Carderock Springs Citizens' Association

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Traffic Calming

In an attempt to slow traffic on our neighborhood streets, the community approved and the county installed effective bumps on Lilly Stone Drive.  The county gave other traffic-calming options for Fenway Road which were not approved by the community.  Many thanks to the CSCA Traffic Safety Committee for their perseverance and diligence.  The following includes various updates from the CSCA Traffic Safety Committee:

May 2018 Traffic Safety Referendum Results

The Traffic Safety Committee reviewed the referendum data and reports that there were 148 "No" votes with respect to permanent islands and 72 "Yes" votes.  Of the 569 households, 220 voted in the referendum (217 online and 3 paper ballots).  Of the 232 votes received, the committee found that 12 were duplicates and thus the referendum attracted 220 votes or nearly 40% of eligible households.  In addition to the referendum question, the survey did allow voters to provide comments concerning their choices as well as provided an opportunity for them to share thoughts about other measures to improve traffic safety.  The comments can be reviewed here:  April 30 Referendum Comments. 

At the May 6 annual meeting, the traffic safety committee will be pleased to answer questions about the referendum and the tally. The committee wants to thank CSCA Data Base Manager Stephanie Land for her assistance in reviewing the votes and determining eligibility.  The commitee will also summarize some of the survey comments received from residents about traffic safety.

April 2018:  County Traffic Safety Data and Referendum 

This month, the Carderock Springs Citizens Association's (CSCA) Traffic Safety Committee (Don Goldberg, Jane Roth, Amy Taylor, Bill Draper, and Stefan LoBuglio) will conduct a referendum among residents about their support for the installation of permanent traffic islands on Fenway Road as a traffic calming measure.  Click on the link above to vote.
 
The CSCA Board has indicated that it will be guided by the results of this referendum to advise the Montgomery County Department of Transportation about whether there is resident support for the installation of permanent islands.  If a majority of survey respondents of eligible residents express support for permanent islands, the CSCA board will ask the County to proceed with the next steps in designing and installing permanent islands.
 
By way of background, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation installed two "trial" islands on October 13, 2017 on a section of Fenway Road between Still Spring Court and Magruder Mill Court for a period of four months.  To assess the effect of the trial islands on vehicle speed, the County collected speed data on Fenway Road shortly after the installation of the trial islands and shortly before they were removed.  The County also provided speed data on Fenway Road that had been taken nearly a year and a half before the period of the installation of the trial islands. 
 
The County’s speed data report is available here:  County Trial Island Speed Data Report.    The County engineer assigned to this project summarized the data as follows (note that “Location B” refers to a measuring location between the two trial islands):
 
" A comparison of the data collected at Location B on Fenway Road prior to and during the trial calming reveals a reduction of vehicle speeds ranging from 0 to 10% along the northbound roadway and 0 to 9% along the southbound roadway. Interestingly, the only periods that realized no speed reduction was on weekends. Overall, the speeds tabulated [during the four-month trial island period ] fall below the criteria set forth in the county speed hump Regulation. Vehicular speeds and volumes compiled along Lilly Stone Drive during the trial period were found to be at or below those compiled prior to the trial period." 

The "trial islands" were flexible fiberglass stakes (Qwick Kurb type delineating system) that with pavement markings were installed by the County to simulate the alignment and positions of permanent concrete islands. 
 
The permanent physical islands would be concrete structures measuring ~18 inches wide, 40 feet long, and 6 inches high with mountable curbs. The permanent physical islands would have reflector posts installed on them and would be accompanied by pavement markings in their vicinity.
 
About the April 2018 referendum
 
Each household served by the association will be allowed one vote.  All valid submissions must contain names and addresses.  In the case of multiple submissions, only the first submission will be counted.
 
The data collected by this survey will be accessed by the Traffic Safety Committee and tabulated.  Individual household responses will not be publicly reported.  Email and telephone information is requested to authenticate submissions in cases of questions.
 
Paper ballots can also be submitted as an alternative to completing this online survey.  The paper ballots can be downloaded here (Paper Ballot Download) and will also be available at the club house.  Once completed, they can be returned through the pass-through slot in the club house office's exterior window facing the parking lot.  
 
All submissions must be received by midnight on Monday, April 30, 2018..

February 2018 Update:  The Traffic Safety Committee will be conducting an additional survey of residents.

October 2017 Update:  County Plan for Fenway Road Trial Islands
 
On October 13th, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (DOT) installed the below trial islands and temporary pavement marking tape on Fenway Road between Still Spring Court and Magruder Mill Court:

From the DOT:  "The trial period will be extended to run for four months, instead of three months.  The four-month trial period will run from late October 2017 through late February 2018.  During this trial period, DTEO will conduct a one-week speed and traffic volume study.  The data will be collected at three different locations in advance, within, and after the area marked with trial islands.  All data and analysis collected will be provided to the Carderock Springs HOA to assist the community in making a determination on whether to proceed with the installation of permanent physical islands."

Note:  The permanent physical islands would be made out of concrete which would be ~18 inches wide with mountable curbs and 40 feet long.  The permanent physical islands would also have reflector posts installed on them.

August 2017 update:  The "Fenway Road Safety Survey #2: Trial Islands" results are linked below.  In summary, 62.78% of the survey respondents are in favor of the trial islands, and 37.22% of the survey respondents are opposed.  Because the majority of the respondents are in favor, the CSCA Board voted to endorse the trial islands.

Click here for the Survey #2 results 

Here are two concept plans of the DOT's trial islands:

1. Trial islands concept plan (aerial view)
2. Trial islands concept plan (pedestrian view)

"Fenway Road Safety Survey #1" RESULTS AVAILABLE - April 2017:

Thanks to the hard work of Stephanie Land, the CSCA Data Manager, we have processed the results of the "Fenway Road Safety Survey" which was conducted in February and posted them below.  We are pleased that 233 responses were received, out of a total of approximately 550 households in the CSCA database, which represents a very strong response.  Thanks to all residents who completed this survey which provides a much more complete picture of the sentiments in the neighborhood regarding traffic calming than we have ever had.

There are three separate documents summarizing these results.

1. Survey Monkey Global Survey Results
2. Report 1 -  Fenway Road Impacted Respondent Results
3. Report 2 – Detailed Fenway Road Resident Responses

The Board reviewed the results of the Survey Monkey Global Results and Report 1 – Fenway Impacted Respondents at its March meeting and had the following initial reactions. We did not receive Report 2- Detailed Fenway Resident Responses until the week of April 2, so have not as a Board arrived at any final recommendations.  The preliminary reaction of the Board to the results of the first two reports are:

• It is clear that no matter how the survey responses are viewed, a clear majority of respondents feel that there is a safety issue on Fenway Road for pedestrians, bikers and/or drivers.
• In addition, a clear majority of respondents feel that the Montgomery County DOT or the Police should install one or more of islands, pavement markings or speed cameras.
• Of the three available traffic calming measures, speed cameras appears to be the most favored, with clear majorities of all respondents supporting.
• Fenway Road residents had a clear dislike of pavement markings, and no other group appeared to support these with clear majority; accordingly, the Board is not inclined to pursue pavement markings as an option.
• Traffic islands appeared to represent the most divergent of the options in terms of support or lack thereof, with higher levels of strong agreement and strong disagreement.
• If islands are a chosen option, clear majorities support installing temporary “trial” islands first, followed by a second survey to determine whether there is support for the permanent islands.

Latest information from the MC Police as of April, 2017:  The MC Police concluded that Fenway Road does not qualify for speed cameras.  But, they are working on a NEW traffic calming option called electronic speed boards.  For info on the boards, please click on #1a below.

Our CSCA Traffic Safety Committee has linked the following resources for your convenience:

1. MC Police Captain Didone's letter from early February, 2017 Captain Didone of the MC Police investigated Fenway Road in early February.  He wrote a letter to the community which we linked above.  He wrote, "I observed that Fenway Rd. is a relatively long and rolling residential road which I believe is sorely in need of roadway enhancements... Some of the residents perceive that there is potential for traffic collisions and I concur with their assessment... In conclusion, I strongly encourage the Carderock Springs community to support the trial DOT roadway treatments."
   1. The  "Traffic Safety Measures Comparison" for Fenway Road as of April 25, 2017.  It is a working summary to date of our collaborative efforts with the DOT and the MC Police.  It includes the viable and non-viable options for traffic safety measures and the reasons why or why not they are in their respective categories.  Also, it includes an analysis of the safety effectiveness, parking impacts, and driveway/landscaping/trees impacts of the various viable options.
   2. "Frequently Asked Questions" for Fenway Road as of January 10, 2017 
2. The "key" to the April and October 2016 MCDOT traffic studies linked below
3. The April 2016 MCDOT traffic study on Fenway Road (SB - southbound)
4. The April 2016 MCDOT traffic study on Fenway Road (NB - northbound)
5. The October 2016 MCDOT traffic study on Fenway Road (SB - southbound)
6. The October 2016 MCDOT traffic study on Fenway Road (NB - northbound)
7. The DOT Presentation from our CSCA meeting on Oct. 17, 2016
8. The "Traffic Safety Committee" Presentation from our CSCA meeting on Oct. 17, 2016
9. The FHWA report on traffic calming's objectives and issues
10. The FHA and ITE report titled "Traffic Calming:  State of the Practice"

Note:  The DOT presentation from October 17th listed above was presented by Emil Wolanin, the Deputy Directory of the DOT and Kyle Liang of the DOT.

The Traffic Safety Committee (Julie Weber, Karen Roman, Bill Moore, and Bill Draper)