|
Residents worry about traffic
that will accompany development projects
BY CRAIG STONE
With the possible Washington
Adventist Hospital expansion in the northeastern part of Takoma
Park and three new residential developments planned or in
progress just to the southwest of the city, traffic could
be coming through Takoma Park from all angles.
The traffic created by the hospital expansion has been a
concern for months, as noticeable by the yellow signs lining
the city's thoroughfares.
A study conducted by the hospital in May predicted that traffic
at the intersection of Carroll and Flower Avenues would increase
by 40 percent in the morning rush and 45 percent in the evening.
"There's no doubt we need that hospital," said
Karin Anderson, who lives less than a mile from the hospital.
"If it was my kid or my family, then I'd want the accessible
roads [to the hospital]. But from an environmental standpoint,
I just say, 'yuck.'"
Holly McClain, a nurse at the hospital who lives less than
one block from it, said, "The hospital does need expanding
and renovating," but agreed that parking is a problem
and that the roads around the hospital are ill equipped to
handle the traffic that the expansion might cause. "I
don't see how it can be anywhere else," she said.
Reuben Snipper, a member of Sensible Growth, the group trying
to stop the on-site expansion, said the ideal solution would
be to build the office building off site, and suggested Langley
Park as a possible location. "It's going to overload
a lot of streets," he said.
Snipper said that he is in favor of most of the expansion,
including the expansion of the emergency room, but he is opposed
to putting the medical office building and the parking garage
on site because of the traffic problems that it will cause.
He said that the traffic will make it harder to get to the
hospital in an emergency, and expressed concern that emergency
vehicles might have trouble on the narrow streets.
Near the Takoma Metro station, the current and future construction
of an apartment building, a condominium complex, and a townhouse
development could create a traffic boom in an area that is
already difficult to negotiate by car.
Elevation 314, an apartment building under construction at
314 Carroll Ave. across from the Metro station, is scheduled
to open in the spring of 2004. The building, which is owned
by Montgomery Oaks Management, Inc., will house 52 apartments
and three street level retail stores.
Cedar Crossing at Takoma Metro, owned by New Legacy Partners,
has yet to begin construction. It will be situated at the
corner of Blair Road and 4th Street, situated across the rail
from the station on land that was previously owned by the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. It will have
45 two-level condominium homes.
With almost 100 residential units between the two projects
that are already in progress, the area just across the border
in D.C. will certainly see an increase in traffic on its roads.
There is also the possibility of a townhouse development
that would replace part of the park across from Takoma Station,
but no deal has been made on that land as of yet.
The Takoma Small Area Plan, submitted in January 2002, calls
for over 500 more housing units in about a 5 block by 5 block
square in Takoma, D.C., around the Metro station. Elevation
314 and Cedar Crossing are a part of that development plan.
Faith Wheeler, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Takoma,
D.C., said that many people she knows in the area are excited
about the development. However, she said that the new developments
"will certainly increase traffic," and expressed
concern that the addition of that many residents would "suffocate
the community."
|
