Short-timing green light has motorists seeing red

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007

Short-timing green light has motorists seeing red

State to adjust new signal causing backups on Georgia Avenue inner Beltway ramp

by Maya Calabrese | Special to The Gazette

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A new traffic signal at the end of the inner loop Beltway ramp to southbound Georgia Avenue caused major backups after opening last week, but state officials hope that adjusting the timing and finishing a second ramp lane will improve conditions.

‘‘[The light] was not providing enough green time to the Beltway,” said Chuck Gischlar, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration, who said the state is working to reduce those backups.

‘‘They are aware of the problem and trying to calibrate the timing to make it work efficiently. They’re trying to do something that’s pretty difficult,” said Paul Gordon, a former president of the Forest Estates Community Association, an adjacent neighborhood in Silver Spring.

The project also calls for a second lane that should reduce congestion once finished next week, Gischlar said.

Gordon said the improvements were needed. ‘‘The way the exit ramp was constructed made perfect sense 20 years ago when we didn’t have as much traffic, but now there’s 100 times more cars out there. I’m really glad that the people at the [SHA] recognized that there’s a problem and that they need to fix it,” Gordon said.

Community members are hoping that the permanent solution will work. ‘‘The backups go north farther than I can see and it’s August. Traffic picks up in September. If backups go farther then the eye can see now, then just wait for when everyone gets back from vacation,” said Adam Pagnucco, chairman of the Forest Estates Community Association’s Crossing Georgia committee.

The Crossing Georgia committee focuses on pedestrian safety at Forest Glen and Georgia and is unsettled by the Beltway construction. ‘‘The Forest Glen-Georgia intersection was the most congested in the county before the redesign, and this is just something we didn’t need,” Pagnucco said.