Parents, students and staff say that with the new building moving to a different location on campus, students will be at risk when they cross sections of Fleet Street, where very few traffic measures — such as stop signs, traffic signals or marked crosswalks — are in place.
The night before, Richard Montgomery students, parents and staff, including Principal Moreno E. Carrasco, had packed Rockville City Hall to plead for more pedestrian safety measures.
Standing in front of the building that students will soon call home, Student Government Association (SGA) President Rosa Greenberg, a senior from Chevy Chase, and SGA Student Advocate Matthew Reese, a junior from Kensington, served as the tour leaders with some help from Jan Babiuch-Hall, a junior and son of former City Councilman John F. Hall Jr.
The students were joined by members of the Rockville City Council, city staff, members of the PTSA’s Pedestrian Safety Committee and candidates for mayor and council.
The walking tour started with participants crossing Fleet Street at Park Avenue, where a crosswalk is in place. But students say the walkway is not highly visible, making it an unsafe place to cross.
‘‘The visibility is absolutely abysmal,” Greenberg said once the group had crossed the street.
She said the crosswalk is situated at a blind corner, which makes it difficult to see. In addition, she said, cars parked on the street obstruct students’ view of oncoming traffic.
‘‘No one would walk down to Monroe Street” to cross the street, she said, indicating the nearby intersection of Fleet and Monroe streets, which has a traffic signal.
Next, the group walked down to the corner of Fleet Street and Jefferson Plaza where Reese said many students cross during their open lunch period and after school to get to Regal Cinemas and Rockville Town Center.
He added he has had ‘‘half a dozen close calls” crossing at that corner.
Once the tour had finished up, Principal Carrasco addressed the crowd.
‘‘I never felt the experience of crossing this road before,” he said, noting that the concerns of students and parents are very real and need to be taken seriously.
‘‘We have to make this road very uncomfortable for people to drive on,” he added, speaking about Fleet Street. ‘‘I don’t want to be the principal who has to send a letter home that a student got hit here.”
As the crowd began to break up, Councilwoman Susan R. Hoffmann said she was better able to understand the school community’s concerns after taking the tour.
‘‘I think that the concerns are real — we have to look at all of the alternatives and see what we can and can’t do,” she said, adding the issue is ‘‘not just about money, because it’s about lives and about safety and about also showing our young people the responsiveness of government.
‘‘I think that if we don’t address this, there are problems ahead,” Hoffmann, a candidate for mayor, added.
She said she would like to see if putting a traffic signal at Richard Montgomery Drive and Fleet Street changes traffic on the four-lane road, and agrees that the crosswalk at Park Avenue and Fleet Street is ‘‘misplaced.”
She added that she also likes the idea of ‘‘having a light that people could press on demand.”
Mayoral candidate Drew Powell said the city has to put public safety first.
‘‘We can’t wait until someone gets hit at an intersection,” he said.
In a phone interview on Monday afternoon, Emad Elshafei, chief of traffic and transportation for the city’s Department of Public Work, said city engineers would draw up plans for pedestrian improvements that he hopes would be available for City Council review in four to six weeks.
Initially, he said the city had wanted to wait until the new school opened and officials were able to monitor students’ walking patterns.
‘‘It’s hard to predict what students are going to do and where they’re going to cross the street,” Elshafei said.
Members of the PTSA’s Pedestrian Safety Committee, which is led by former councilman Hall and Kate Ostell, a member of the city Planning Commission, have already gotten one of the pedestrian safety improvements they asked for — a traffic signal at Richard Montgomery Drive and Fleet Street, Elshafei said. Coincidentally, the City Council approved awarding the contract to install the traffic signal to Scott A. Duncan Inc. the night before the walking tour.
Elshafei said the city hopes to start construction on the traffic signal in October.
Since the walking tour, he said he has been exchanging e-mail messages with members of the PTSA Pedestrian Safety Committee and they are evaluating possible solutions.
Community requests
The school community is requesting that the City of Rockville install these features in front of the new Richard Montgomery High School:
Protected crosswalk(s): At least one crosswalk, protected by a traffic light — continuous or on demand — or at least stop signs in a location convenient to the entrance of the new school and to the point at which students are expected to cross Fleet Street (near Jefferson Plaza and Park Avenue).
Installation of a continuous, wide sidewalk: Possibly removing the parking⁄travel lane along Fleet Street on the non-school side from Monroe Street to Jefferson Plaza.
Medians near the curve at Jefferson Plaza and the new protected crosswalk(s).
Warning lights near or attached to school zone speed limit signs or speed indicator signs that flash when school is in session.
Rumble strips approaching the new crosswalk(s).
Lower speed limits.
Installation or improvement of street lights on nearby streets.
Speed camera.
Speed indication monitors.
Trim back existing trees on opposite side of Fleet Street, especially near Park Avenue.
