Consultants at the Starting Gate for Rockville's Pike

> Last week at the Kick-off Meeting for Rockville’s Pike: Envision a Great Place, the consultants hired by the City for this process explained some basic principles in the areas of transportation, retail economy, and urban design. I genuinely enjoyed the presentations and believe the information is useful beyond the Rockville Pike discussion.

Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin will be focusing on the transportation component of the plan. Their lecture was jam packed with information, not unlike the Pike jam packed with holiday shopping traffic. Basically, roads stay while people and land use change. We were shown pictures spanning 100 years to demonstrate this principle. Making Rockville Pike bigger will not solve any problems because the zoning would wind up changing with it. The most efficient road is one lane in each direction with a left turn lane. Also the most efficient speed limit is 25-30 miles per hour, because if it is higher the cars are further apart and if it is lower there are less cars moving through. Places need to be connected by a network of efficient roads not one large road. Choices need to be given so residents can go in different directions and not be held hostage by one street.

Right now, Rockville Pike is successful as low-density retail shopping. Economic Research Associates explained that this will continue until the land under the retail becomes more valuable and then there might be an opportunity for change. Aging corridors fail when they don’t adapt. Senior citizens and “millennium kids” both have an interest in being able to walk and find services close together. The market never dictates if there is a good, strong plan in place. ERA will help us determine what is possible from an economic perspective.

People probably came away hearing different messages about urban design from ACP – Visioning and Planning. But what I heard is that if the Pike is to be successful, it would need a broad range of housing options for people of all ages and economic backgrounds, open space for spontaneous and organized activities, and buildings designed to be sustainable in the future. They emphasized that the absolute best places have great sidewalks. When you visit a place you are impressed by what you can see from the sidewalk.

After considering what these consultants first presented, it will be quite interesting to see the final result of the process 18 months from now.

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