-line station.

Consider turning I-370 into a surface road with bikeways and an intersection with Crabbs Branch, making it the start of a comprehensive bike system and creating an east/west connection through the station for bike, pedestrians, and vehicles.

Also make bike connections to the residential community along Crabbs Branch south of Redland Road.

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