Solutions that ease traffic and make White Flint safer, connected and accessible

A new White Flint is the solution to traffic on Rockville Pike.  Our plans are bold – $500 million of targeted infrastructure enhancements – so that mobility will improve throughout the area and the community can Take Back the Pike, transforming it into a world class 21st Century Boulevard.

Significantly, approximately 80 percent of the infrastructure investment will be funded solely by the private land owners 20 percent by the public sector, using new tax revenues7 generated specifically by the commercial development in White Flint.

The new Rockville Pike “boulevard” will keep the same number of lanes it has today, but also include a landscaped median, tree-lined sidewalks and dedicated bus and bike lanes, all of which will make White Flint more inviting to pedestrians going to the White Flint Metro Station and cyclists commuting to work or play.

Meanwhile, speed limits will be reduced to more efficiently move traffic through the area. Studies have consistently shown that speeds of 30 to 35 mph are most effective at handling automobile volume, with the added benefit of improved traffic signals timing, and Rockville Pike’s notorious stop-and-go of speeding up for short distances and then coming to a grinding halt at the next light.

Finally, the Pike will become the centerpiece of the new White Flint instead of the barrier that it is today.

We must reinvent White Flint with a new street grid that improves the community’s access to public transit and encourages participation in newly created street life. Our plans for the commercial core of White Flint will create 10 additional east-west car lanes and six additional north-south car lanes.  This critical investment to create walkable street grids will provide alternate routes for local trips for residents and free up room on the Rockville Pike for commuters.  This will also work to further reduce cut-through traffic in existing neighborhoods.

For a detailed analysis on traffic and solutions for the Pike see the Transportation Plan.

Ultimately, traffic will not dissipate until we provide the community with practical and reliable alternatives. The new White Flint must be focused toward making public modes of transportation more accessible and inviting.

Among the public transportation enhancements we are proposing are:

• A new north entrance to the White Flint Metro at Old Georgetown Road;
• Removal of the Metro turn-around at Grosvenor, which will dramatically improve Metro service to White Flint.
• Dedicated bus lanes that can be converted to a Vehicular Rapid Transit System or Light-Rail at a future date; and,
• A new MARC commuter rail station within the sector plan.