A new White Flint is the solution to the current traffic congestion on Rockville Pike. Plans include $601 million of targeted infrastructure enhancements to improve mobility throughout the area, transforming White Flint into a world- class 21st century boulevard.
Significantly, approximately 75 percent of the infrastructure investment will be funded solely by the private land owners; 20 percent will be funded by the public sector, using new tax revenues generated specifically by the commercial development in White Flint.
Ultimately, traffic will not dissipate until we provide the community with practical and reliable alternatives. The new White Flint will focus on making public modes of transportation more accessible and inviting. The public transportation enhancements include:
- Dedicated center-lane bus rapid transit
- Removal of the Metro turn-around at Grosvenor, which will dramatically improve Metro service to White Flint; and,
- A new north entrance to the White Flint Metro at Old Georgetown Road
A Destination and A Home
Our plans for the commercial core of White Flint will create 10 additional east-west car lanes and six additional north-south car lanes. This critical investment to create walkable street grids will provide alternate routes for local trips for residents and will free up room on Rockville Pike for commuters. This will also work to further reduce cut-through traffic in existing neighborhoods.
Navigating the Area
The new Rockville Pike “Boulevard” will keep the same number of lanes it has today, but will also include a landscaped median, tree-lined sidewalks and dedicated bus and bike lanes, all of which will make White Flint more inviting to pedestrians going to the White Flint Metro Station and cyclists commuting to work or play. Speed limits will be reduced to more efficiently move traffic through the area. Studies have consistently shown that speeds of 30 to 35 mph are most effective at handling automobile volume, with the added benefit of improved traffic signal timing, and diminishing Rockville Pike’s notorious stop-and-go gridlock of speeding up for short distances and then coming to a grinding halt at the next light. Ultimately, the Pike will become the centerpiece of the new White Flint instead of the barrier that it is today.
We must reinvent White Flint with a new street grid that improves the community’s access to public transit and encourages participation in newly created street life.
(Street Grid Images)
Transportation Plan
Click here for a copy of the Transportation Plan — a full presentation of the transportation plan model that was generated from a week-long meeting of the general public civic associations, commercial land owners and developers, Montgomery County Parks and Planning staff and others.