The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) will conduct new safety studies on parts of two Bethesda roads where a retired Navy SEAL was killed while riding his bicycle and a 95-year-old woman was killed crossing the street last year.
The studies could lead to new safety features on the roads, according to Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn. For the short term, the SHA is partnering with Montgomery County police to place mobile speed readers that will display vehicle speeds to drivers on River Road and Massachusetts Avenue near the sites of the two fatal crashes, he said.
Tim Holden, the former Navy SEAL and Bethesda resident, was killed Aug. 28 when he was hit from behind by a vehicle while riding his bike in the marked shoulder of Massachusetts Avenue near Goldsboro Road.
Marge Wydro, the 95-year-old woman who lived on Springfield Drive, was killed Oct. 21 when she was struck by a vehicle while trying to cross River Road to Kenwood Country Club, where she was headed to take part in a regular duckpin bowling league.
The deaths sparked what organizers called a “Day of Action” in November during which local elected officials and residents asked a SHA engineer to lower speed limits, enhance crosswalk safety and add speed cameras to Massachusetts Avenue and River Road. Many at the event also held signs on the side of Massachusetts Avenue near Little Falls Parkway asking drivers not to text while driving.
On June 20, Rahn wrote a letter to County Council member Roger Berliner, District 16 state Sen. Susan Lee and District 16 Dels. Bill Frick, Ariana Kelly and Marc Korman announcing the SHA will collect pedestrian and traffic data on both roads in response to the concerns aired during the Day of Action event.
"It is an encouraging development but the proof is in the pudding," Berliner said Thursday. "I think we have their attention. I think the collaboration with our state delegation and the call for action has demonstrated there is value when people take to the streets. Now, we just have to cross our fingers that the secretary is good to his word, which I think he has been in the past, and that they really very seriously look at these corridors and make some improvements."
Rahn said SHA engineers will collect traffic and pedestrian counts, review existing traffic control devices, analyze the most recent three-year police-reported crash data and perform field observations near the River Road and Springfield Drive intersection and on Massachusetts Avenue from Goldsboro Road to the Washington, D.C., line at Westmoreland Circle. The studies should take about 90 days, he said.
At the November Day of Action event, some residents who live around Massachusetts Avenue asked SHA officials to install traffic signals or blinking lights at the nonsignalized pedestrian crosswalks on the road, which provide access to the neighborhoods, a church, Little Falls Library and Westland Middle School.
According to state law, drivers must stop at the crosswalks if a pedestrian is attempting to cross. Residents claim drivers rarely do. On Nov. 3, during the Day of Action event, that was evident as drivers failed to yield for people in one Massachusetts Avenue crosswalk even as a few dozen people gathered on the west side of the road.
A few drivers didn’t even stop for county police Capt. David Falcinelli, the commander of the Bethesda-based 2nd District, as he attempted to cross the road in full uniform to take part in the event.
Berliner suggested at the event the SHA consider placing LED lights in the roadway to alert drivers a pedestrian is crossing, a method that has been applied in Washington, D.C., but is not in the state’s manual for pedestrian safety treatments.
On Thursday, he said he hopes the studies of Massachusetts Avenue and River Road help the SHA open up to newer pedestrian safety methods and devices.
“I really do leave it up to our engineers to come up with the best way to improve safety,” Berliner said. “As the secretary stated, safety is their number one priority. If that’s true, then I do believe these corridors will be improved.”
