More Than Just Traffic

Last July we published a post called Traffic.  In retrospect, it was too simplistic.  It’s reproduced below, with minor revisions.  Point is, nothing has improved in the overall landscape in the year since.

In the Sunday, June 19, 2016 Capital there was an article on the front page about the current level of traffic on Forest Drive without any additional problems that would be caused by the new projects proposed along its length that would add to the congestion already present.

But let’s be clear.  This is not just a traffic problem.  Traffic is fundamental to the strategic growth of our community.  Traffic is linked to housing, housing is linked to the property tax base, property tax is linked to economic development and the provision of city/county services and they are all linked to each other within the environment that will continue to suffer without resolution of the problem.

In the article this past Sunday, opinions on the situation were offered by self-serving attorneys and developers on these projects.  Can you guess what their point of view was?  How about letting us hear from others, with differing points of view.  How about offering your suggested solutions to these complex problems?  Certainly, the limitation on further development must be considered.

Here’s the summer of 2015 eastportdefined post:

 

Back on June 4 the Capital ran a guest column written by David Humphreys, about Forest Drive’s broken plan process.  The column concerned the current (as of summer 2015) overwhelming congestion on that major artery, without the additional traffic that new developments would generate.

A multitude of new projects have been proposed.  How many of us, outside the immediate project areas, have even heard of most of these projects?  And yet, they did not spring out of a void.  The planning for them should have been started early and publicly announced and most of all, should be holistic.  Impacts on the environment, on traffic planning, on schools and more must all be studied in depth before a project is considered by the City.  And Forest Drive is not the only overworked traffic system to be impacted by large new projects.

We have the Annapolis Yacht Club Project with its vastly expanded scope.  If implemented even at the original levels it would have snarled traffic; at this new level we’re looking at actual plugs on surrounding streets and long lines of stopped traffic on and off the drawbridge.

We have the Eastport Shopping Center high-rise project where the old movie theater is now located.  A growth spurt there would –  you got it – jam more traffic onto Bay Ridge and the surrounding streets in that area.  And think about it:  More traffic on Bay Ridge will probably end up either on Forest Drive or on the drawbridge.

All of these projects, proposed for our community, are components in the overall balance.  Every project from its inception needs to be questioned before it is too late for us to affect the outcome; then we must see our vision for a better community through to completion and implementation.

Are we learning any lessons yet?  The future belongs to all of us together, and must be shaped by our united voice delineating a strategic process.

We all must be willing to have skin in the game.  We can be damn sure the opposition will.

 

That’s last year’s post.  Still all too relevant today and still aching for a workable solution.  Let’s hear from you.  Let’s get going.