Transportation: Intersections
Deborah DeYoung
Mgr., Public and Government Relations, AAA Mid-Atlantic
Tuesday, October 28, 2003; 11:00 a.m. ET
Much of the metro area's traffic congestion occurs off the major highways and on local roads. Many intersections have become bottlenecks, often carrying twice the traffic they were designed to handle. (Transportation Special Report)
Deborah DeYoung, manager of public and government relations at AAA Mid-Atlantic, was online Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. ET to talk about intersection backups which affect tens of thousands of motorists daily.
A transcript follows.
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Deborah DeYoung: Good morning, and thanks for inviting me on-line! As the AAA club in the town where congestion is among the nation's worst, we were delighted to see the terrific work Katie Shaver and her colleagues at the Post did for this week's series on common-sense solutions. We do need more roads -- according to our members, and virtually every expert who looks at the situation. We also need more transit options. But this is the first time in a while that anyone has focused on simpler steps that are just as important. So let's get started!
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Washington, D.C.:
As highligthed in the Post series, I think that all of us would appreciate anything AAA can do to push simple, common sense solutions to traffic problems.
Here's my insanely easy, no-brainer -- Many of of the streets I drive on in downtown D.C. HAVE NO LINES/LANE DESIGNATIONS. And, I'm not talking about one or two lane streets, but big three and four laners (examples: M Street between Thomas Circle and Conn.; 21st Street; and 15th between Eye and K). Plus, it's not like they've been recently repaved. Most have been like this for years.
As a result, at the intersections you have one or two jagged lines of traffic which invariably include someone planted directly in the middle who's trying to make a left or right turn and holding up everybody.
Can you PLEASE embarass the District into dealing with this?
Deborah DeYoung: Hello neighbor! As someone else who lives in the District, you've hit on a pet peeve of mine -- please add the main drag through Chinatown to your list. It drives like it's been shelled, and shifts from two to three lanes without warning. . . even leaving one lane to end darned close to head-on traffic.
As for embarassing the District, it's got a remarkably high shame threshhold -- but we will do what we can. Thanks for spotting and spotlighting this very simply fix!
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Laurel, MD:
Is there any truth to what Dick Armey used to say about how traffic lights in the metro area have insufficient yellow time (the length of time a light is yellow before turning red)?
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Laurel! The former Majority Leader and economics professor is a pragmatist, and took a special interest in DC traffic. Federal standards give cities guidelines for how long the yellow light must last, but it certainly seems like DC pushes too hard on the lower limit. Towns like Hollywood have won kudos from all sides by adding a little time to their yellow lights -- especially when they consider them for placement of red-light-running-ticket cameras. When the lights are too short, drivers are easy marks for those money-makers. And even when there's not a camera, short-timing yellows crank up the stress on the roads.
But the biggest problem is intersections -- that's where 44 percent of all crashes occur: 2.8 million every year. They result in 8,500 deaths and 1.5 million serious injuries -- making yellow lights especially important. When it's too short, it leaves drivers in the intersection -- or provokes the impatient ones into speeding through when the light changes from green. This is a congestion problem, but it's a far bigger safety concern.
Thanks for pointing this out!
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Washington, D.C.:
Today's paper spoke about a few intersections where traffic flows will be corrected. Another candidate is eastbound Canal Road at the intersection with the Whitehurst and Key Bridge, where two lanes must turn right, leaving only one lane continuing east onto M St. This creates a huge backup on Canal for cars wishing to pass the Whitehurst, but then turn right onto Key Bridge (not to mention cars coming off the Whitehurst and attempting to enter Georgetown, blocking the right-hand lanes). How can I find out if this intersetion is under study, or recommend that it be looked at?
Deborah DeYoung: Good morning, Washington! This intersection is another strong candidate for early attention. It's not only maddening to drivers -- the pedestrians and business people in Georgetown can't be happy about it either. Bill Rice at the DC Department of Transportation may have the answer -- e-mail him at bill.rice@dc.gov. Or get in touch with the business association: they are especially active in Georgetown. Good luck, and let us know if we can lend any support to a worthy cause!
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Alexandria, Va.:
Much of the traffic congestion in the metropolitan area is a function of lazy police. We see aggressive driving and illegal maneuvers all around us every day; these maneuvers back up other people and weigh down our roads system. These maneuvers happen because we know the probability that we'll be pulled over for any such infraction is exceedingly low. You'd think with the budget crunches across the area that the police would be more aggressive in a bid to raise revenue.
Deborah DeYoung: Hey Alexandria! Oooooh, don't think you'd catch us calling area law enforcement lazy, but they certainly do have their hands full. The approach of choice seems to be enforcement "waves," where area police band together to crack down on aggressive drivers, or speeders, or HOV-lane cheaters. But you're right -- we sure could use some more garden-variety law-and-order on the roads!
It has been interesting driving Virginia highways and comparing them to Maryland, though: seeing Maryland troopers stopping speeders and aggressive drivers is a regular thing, but it's far rarer in Virginia -- at least when I've been on the road. The result is traffic often flows at 75-plus to the south, and closer to 65-plus in the Free State -- but it's also a lot more rambuctious when police aren't visible.
As for raising revenue, we can expect to see the automated enforcement cameras at work all over our region soon -- in DC, they're used to catch both speeders and red-light runners (and raise millions of dollars). They're being tested against aggressive drivers too.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
A major cause of intersection backups in my experience is spillback -- drivers entering an intersection who get stuck there when the light changes, preventing the cross-traffic from moving with their light. It's no secret where these intersections are -- 14th and Constitution, 6th and N.Y. Ave (directly adjacent to a police station), North Capitol and Missouri, etc. Why can't the D.C. Police post an officer at some of these intersections to keep traffic moving? D.C. did a terrific job of traffic control during the power outage after the recent storm, why not dedicate a few officers to intersection control in non-emergency times?
Deborah DeYoung: Hello Silver Spring! I hear you on this -- AAA Mid-Atlantic's Washington office is around the corner from 14th & Constitution, and it sometimes takes 20 minutes to drive just a few blocks because too many motorists are blocking the box. And you're absolutely right about how far a little police presence would go, in the form of an old-fashioned traffic cop.
The problem with every aspect of traffic is that we just haven't made it a priority. It's not as pressing as getting back on our feet after Hurricane Isabel -- wish it were, because you're right about the superb job the city and police did coping during the power outage. It's not deemed as important as solving murders -- which kill half the number of people who die in car crashes every year, many of them preventable deaths. And it pales in comparison to other priorities -- even though we spend another 10-20 percent of our work day stuck in traffic.
Police can't solve it all, but AAA Mid-Atlantic would join you in getting them dispatched to problem intersections. Thanks for the old-fashioned, but very good, idea!
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Fairfax, Va.:
We have heard the encouragement to ride the Metro, and commute every day by Metro. We live in walking distance from the Vienna Metro. We find it nearly impossible and dangerous to cross Nutley Street or Lee Highway as a pedestrian without almost being run over by cars, some turning right on red, others simply ignoring the Walk light that should protect pedestrians. If we provided digital film pictures of the cars in action, would this help you get some help for us as pedestrians? We are tired of the lip service by Metro officials and politicians on the board. Instead of walking, we now drive to the Metro, using the insufficient number of parking spaces our politicians and metro have provided.
Deborah DeYoung: Hello diligent Fairfax commuter! Maybe area transportation authorities should take a page from the Post, and put an ombudsman on the job to troubleshoot problems like the one you describe. You've got 100 people who live further out, and miss using your parking spot at Metro, banging their heads! As in Silver Spring, maybe a police officer or two could bring some order to the chaotic -- and dangerous -- situation you describe?
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Gaithersburg, Md.:
We all know that we have a major traffic problem in this area. All I hear from governmental leaders is that building roads is not the solution. OK, If that's not a solution -- I can accept that.
I'd like to know what the solution is. Saying that public transportation is the solution is a cop-out because NOTHING is being done.
What can we do in order to reduce the expected total gridlock we will have in the next 10 years?
Thanks for your time.
Deborah DeYoung: Good morning Gaithersburg! There is no solution -- or at least no one, silver bullet. Many of the roads on the drawing boards 50 years ago were never built, and population growth in the region has outstripped every planner's wildest imagination.
AAA Mid-Atlantic firmly believes that roads are an essential part of the solution -- and that whatever else is added to the mix, planners need to face the fact that people are moving to our region with or without sufficient transportation to handle everyone's needs. One example of the "just deal with it" suggestion is bus-rapid transit: instead of light-rail that takes years to build, lay on modern buses in lanes devoted to their use in the areas where they are needed. . . and keep up with the population shifts, so these transit schedules remain relevant, instead of relics of some past era.
A full range of ideas, including those in this week's Post series are all worth trying too. With our heavy traffic volume, even a few percentage points means thousands of people. For example, because of Metro and other transit systems, we spend 125 million hours stuck in traffic -- instead of 176 million. That's an extra 14 hours per person, making the time we waste per year average out to 34 hours.
Those statistics are from a terrific study done annually for the federal government by the independent Texas Transportation Institute. You can find it on the web, along with ideas like the ones in which you're interested. Good luck, and welcome to the quest!
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Silver Spring, Md.:
I agree with the comment about lazy police. One thing that could be stopped is HOV violations if police would wait at entrance ramps, stop entering cars, look inside, and deny access to those cars that are not legit.
Deborah DeYoung: Hello Silver Spring! Actually, two months ago police started doing just that in Virginia, where HOV cheaters make up about 25-40 percent of everyone in those carpool lanes! Part of the problem is there are too many exceptions to the law (for law enforcement of every stripe, even some federal employees who are stretching it to say they're entitled to drive solo). Another part is there is a fine for cheating, but no points are added to your driving record -- and some companies are just taking care of their employees when they're caught. But Virginia police are hopeful this new push will be a deterrent, and set an example for Maryland and other jurisdictions.
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Takoma Park, Md.:
Deborah,
I've researched "Flexcar" recently -- would car-sharing clubs work well for residents in the D.C. area and other major cities to combat congestion?
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Takoma Park -- I'm a Zip Car member, because it seems like the perfect solution to me, and I think Flexcar has a similar approach. It posts cars at Metro stations; Zip Car puts them near offices and neighborhoods. It would help congestion, certainly, and it would start to change people's ideas about driving. The old way -- get in the car alone, morning after morning, is transportation experts' nightmare. They are looking for ways to focus us on driving when there are errands to do, or other reasons to rely on the flexibility a car provides. . . but using transit or "spot solutions" like car-sharing. Having Flexcar and Zip Car available could phase out the need for a second car, for example.
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Wheaton, Md.:
I think the ultimate answer is growth controls ... nothing else is actually going to work long-term. The real problem is simply more and traffic each year ... caused primarily by population growth ... crowding onto a finite transportation system. This is made even worse by neighborhood civic associations getting many side streets blocked off to commuters. Vast changes in zoning will have to be implemented, and more building permits will have to be denied. Even if more roads are built, growth eventualy will HAVE to be controlled ... like it or not.
Deborah DeYoung: Greetings Wheaton! It sounds good in theory, but in Aspen and other communities where it has been tried the result often is pricing most people out of housing. That in turn lengthens commutes and worsens traffic for those who still must work in these communities.
There's not much good to be said about traffic -- but as it gets worse, it does make us all more creative. Flexcar and Zip Car are good examples of an innovative idea that is a result. Telecommuting is another one.
But controlling people's behavior is like controlling the influence of money in politics -- or like trying to block a river: the water just finds another way to squeeze through. All of those blocked streets are neighborhoods' counter to drivers' counter to traffic on main thoroughfares. They're not a really satisfying answer, and they leave many people agreeing with you that we have too many people in the region. That's not it -- we have too many people for our ancient transportation system, though. Modernizing that promises better results, I think.
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Alexandria, Va.:
My complaint about driving in this area is the lack of stoplight timing. One light will turn green, yet the next one is turning red! This doesn't allow for smooth traffic flow.
Why don't they set the lights correctly? Is it really all that expensive to change the timing to match the posted speed limit?
Deborah DeYoung: Hello Alexandria! Very good point. It takes a coon's age to get all of the area jurisdictions to agree to anything --it was years before DC and Virginia could coordinate tow trucks to haul broken-down vehicles off the Potomac River bridges, though that finally began this summer. Bob Grow at The Greater Washington Board of Trade has been advocating this idea. He estimates we'd improve traffic flow by 10 percent in congested corridors and reduce air pollution to boot.
A side benefit would be to calm tempers on the roads. You wouldn't have to drive to win just to get through the lights -- all of the pressure would be constructive, to get drivers to proceed at the speed limit. And it would be cheap to do!
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Downtown, D.C.:
How do you feel about the recent proposals to widen 66? Please don't tell me that you think that this would do anything to cut down on the traffic.
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Downtown! Sorry, it could help tremendously -- especially if it were done as a congestion-management priority, instead of just more pavement. There is an old deal with local communities that promises I-66 would never be widened, but as a transplant from Seattle from a similar community, I'm not sure they'd be so unhappy with a renegotiated deal. After decades of bitterly fighting the widening of I-90, Mercer Island residents got so sick of the air pollution and noise from backed-up traffic into Seattle that they worked out a re-do that is gorgeous -- capped by parks, tunnels added, and other additions that have made that a net-plus for everyone involved.
We certainly think it's past time that everyone took another look at the possible, and hear from the majority of those who must use that corridor that it would indeed make a difference.
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Falls Church, Va.:
Hi, Deborah.
Don't you think that the voting citizens are also to blame for the congestion and infrastructure over-capacity? For example, Northern Virginians voted down the tax increase referendum last year that would have raised money to build and improve the local roadways.
Deborah DeYoung: Hello Falls Church! Hoo-boy. . . criticizing police and blaming voters, all in one session! No question that last year's vote chilled debate about transportation solutions. But that question should not have been ducked by their elected officials in the first place. It's the nature of transportation that someone's gotta be a statesman and take a broader approach, not just "not in my back yard." Politicians owe us their best judgment, and on complicated questions about transportation and the environment, they're the ones paid to wade through the competin arguments and do what's best for everyone.
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Vienna, Va.:
I blame local governments and, more specifically, neighborhood civic groups for much of the congestion here in the D.C.-Baltimore area. They have contributed ENORMOUSLY (and I cannot overstate just HOW enormously to the congestion problem ... it is huge)... by not allowing what available streets and roads we DO have to be used efficiently. Many side streets are cluttered with barricades, DO NOT ENTER signs at rush hour, speed bumps, 3 and 4-way stops, etc. ... Many side streets that could easily be thru streets are deliberately cut short with NO THRU STREET signs. So this artificially preserves the neighborhoods ... but at what price? A HUGE price, that's what! EVERYBODY is forced to try to jam onto main roads ... and they are nothing but gridlock and one vast parking lot. I would also like to point out that ALL motorists pay taxes to support and use ALL of the roads ... not just SOME of them (or just the ones that civic associations and local governments do not decide to block off). If speeding is a problem on these side streets (a common but often erroneous excuse for these restrictions) ... then putting portable radars up is the answer, not completely blocking the roads off. I say that it is an erroneous reason because I have actually seen this ... civic groups lie and exaggerate to town officials about speeding when in fact speeding is NOT a problem ... or a major one.
So, in a nutshell, we could make a lot of progress loosening up congestion if we would just open up the side streets to fewer traffic restrictions ... we would be using what we HAVE much more efficiently.
Local governments also need to learn to say NO more often to developers ... and even more important, the courts need to learn to BACK THEM UP. Too often developers go to court and get zoning denials overturned.
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Vienna! You make some good points, but the problem is those neighborhoods are filled with children who are at the greatest danger as pedestrian. They forget they're little and harder to see, and think that if they see a car then the driver sees them. Before we blow up the barricades, there needs to be some priority given to neighborhoods.
While I'm on this topic, let me remind everyone that Friday is Halloween -- and trick-or-treating quadruples kids' risk of getting hit. It's even scarier this year, because too many people drive after drinking on the weekend -- and because it's even darker in the early evening hours, thanks to daylight-savings time. Whether you're walking or driving, be careful on Friday!
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Arlington, Va.:
The seeds of the traffic problem were sown in the 50s and 60s when we started building homes too far from retail/commercial establishments to walk. It used to be (and still is, in older towns) that everyone could walk to the grocery store. You can't do that, in most communities here. I TRIED to become a pedestrian by buying a house in the few remaining local communities where that is possible (e.g., Clarendon, Cleveland Park), but housing there is prohibitively expensive, small, and old. It would help if we could return to the past -- rezone so houses and retail can be built within walking distance. That will take a long time, to the extent it is even possible now.
Deborah DeYoung: Hello Arlington -- You're right about some of those close-in neighborhoods, but there is a push to raze some of the old housing projects and other outdated homes.
This is going to get to be a lot more pressing a priority once Baby Boomers start to hit the senior-citizen category. They may be fitter than their parents, but deteriorating vision and other problems that plague older drivers isn't avoidable. Hopefully they will bring more pedestrian-friendly communities to fruition, just as they changed other aspects of our culture?
We expect we'll also see protected left-turn-lanes, and other techniques that are critical for older drivers who often have trouble with depth perception. This is a fast-growing population -- up 36 percent from 1990 -- and now numbers 19 million. By 2020, one in four of drivers will be over 65. So we need both walkable communities and some help on the roads for the majority who will continue to drive after they retire.
Good points!
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Derwood, Md.:
A comment on the graphic that accompanies todays article: I fail to see how Fairfax's modifications to Beauregard Street will improve things. By building a median barrier, all they are doing is preventing turns midblock. This just moves the problem from midblock to the intersections. In other words, all the county is going to do is just increase the amount of U-turns at the main intersections, causing those major intersections to fail sooner.
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Derwood! Traffic engineers often see a calming effect out of things like the Beauregard Street barrier. Stress behind the wheel is mostly a factor of your expectations, so as drivers get used to the idea of making a few right turns -- and quit imagining they're going to wade across all those lanes of traffic to go from one store to another -- they should help settle down the situation in Fairfax. And intersections are easier to control than the current long stretch.
But we'll watch it for you, and push for more attention to this nightmare intersection if this doesn't do much of the trick. Thanks for the reminder!
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Dearborn, Midh.:
In Michigan, the local AAA has had some success with its Road Improvement Demonstration Program (RIDP), which targets high-crash intersections and provides low-cost fixes such as larger signal heads, dedicated left-turn lanes and all-red intervals. While largely designed to increase traffic safety, would these types of fixes be applicable to congestion management as well?
Deborah DeYoung: Hi Dearborn! As a former Midlander, I do think we had a lot of good ideas in Michigan -- probably the result of the car industry and its aficionados calling Detroit home for all this time.
The ideas you cited would calm traffic, and cool the jets of the road warriors who often trigger congestion. So-called incidents -- fender-benders, crashes, or breakdowns -- already account for 40-plus percent of congestion. And "driving to win" doesn't become so important when traffic proceeds in an orderly fashion.
They're also on the list of things senior drivers need, by the way. What's not to like?
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Washington, D.C.:
When I was in London recently, I noticed that at intersections, the crosswalks are placed about 10-15 feet back from the intersection, meaning that turning cars (at least 1-2) are able to get out of the intersection to wait for pedestrians to clear vs. waiting stopping up traffic while waiting for the crosswalks to clear. This also means that cars also are stopped a little further back from the intersections and all this generally keeps them clearer.
Deborah DeYoung: Hi neighbor! We do need a better model than what we have for pedestrians and drivers. AAA's members are often frustrated because it's almost impossible to get a right turn made, between no-right-on-red laws at many intersections, and crosswalks that fill up the instant the light changes (and usually before and after too). The fine for jaywalking in DC is $5 -- and violators contribute to the problem.
As a rule in most communities, half of pedestrian accidents are the driver's fault -- but half of pedestrian deaths are the fault of the pedestrian. For the sake of both, it makes sense to take a look at how London and others' are coping. Though let's keep drivers on the right side of the road here!
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Deborah DeYoung: Thanks for tuning in -- good points, and good ideas all around!
We don't think about driving or traffic -- one seems automatic, and the other is like the weather: hard to affect. But little changes like the ones suggested in the Post and here on-line can have a snowball effect. Given our gridlock, they're all well worth considering!
I'm sorry I didn't get to the cyclists' questions, but would be happy to answer those and any others -- drop me a note at ddeyoung@aaamidatlantic.com.
Thanks again!
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