Rockville’s “Pike” Dream [UPDATED]

At last month’s community meeting, Gianni Longo, the consultant who worked on the draft Envision Report for Rockville Pike, asked “Do you share with me the feeling that this is an exciting thing?” After showing a picture of Barcelona’s Passeig de Gracia, he emphasized that Rockville could have such a time-tested place. The multi-way boulevard was invented 100 years ago to separate local and through traffic. Such a boulevard would have a “WOW” factor as a special place while keeping Rockville Pike viable and improving mobility.

Looking back, Rockville Pike was two lanes then four, then the Metro came along and you have the traffic-packed Pike of today. The adoption of the Envision Plan concepts along with the implementation of congestion management strategies and partnerships with property owners could lead to quality development over time.

But what does this mean for local businesses? In the short term, not much. This is a plan to be implemented over the next few decades. When the economic situation improves, Mr. Longo insisted “Doing nothing is not an alternative” because traffic on the Pike is at critical volume. One local business owner on Rockville Pike asked me if I’d gone to the unveiling of the Envision Report. She was concerned because the owner of her building said they would redevelop the site in line with the new vision. I’m sure there are many other business owners who are anxious about the process after investing in the infrastructure for their current location.

Others have expressed a fear at losing the special shops and stores on the Pike. Rents will certainly be higher for businesses in new mixed-use developments like Town Center. But change is going to happen and the City wants your opinion on how we should guide it.

On Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at 7 PM in City Hall, a public meeting will be held by the Planning Commission and there will continue to be many ways to respond about the draft plan.

What on earth is the District Form Code in this Envision Report?

It would regulate building in the Rockville Pike corridor in a new way. The meeting next week will include a presentation on the form code as well as a question-and-answer session. The meeting will be broadcast on Rockville Channel 11 and available on the City’s website after the presentation.

The Form Code is a vision, a way to insure a specific form we want the Pike to take. There is less of a focus on land use and more of a focus on the design of the buildings along each street, so that building facades will be consistent and the buildings will relate to each other. The Code will have all the elements found in a master plan but each will be determined by the type of street.

Where should the Bus Rapid Transitway be located?

During the community meeting, Joel Mann from AECOM explained the bike-transit lane proposal. From curb to curb the Pike would be the same as it is now with added access roads on the sides. The idea is to bring transit as close as possible to the retail. During the question and answer segment, Nancy Breen said the Bike Advisory Committee had discussed the use of a duel bike-bus lane and felt the professional bus drivers would be on a predictable schedule so it could work.

[UPDATED] To our south, the White Flint Sector plan uses contains two transitway options - #1 is side lanes and #2 is a center lane. so the draft Envision Report is not compatible. The City Staff are keeping an eye on the process. Obviously a consistent vision will have to be adopted for this State road before any improvements can be made across jurisdictions.

[UPDATE: The White Flint Partnership hired their own consultants and are advocating for center lanes but Montgomery County's Park and Planning originally had "bus priority lanes" on the sides. Below is a view of the two options in the White Flint Sector Plan.]

Here’s how the White Flint Partnership described the plan on our City’s borders in Center lane BRT is best bet for White Flint-Rockville Pike Corridor :

The White Flint 21st century boulevard concept provides a center lane dedicated transitway separating rapid transit vehicles and their ridership from negative vehicular movements, traffic accidents and needed emergency vehicles at the same time providing pedestrians a safe haven as they cross the Boulevard.

What else is proposed for traffic?

Let’s face it, most people are not going to get out of their cars. The draft Envision Report includes ideas about extending the traffic grid as an alternative to the Pike. An extension along Jefferson Street on the west side is the best possibility in the south section. Connectivity with the Twinbrook Metro would be important since the surrounding area would anchor the development. Smaller main streets would allow parking by businesses with side streets providing access to parking garages.

How can I give the City my opinion?

There are three ways to present testimony to the Planning Commission:

In writing, by letter addressed to the City of Rockville Planning Commission, c/o Long Range Planning, CPDS, 111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Md., 20850. Please include your name, address and, if applicable, affiliation.

By e-mail to [email protected] Please include your name, address and, if applicable, affiliation.

In person, at the Planning Commission Public Hearing, on Wednesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue.

What kind of Pike do you want in the future? Nows the time to tell our officials.

Share and enjoy:

Hide Sites