The company behind a large redevelopment plan for Westbard Avenue in Bethesda says its traffic studies show congestion won’t be made significantly worse if it’s allowed to build out its proposal.
Equity One, which hopes to develop 250,000 square feet of new retail space and 500-700 new housing units under the Westbard Sector Plan, released consultant Wells & Associates’ findings at some of the area’s key intersections.
Many who object to redevelopment in the area fear new housing units will only bring increased traffic at intersections along already congested River Road — especially because the area isn’t within walking distance of Metro and has limited bus options.
Equity One consultants surveyed critical lane volumes (CLV) in May 2014 and applied a formula based on historical trends for the area and the estimated traffic impact from the soon-to-be opened Bethesda Intelligence Community Campus.
“The final analysis shows that even with all of these changes, the identified intersections will still allow traffic to flow at a satisfactory level measured against the nationally recognized standards employed by the county,” Equity One announced on its website earlier this month.
The announcement included existing critical lane volumes at 14 intersections as surveyed in May 2014 and estimated future ones. Wells & Associates determined the measure wouldn’t surpass the critical lane volume standard of 1,600 vehicles.
Still, there would be large increases at intersections such as Westbard Avenue and River Road, where the existing CLV of 853 vehicles during the evening rush hour period would be increased to 994. At Westbard Avenue and a reconfigured Ridgefield Road, the a.m. CLV would increase from 573 vehicles to 716 and the p.m. CLV would increase from 511 vehicles to 907.
As part of the Westbard Sector Plan rewrite, the county Planning Department will do its own traffic analysis.
“Given that they will be using data obtained on different days, it is likely that there will be some discrepancy in the numbers they report in comparison to ours,” Equity One said, pointing to how the Planning Department will consider traffic impacts of the entire sector, not just Westbard’s redevelopment plan.
Via Equity One
