Neighborhood Advisory

In response to requests from residents to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection of Great Falls Road and Monument Street, the City is planning to construct several safety improvements at this intersection.  This project supports the City’s goal to enhance pedestrian accessibility and to create a safer route for students walking to Julius West Middle School.  The project will be funded through the Citywide Capital Improvements Program and through a federal grant awarded to City’s Safe Routes to School Program.

The Great Falls Road and Monument Street improvements will address concerns raised by residents about speeding, vehicles failing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks, large crossing distances for pedestrians, and insufficiently marked crosswalks.  While immediate action has been taken by the City of Rockville Police to slow vehicle speeds on Great Falls Road through speed camera enforcement, the following is a proposed list of physical improvements, which are shown on the reverse side of this page:

1. Decorative textured crosswalk on Great Falls Road to increase crosswalk definition and visibility, thereby highlighting the pedestrian crossing area for approaching motorists
2. Landscaped median on Great Falls Road that narrows the road to slow vehicles approaching the crosswalk
3. Curb extension on Monument Street to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance 
4. Pedestrian island on Monument Street to provide pedestrians a refuge area within the intersection and to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance
5. Crosswalk realignment on Monument Street to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance

A public comment period for the proposed improvements will be held through Friday, June 29, 2007.  If you have any questions about the project or would like to submit comments, please contact Carrie Sanders, Transportation Planner, 240-314-8529, csanders@rockvillemd.gov.  Pending results from the comment period, you will receive a notice of construction in the Summer/Fall of 2007.