Many homeowners can recall the vocal meetings that started in the fall of 2000 when Montgomery County Department of Public Works (DPWT) first announced their plans during a little advertised meeting, to widen the road and right of way to 80 feet, and removing the gentle curves to increase the posted speed limit. Their proposal also included plans of replacing the two-lane bridge with a stronger, higher bridge over the Muddy Branch Creek that would bring heavy trucking, up to 80,000 pounds, into their neighborhood. The new alignment, when placed into context with one of the routes under consideration for a second Potomac River crossing at that time, revealed itself a natural feeder route for a bridge that no one wanted slicing their community into halves.
Preliminary improvement alternatives for Quince Orchard Road were presented by the Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation at a meeting at Quince Orchard High Shool on September 13, 2000 by Mr. Alan Straus. Mr Straus was at the time a consultant to Montgomery County and the Group Manager of Environmental and Transportation Planning for URS Corporation.
The URS presentation included a large graphic depicting three new routes for Quince Orchard Rd., each in a different color superimposed over an aerial photograph of the area. Two of these new routes ran to the west of the present roadway. The third route ran very close to the existing roadway. Mr. Straus has been asked on at least two separate occasions to provide a copy of the information presented at the September 13 QOHS meeting so that it could be made available to the community. Mr. Straus declined, explaining that he is hesitant to provide the material. He was concerned that since the alternatives presented were preliminary and not yet complete, they may present the project in a negative light.
Postage paid "Question/Comment" cards were also available on a desk at the back of the QOHS meeting room. According to DPW&T, the cards were specifically printed for the Quince Orchard Road project, so that residends could send their written comments directly to the project manager. We asked DPW&T for blank comment cards for distribution to affected area residents. Mr. Edgar Gonzalez, at the time Chief of Engineering Services offered to sell the cards to us for 25 cents each! Can you imagine such arrogance? Selling comment cards to the very people that are affected by this project, and who pay the taxes to have the cards printed, for 25 cents each!? According to Mr. Holger Serrano, then an Engineering Services Specialst speaking on behalf of DPW&T Director Albert Genetti (240) 777-7170, it was their unwrtten policy to sell the cards to civic groups!
They used words like “inadequate design” and “substandard”, and Robbie Milburg, the then president of the North Potomac Citizens Association stood up and proclaimed “you had just better get used to it people”.
Her words, along with DPWT's expressed attitude of indifference to the concerns of parents for the safety of their walkers and future student drivers, were responsible for causing a small group of attendees to launch what would eventually become a groundswell of over 300 families into action. DPWT management resisted the pushback, making it difficult for residents to obtain background information, and actually denying access to postage paid resident response cards procured with taxpayer funds.
It was DPW&T's reluctance to share information with the public at large and their obvious lack of interest in public opinion that are the key reasons we felt it necessary to make sure that everyone needed to be alerted to this project. A road project as large as this one, and that affects so many of us should be able to stand on it's own merit. It should not have to be slipped in through the back door by DPW&T while no one is watching.
Well, we went to the meetings.... lots of meetings. Meetings at QO High School. A Town Meeting with the council. The NPCA meetings at Travilah Road. We wrote to the County Council. Councilmember Phil Andrews looked at the accident data and agreed that it PROVED that the accidents were in the already straight parts of the road, NOT at the Muddy Branch Creek. The North Potomac Citizens Association took up our cause. We were eventually assured by Holgar Sarano of DPWT that they heard us, that they understood our concerns, and that they would proceed with a "Spot Improvements" plan. Well guess what they slipped into their plan!?
Undaunted, the group went door to door, speaking with residents and handing out flyers to increase public awareness of the agency's plans. Readers were directed to a website http://www.qoroad.org, where they could see six years of traffic accident data, purchased by the group from MC Police Dept., which demonstrated that the DPWT plan had nothing to do with preventing accidents. Examination of the data revealed the vast majority of accidents, including one high school student's fatality, were along the straighter sections of roadway. Statistically, the narrow, windy section of roadway through Muddy Branch Creek proved to be one of the safest roads in the county - showing only 4 reported accidents (2%).
Residents concerned with the consequences of the DPWT proposal registered their opposition by returning a signed statement or by registering online. In the end, over three hundred families registered their opposition.
Provided with a public platform to voice their opposition, scores of residents attended and tempers flared at the Town Hall meeting with the Montgomery County Council. If the amount of concern was not evident before, it became readily apparent that November evening in 2000. Councilmembers assured the community that they would consider the results of the DPWT study, and would only approve a sensible, safe solution. Members of the Council urged the community and agency to work together to resolve the conflict. The NPCA met with DPWT, presented a plan of inprovements defined by area residents, and were assured by Holgar Sarrano, then director of Engineering Services that they would review and adopt the plan.
In Fall of 2003, the first survey flags began to quietly appear along the Muddy Branch Creek, arousing the curiosity of area residents. Upon questioning the surveyors, residents were informed that once again, preparations were underway to straighten the curves. Once again, some force in DPWT had decided to take matters into hand, defying the direction of the County Council, and disregarding what the community stated as being in their best interest. Once again, the catch phrases, "inadequate" and "substandard" were tossed about by DPWT. But this time, disarmed by their own accident data, DPWT relied upon evidence of guardrail scrapes and missing tree bark as justification for almost five million dollars of ripping, tearing, and rebuilding. As it turned out, the guardrail was damaged by snowplows, and bark was missing because the trees were already dead.
Members of the NPCA testified at the Montgomery County capital improvement budget hearing to express dissatisfaction at the agency’s actions, challenging that the project should not be funded in its entirety. Instead, NPCA urged, the road project should be funded less the amount specified for straightening, widening, and the proposed truck bridge.
In January of 2004, residents and NPCA brought their concerns, regarding (in their opinion) what had now become a "rogue" agency, to Councilmember Nancy Floreen. Both sides were given an equal opportunity to express their views. Councilmember Floreen asked DPWT to return to the Council with a revised plan that excluded bridge restructuring and any road realignment south of Horse Center Rd.
In Spring of 2004, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning, echoed the concerns of the NPCA, and also agreed that the area of the road south of Horse Center Road should remain as is. A final Transportation & Engineering session was held shortly afterward, where then DPWT Director Al Genetti expressed his disappointment with the MNCPP's "breaking rank" with his agency. In contrast, members of the community and other organizations openly commended MNCPP for their independent action.
DPWT eventually revisited their original proposal. The result is the current, modified proposal which is to be discussed on Thursday, March 3. The current project proposal includes all of the improvements originally recommended by the community, and no longer contains a plan to realign Quince Orchard Road through the Muddy Branch Creek, or a new bridge to support 80,000 lb trucks.
Additional information about this project may be found on the Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation project web site. Enter "Quince" as a search argument.