Date set for Park Service meeting on GW Parkway safety
The National Park Service will be hosting a public meeting about George Washington Memorial Parkway safety concerns later this month at Walt Whitman Middle School.
The Park Service says it will share recently compiled data at the meeting, and allow members of the public to share their concerns and ideas about how to improve the parkway “while protecting the parkway’s scenic appearance and historic character.”
In late 2017 the Park Service was directed to begin a safety study of intersections along the stretch of the parkway between Old Town and Mount Vernon. That section of roadway has been the scene of numerous serious accidents in recent years, including a June 2016 accident involving a tour bus that killed one person and left 15 others injured. In April, another person was killed and three more were seriously injured after a head-on collision south of Tulane Drive.
The meeting will run from 6-8 p.m. on July 11. Walt Whitman Middle School is located at 2500 Parkers Lane (see map). Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), who announced the meeting to constituents in an email on Monday, has a survey posted here that can be taken by residents regardless of whether they attend the meeting. And starting June 11, the public will also be able to weigh in on Parkway safety concerns in an online survey hosted by the Park Service.
Who is responsible for repairing the road/parkway? There is an extremely large portion of the road sticking up and creating a bump as you are heading south just before you hit the Waynewood exit. It is very dangerous and it’s been there for months!
As a resident, between the corridors of Old Town and Mount Vernon, I fear when accessing the GW. The influx of speeding cars trying to beat the I-95 traffic; the tour buses that bounce in and out its lane; cars making turns with blind spots from curves or plant overgrowth in the sight-lines have become increasingly dangerous. We need a safer solution. We need more patrolling officers. We need to reroute buses down Route 1. Our community welcomes travelers but our community also deserves safe roadways.
It takes more than a prayer to cross the Parkway in order to catch the 11Y bus to downtown. It’s hard enough for cars to enter the Parkway, drivers have no idea how absolutely frightening it is as a pedestrian.
We live between Alexandria and Mt. Vernon. Since BRAC the number of speeding Maryland drivers has increased tremendously. Not that there are not speeding Virginia drivers also, but many more from Maryland.. Lower the speed and enforce it!
The parkway is in serious need of re-striping, reflective striping.
A flashing crosswalk like the one on the parkway before Memorial bridge installed at locations where people cross for the bus and Belle View would help slow down cars.
I drive up the parkway everyday and when the lights flash cars stop.
On occasion I ride a motorcycle and I hit that bump that Ron in a previous note mentioned by Waynewood and I bounced off my seat and thought I damaged my front wheel. Extremely dangerous!!’
I say build a wall around Maryland, traffic issues solved!!!
I have traveled the parkway for over 50 years now. And I must say what a disgrace it is to drive towards George Washington’s home and see a road is such disrepair!
Overgrown trees and shrubs, grass that is so shabby and in need of cutting, and edging, and don’t get me started on the road itself. Holes, patched with asphalt INSTEAD of cement, and the absolute absense of curb-line painting and dotted-lines between the lanes! In good weather this is dangerous, but at night, in the rain…these painted lines don’t even exist! Can you imagine how terriffing this must be to a driver who is not familiar with the road!
Years ago, the ride going South towards the Estate of George Washington was beautiful and something to be proud of. Now, it’s been completely negelected.
It’s nothing short of shameful.
The road needs wider lanes and possibly a divider between oncoming traffic. The paint markings are a joke and almost impossible to see. Even the new repairs aren’t holding up. The infrastructure is crumbling and lower speed limits won’t work, even if/when enforced. Sad that 10 over is considered way too slow for most drivers.