BETHESDA, Md. — “Please, be a better neighbor.” That’s the message from Montgomery County Council member Roger Berliner to officials at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.
According to Berliner, the latest version of NIH’s master plan would to add up to 1,000 parking spaces to its facility. Berliner says that will only further jam traffic along Maryland Route 355 — a jam-packed commuter route that feeds traffic from Maryland into the District of Columbia and is a major link to Interstates 270 and 495.
The letter, signed by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and members of the Maryland state delegation, asks NIH to boost its employee-to-parking ratio, which is being done across the street from NIH, where the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is housed.
According to the letter, Naval Support Activity Bethesda, home to the Walter Reed medical complex, is adopting an employee to parking ratio of 3:1, and that would minimize the traffic impact in an area that’s already a major choke-point.
According to the planning standards described by Maryland officials in the letter, if NIH followed the formula backed by the National Capital Planning Commission, the Montgomery County Planning Board and the County Executive’s Military Installations/BRAC Coordinator, up to 3,300 cars would be taken off the road.
In summing up a request for a change in NIH’s plans, the letter ends by saying, “Removing 3,300 cars from our clogged roads would be a ‘good neighbor policy,’ one we urge you to adopt.”
Letter on NIH Campus Master Plan
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this story.
