Council Members Raise Questions After Leland Street Restricted in Bethesda

Resident in neighborhood says diminished traffic feels like 'Sunday morning, every morning'

The plastic bollards blocking access to Leland Street from Woodmont Avenue Andrew Metcalf

Two Montgomery County Council members are questioning a county Department of Transportation decision to block access to Leland Street next to downtown Bethesda.

Council President Roger Berliner, in a letter sent Monday to the department’s director, Al Roshdieh, requested more information about why the decision was made to install bollards at the end of July. The bollards block vehicles from turning right from Woodmont Avenue onto Leland Street.

“I have been a strong advocate for limited access restrictions where such restrictions have proven to be necessary through traffic evaluations,” Berliner wrote. “However, I am not aware of other instances in which an entire lane has been closed to the public.”

Berliner also asked whether the department sought broader input from the general public before blocking access to the street.

Esther Bowring, a spokeswoman for the transportation department, said last week that it blocked access to the street after residents’ expressed concerns about cut-through traffic. On Thursday, she sent Bethesda Beat a copy of the study the department conducted before it blocked access to the road.

Previously, a sign on Woodmont Avenue prohibited right turns onto Woodmont from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Bowring said that when the department monitored the road on Oct. 20, 2015, workers observed 101 violations. Then, on Oct. 6, 2016, they found 155 violations.

Bowring said the Sacks Neighborhood, where Leland is, “had long-standing cut-through traffic concerns.”

Council member Hans Riemer said last week that blocking Leland Street seems to contradict the council’s intent when it classified that stretch as a minor arterial road when it approved the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan.

He said the council agreed to adopt that road as one “that serves the Bethesda downtown.”

“I think we need to talk to DOT about how they would see this as being consistent with that,” Riemer said.

Bowring said DOT relied on a 1994 executive regulation that allows the agency to add an access restriction to a street if a neighborhood is concerned about significant traffic and petitions the agency for the restriction.

The regulation notes, “Approval of a proposed access restriction plan by [DOT] must be based on a judgment that the benefits of the plan to residents of the specific neighborhood or streets covered by the plan outweigh the potential impacts to the surrounding community, arterial/major road network, and public facilities or other destinations.”

The regulation also calls for a community assessment process that includes notifying nearby citizens associations and holding a public hearing within 60 days after DOT recommends a final plan—notice of which “must be published two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.”

It’s not clear if those procedures were followed in this case. Bowring did not respond to an email sent Monday afternoon asking if a public hearing took place.

When Bethesda Beat posted a story on Aug. 8 about the new restriction to Leland Street, more than 100 people commented. Most opposed the move. Many commenters said the road was used to get from downtown Bethesda to Bradley Boulevard and beyond while also avoiding often congested roads such as Arlington Road, Wisconsin Avenue and Bethesda Avenue.

Ellen Rader, a Leland Street resident since 1985, welcomed the change.

“I’ve lived for so long, I’ve seen an increase in traffic over the years,” Rader said Monday. “Sometimes it’s hard to get out of the driveway.”

She noted that the builder of the Crescent Plaza building paid for the pedestrian islands in the street, which help calm traffic. Neighbors were concerned the Woodmont Avenue building across from the Leland intersection would cause traffic problems on their street when it was built.

She said the county does not maintain the islands and instead residents in the neighborhood are responsible for them.

She added that the access restriction has significantly reduced traffic on the street.

“I feel like it’s Sunday morning, every morning,” Rader said. “It’s very quiet.”

She also said that a majority of residents in the neighborhood signed a petition asking for the restriction, as required and that she believes traffic was only going to get worse.

“We know what the situation is now and we know it hasn’t gotten better over the years,” Rader said.