Beach Drive Closure

Beach Drive Reopened

Updated on June 29, 2024

Good news - as of June 21, 2024 the 0.7 mile section of Beach Drive that parallels Culver Street is open on weekends and holidays to vehicular traffic. The Planning Board adopted the Department of Parks proposal that included this permanent change.

In addition to reopening the section of Beach Drive between Cedar Lane and Connecticut Avenue, the proposal also recommended closing Beach Drive between Cedar Lane and Knowles Avenue on Fridays. It has been closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays making Friday a new addition. The Planning Board approved this recommendation with the caveat that the Department of Parks will collect usage data for Fridays on Beach and traffic volumes at various locations in Parkwood.

Safety Impacts and Concerns

The data for Culver Street, which parallels Beach Drive, shows traffic volume is more than 180% higher on weekends than on weekdays. Every weekend upwards of 1700 to 2000 cars drive on Culver Street, most cutting through because Beach Drive is closed.  Each time data is collected, the trends show an increase in traffic volume. Culver Street was never designed nor is equipped to handle this load.

Safety is further compromised because there are no sidewalks. It’s unsafe to walk in the street due to the increased car volume and kids cannot safely ride their bikes or walk home.

We support safety for pedestrians and bicyclists alike, and safety measures need to be evaluated holistically to ensure making one road safe is not done at the expense of residents on an adjacent road.

Proposed Solutions

Although Montgomery Parks is researching potential short and long term mitigations for our neighborhood, the measures being considered are largely intended to address speed.

For example, speed bumps, pinching curbs, islands and traffic circles all reduce the speed of cars. However, though speed is a concern, the main problem is volume. The streets are too narrow for the load it handles each weekend – further narrowing will stack the cars as shown in the NBC4 Washington news story.

The Byeforde-Rock Creek Highlands Citizens Association will continue to advocate for reopening the 0.6 mile of Beach Drive between Connecticut and Cedar Lane on Weekends or a bike path next to the road on Beach Drive and work with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and Parks to resolve this issue. We will ensure any mitigations have community support.

NBC4 Washington News Coverage

NBC4 Washington shared our story, originally airing on January 31, 2024.

https://youtu.be/kdp1WG8DxHk?si=OyT3uzQmtSN9wh9c

Beach Drive Closure Background

The Open Parkways program was initiated during COVID to provide an open area for residents to be outside and safely distance from one another.

However, no diligence was performed to gauge whether Beach Drive, which connects the Beltway, NIH, Walter Reed, Cedar Lane, and Rockville Pike, would create spillover traffic onto residential streets. As the pandemic waned and the county re-opened, the program remained in-place. 

Over the last four years, as the county returned to business as usual, the volume of traffic has continued to increase.