Thursday, September 30, 2010

After Wasting Millions on 'Traffic Calming' County Board Returns to 'Drive 25'

Hello, Yupette,

I live in Chain Bridge Forest. Chris Zimmerman turned this community's residents against each other with his 'traffic calming' (speed tables, etc). Now that he's running for re-election and is being called "Safety Last" Zimmerman he and the County Board are reverting to the "Drive 25" signs and other persuasive methods that were used before they started wasting millions on physical barrier traffic calming. Is this a pre-election politrickster PR stunt or is Zimmerman actually becoming concerned about safety?

Sandi

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

To paraphrase a political leader of the last century - Chris Zimmerman has as much concern for safety as a tom cat has for a marriage license.

Joan 2207 said...

Transportation staff and the neighborhood traffic calming committee were getting threats that criminal complaints would be filed against them for starting neighborhood feuds over traffic calming.

Mary - 22205 said...

If you want "Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25" signs for your neighborhood call the County Manager's Office at 703-228-3120. Let us know if you get signs or the runaround.

fed up Dem said...

If you are a Democrat who is fed up, vote for Kevin Chisholm for County Board.

Anonymous said...

Zimmerman wants to be re-elected so he can approve more site plans for 200 foot buildings with 400 parking spaces underneath the building and reconfigure the neighboring roads and streets so pedestrians and bicyclists compete with motor vehicles. And call it "Smart Growth".

Let's Be Free said...

Zimmerman's planners want to narrow traffic lanes to "calm" traffic. Yeah, sure just like the narrow lanes on Columbia Pike at Courthouse Road.

http://arlingtonfirejournal.blogspot.com/2005/07/school-bus-tragedy-2005.html

Two elementary school students were killed at that intersection when a trash truck barreling down the too narrow lanes clipped a school bus head-on shearing off the side of the bus. Narrowing traffic lanes passes for "smart" urban and traffic planning from "safety last" Chris.

Anonymous said...

I would suggest obtaining "Keep Kids Alive...Drive 25" signs for your neighborhood from the County BEFORE November 2nd, 'cause you may not be able to after November 2nd.

Dump Zimmerman said...

As the result of two criminal trials - one for the school bus driver and another for the trash truck driver - the verdicts indicated the children who were killed were guilty for riding on a school bus in an area where "traffic calming" had been installed.

Anonymous said...

Asphalt speed tables are crumbling from being hit by hundreds of SUVs and trucks every day.

Westover said...

When can I get the foliage trimmed from the speed limit sign on my street?

Tom Everson said...

Regardless of the time of year, you can check out information on "Keep Kids Alive Drive 25" at www.KeepKidsAliveDrive25.org. All the information you need to mobilize your neighborhood is available on the site.

Anonymous said...

To Sandi, first, Zimmerman did not turn your neighbors against each other -- that happened because your neighbors (and those who cut through your neighborhood) who did not want to have to slow down and drive the speed limit viciously and unreasonably attacked the process and their neighbors who desire a safer living environment in front of their homes (you probably live back on some cul-de-sac away from the problem). Second, some of your neighbors in Chain Bridge Forest who are concerned about the speeding have placed the "Drive 25" signs in their yards, only to have them stolen and thrown in garbage cans. Another of your neighbors complained to your homeowners' ssociation that the "Drive 25" signs violate the restriction on signs being placed on lots -- the result, is that residents cannot place the signs in their yards any longer. The traffic calming measures work at curtailing speeds, but with dozens of qualifying neighborhoods that have speeding problems awaiting such measures, and limited funding, the County Board would like to see if they can impact more neighborhoods through "Drive 25." I hope it works, but am skeptical because of the large number of people who will simply ignore the signs because, unlike speed humps, they won't actually force people to slow down. Having people steal the signs also is less than helpful.

To Mary 22205, my understanding of the "Drive 25" program is that it is being tested in three neighborhoods that have qualified for traffic calming, with "before" and "after" speed/volume measurements being taken to see what the effect of the program is. If the desired impact is there, hopefully the County will expand the program to other neighborhoods. If you are getting a "runaround," it may be that you do not live in one of these neighborhoods.

CBF said...

Anon, you are WRONG. Chris Zimmerman was repeatedly told about the conflicts among neighbors in Chain Bridge Forest. He is the self-proclaimed "Transportation Guru" of Northern Virginia and also served as Chair of the WMATA's Board of Directors' Safety Committee on several occasions before the 2009 Metrorail accident that killed 9 people. Read the NTSB report?

BTW, Zimmerman has voted to approve the construction of more than 40,000 new parking spaces in Arlington since he's been on the County Board.

Physical traffic calming is NOT about slowing traffic - it's about keeping traffic out of neighborhoods. That's why the "Keep Kids Alive - Drive 25" signs are torn down -- BECAUSE THEY WORK.

Did you see Tuesday's County Board meeting? One of the local activists showed speed limit and stop signs on Pershing Drive that were covered by tree foliage. So what was the reaction of the local residents? They were FURIOUS because the want the speed limit reduced and traffic calming (speed tables) installed. You can't have the speed limit reduced if motorists aren't speeding. You can't have speed tables installed if motorists aren't speeding.

Whose neighborhood is adjacent to Pershing Drive? Why Chairman of he County Board Jay Fisette's. Same Jay Fisette who wants to put thousands more bicycles on Arlington's streets and roads.

And, like Chris Zimmerman, Jay Fisette doesn't want more traffic driving through his neighborhood (though he also voted to create 40,000 more parking spaces in Arlington through devlopment and redevelopment).

So who are concerned about a kid on a bicycle being killed in a residential neighborhood? The residents who are putting up "Keep Kids Alive ..." signs. Or the residents who are tearing them down?

C.B.F. Grandparent said...

I will go even further, CBF. Arlington's transportation planning staff should be charged with multiple felonies - inciting to riot, conspiracy to commit vehicular homicide, endangering the health and safety of children.

2100 said...

Reality is that "Keep Kids Alive...Drive 25" signs were available in the lobby of 2100 Clarendon Blvd. until transportation staff determined the signs were slowing drivers down so much that transportation staff couldn't justify installing "traffic calming".

Anonymous said...

CBF - I'm not sure what points you are trying to make, but let me do my best to respond.

First, you say that ANON is "WRONG. Chris Zimmerman was repeatedly told about the conflicts among neighbors in Chain Bridge Forest." All that ANON said is that he did not turn your neighbors against each other. Nothing in your post logically refutes this fact. The conflict was already there -- so what if Zimmerman and other Board members were told about it? Are you suggesting that, just because some irrational people pitched a fit because their neighbors went through an established process to make their street safer, that the County Board should have stepped in and shut the whole thing down? By that rationale, back in the hay day of the civil rights movement, government officials should have aborted efforts to integrate schools just because a bunch of racist bigots protested the efforts (often violently). Sure, this may be an extreme example, but since ignorant opponents of the traffic calming project in Chain Bridge Forest already brought intolerance into this by painting swastikas on the street in protest, why not stick with the theme. Conflict should be avoided where it can be, but legitimate efforts should not be stopped simply because some crazies oppose them.

You say that "Physical traffic calming is NOT about slowing traffic - it's about keeping traffic out of neighborhoods. That's why the 'Keep Kids Alive - Drive 25' signs are torn down -- BECAUSE THEY WORK." This makes no sense. The County's program contains no available measures that restrict traffic flow -- every measure is designed to simply slow traffic. If what you are suggesting is that drivers will stay out of neighborhoods with traffic calming measures because they can no longer speed there, then alleluia. That seems pretty effective. As to your argument that "Drive 25" signs are torn down because they work -- huh?

Regarding your remaining rant about local activists, foliage, bicycles, and parking spaces, I just don't know what to say.

Anonymous said...

Where are the Arlington Police? No doubt responding to "suspicious person" reports by the traffic calming proponents who see someone put up a "Keep Kids Alive" sign on the strip between the sidewalk and street.

Anonymous said...

Yupette, how about this future thread: Arlington Police have been on strike for more than 5 years? It's true.

Anonymous said...

And CBF Grandparent shows us just how sane and rational the opposition to traffic calming has been.

CBF - Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 said...

Fisette's neighbor "Nanny Carrie" Johnson was really furious about the County Board meeting slide showing the Speed Limit signs on Pershing Drive obscured by tree foliage.

What's appalling is that Nanny Carrie was on the Planning Commission for years and voted for all those huge parking garages under the new buildings in the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor, a few blocks from Pershing Drive.

Of course it's all about keeping traffic out of their yupscale neighborhoods, not about traffic safety.

Remove traffic calming in CBF said...

Anon - you are full of it read the Code of Virginia. County transportation staff and the County Board - especially Zimmerman and Fisette - allowed and even encouraged the deterioration of a debate into a near brawl. This was not the first neighborhood traffic calming controversy where that happened either.

fairgrrl said...

I live in Fairlington, about 10 miles from Chain Bridge Forest.

Speed tables were installed here with no attempt to upgrade traffic signs first. We have been trying to get traffic signs upgraded here for years. We have been ignored. We are talking about 1 for 1 replacement of small 25 mph speed limit signs with new and larger 25 mph speed limit signs.

Arlington's transportation bureaucracy loves physical traffic calming because it's a big dollar budget item. Replacing and upgrading traffic signs is not.

Joan 22207 said...

Yes, criminal complaints should have been filed against transportation staff long before CBF. At least 3 other N. Arlington neighborhoods have experienced the same turmoil, promoted by transportation staff and County Board.

Where was Zimmerman? Handing out safety awards at WMATA Board meetings. Where was Fisette? Laughing and saying "They'll get over it."

BTW, the criteria for installing speed tables are based on vehicle speed, not traffic volume. So, wonder why "Keep Kids Alive" signs are being torn down? Answer- the more vehicles that speed the more speed tables.

XXX said...

Anonymous you are obviously a Ward Heeler for Zimmerman.

Anyone familiar with development in and around Arlington knows that traffic volume is not used as a determining factor when installing neighborhood speed tables because the site plan approval process (e.g., traffic counts) determined that traffic volume from a development or redevelopment had "no significant impact" on the neighborhood.

22206 said...

What happened in Fairlington - bogus traffic counts during the site plan process followed by no upgrade in traffic control signs followed by a biased resident "survey" followed by people who lived nowhere near Fairlington lobbying for speed tables.

Jeremy said...

More of the same old County Board 2-Step:

Step 1 - Cater to REITs and other developers. Construct 200 foot buildings with 400 vehicle parking garages, demolish 4 affordable single family homes and replace with 30 condo units and 70 parking spaces, etc.

Step 2 - Cater to the Yuptards, hysterical Yuppie Mommies, etc., in the affected residential neighborhoods by having the County's bloated transportation bureaucracy install speed tables etc., every hundred feet.

CBF Adult said...

Jeremy, you nailed it.

Terri - CBF said...

Complaints should be filed against the Arlington County Attorney and County Police Department who allowed the situation in CBF to deteriorate.

Anonymous said...

Where are the local media? Same local media that print hundreds of pages of ads and reviews for motor vehicles every week?

take a cab instead said...

Why do stores that sell bicycle and running and jogging clothing sell dark-colored clothing to runners and bicyclists? Is that sane?

Anonymous said...

How about some focus on pedestrians and bicyclists and skateboarders acting safely and sanely on the streets. sidewalks, and trails?

CBF Grandmother said...

DON'T have anything to do with Zimmerman's Arlington Transportation Department. All they want to do is make your kids organ donors.

Order "keep Kids Alive...Drive 25" signs for your neighborhood from www.keepkidsalive.com Install them in your neighborhood.

Zimmerman and his Arlington transportation flunkies should all be sitting in front of a Federal grand jury.