Deadly Bethesda Intersection Gains Flashing Caution Lights, Not School Zone

BETHESDA, MD — Flashing yellow caution lights are now operating at a deadly Bethesda intersection near Walt Whitman High School, but state highway officials recently told local leaders that River Road near the school cannot be made a school zone to slow traffic speeds. After several delays, the Maryland Department of Transportation says it is back on track with improvements at MD 190 (River Road) and Braeburn Parkway; the State Highway Administration recently activated the intersection warning system that flashes yellow caution lights when vehicles turn left from River Road onto Braeburn Parkway.

“These initial changes will alert drivers on River Road that there are motorists making turns at the intersection,” said SHA Administrator Gregory Slater in a news release. “With 45,000 vehicles traveling through this intersection each day, it is important that drivers slow down and stay alert through the corridor.”

The intersection is the site of a fatal February 2016 crash that happened when a BMW traveling west on River Road driven by Ogulcan Atakoglu struck the De Macedo family’s Chevrolet Volt as it attempted to turn left onto Pyle Road. Otakoglu was driving 30 mph over the speed limit at the time of the crash. He was traveling at 75 mph at that point, but had earlier been speeding at 115 mph on the road, Montgomery County Police said.

Atakoglu, a 20-year-old Potomac resident, agreed to plead guilty to three counts of manslaughter by vehicle. In December he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the maximum sentence.

In March 2017, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen joined Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner and local leaders to send a letter to the State Highway Administration requesting an update on safety improvements at the deadly intersection of River Road and Braeburn Parkway.

“More than a year has passed since three members of a Bethesda family were killed while turning across River Road (MD 190) onto Braeburn Parkway to access Walt Whitman High School,” the letter reads. “Despite repeated requests for safety improvements at this intersection from community members and elected representatives at the county, state, and federal levels, little has been done to remedy the problem.”

In the letter, the officials requested a new intersection Concept Study and a response to their request to designate this section of River Road as a School Zone in order to set a lower speed limit.

Last week the SHA responded that River Road — a state-maintained highway — does not meet the criteria for a school zone because Whitman High does not front on the road; rather, the school fronts on Braeburn Parkway. Berliner told reporters Monday that he would follow up with SHA about the school zone issue, reports Montgomery Community Media.

“We are told that in Prince George’s County, there was a school very similarly situated that did receive a school zone approval … No one debates the fact that Whitman High School is not on River Road, But it’s also true, half the people who enter, enter onto Braeburn, from River Road,” Berliner said.

In fall 2016, SHA began making the $300,000 interim safety improvements at the intersection. These safety improvements included:

• Restricting Braeburn Parkway traffic in both directions to a right-only turn onto River Road;
• Separating left-turning traffic from through traffic at the intersection;
• Adding overhead LED lighting at the MD 190/Pyle Road intersection; and
• Installing overhead flashing signs in both directions of River Road, which will be activated when vehicles on River Road turn left onto Braeburn Parkway.

Area residents have said the state’s designs are too cautious, and urged authorities to install a traffic light; SHA officials have said that traffic studies show the intersection doesn’t meet standards to install one.
At a June 2016 meeting about the site, residents recommended moving the intersection to Pyle Road and adding a traffic light.

“A traffic signal at a new intersection of Pyle Road and River would protect the existing crosswalk and the pedestrians as well as the car traffic. We could then close the Braeburn intersection and that would address the problem,” said Richard Boltuck, with the Bannockburn Civic Association.

Image via the State Highway Administration