Traffic Light at River Road and Braeburn Parkway/Pyle Road.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, are residents living near the above intersection, students at Walt Whitman High School, or parents of such students. We are dissatisfied with the repeated rebuffs by highway administrators of community demands over the years for a traffic light at the intersection of River Road and Pyle Rd./Braeburn Pkwy. in Bethesda. Each time over the years that a light has been requested, the issue has been committed to some study that invariably results in determination that the intersection does not qualify. Even now, with a recent serious accident at the intersection, the highway administrators reject our requests for a light or propose alternatives that are either inconvenient or inadequate.

The intersection is a dangerous back-exit on to River Road from the large Walt Whitman High School parking lot. New, inexperienced high-school student drivers entering and exiting the high school through this intersection must negotiate the hazards of turning on or off of River Road, a heavily used thoroughfare, sometimes crossing oncoming traffic. Cars turning left from eastbound River Rd. line up between 7:15 and 7:45 am on school days while others are trying to negotiate the intersection in other ways. Similarly, traffic is very heavy coming out of Pyle Rd. at River when school lets out in the afternoon. A traffic light could operate at limited times and otherwise blink amber to minimize disruption to the flow of traffic on River.

The excuse that the traffic does not justify a light does not wash when this intersection is compared to others nearby that have traffic lights already. The Holton-Arms private school, a half mile west on River Rd., has a light for less traffic (with a small street, Royal Dominion, on the other side). The entrance to Kenwood Golf & Country Club, a half mile east on River, has a light, and the traffic there and from the street across from that entrance (Springfield) is not significantly heavier on average, and never as heavy as Pyle Rd. and Braeburn Pkwy. when classes at Whitman are beginning or concluding. The entrance to Congressional Country Club, a couple of miles west similarly has a light.

The attempted fix of limiting traffic exiting Braeburn Pkwy. and Pyle Rd. to a right turn only during certain hours proved to be yet another insufficient solution, failing to prevent a recent serious accident involving a car from a different direction. Does a high school student or other driver have to be killed before those who can get this done will listen?

We demand appropriate action in promptly approving and installing a traffic light at this intersection because we know from daily experience that life is at stake. The cost and occasional inconvenience of a traffic light is minor in comparison to what, with great justification, we fear will otherwise occur.

We await with limited patience a favorable response to our concerns.