Police to update public on fiery Sam Eig Hwy. crash investigation today

Today at 11:30 AM, Montgomery County Police will hold a press conference, at which they will detail their progress in the investigation of a fatal crash at Sam Eig Highway and Fields Road on June 16, 2015.

That wreck resulted in the death of a 5-year-old child, Daniel Dana. His mother, Narges Shafeirad, 33, was seriously injured and hospitalized. The suspicious nature of the accident led police to launch an investigation.

Police investigating fatal accident in Clarksburg

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Collision Reconstruction Unit are investigating a fatal, single-vehicle crash in Clarksburg on July 28. Richard Pliszak, 54, of the 4500 block of Roop Road in Mount Airy was killed Tuesday when his 2007 Ford Fusion struck a utility pole in the 26600 block of Clarksburg Road around 9:24 PM.

Investigators are seeking to determine the cause of the crash. Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620.

Municipal Parking Lot 5 paving Thursday, July 30 in Gaithersburg

Municipal Parking Lot 5, located along the railroad tracks off S. Summit Avenue in Gaithersburg, will be repaved tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM. For obvious reasons, no parking is allowed.

Should weather not permit the project to be completed, the work will be rescheduled.

Police to hand out flyers on homicide in Montgomery Village today

Montgomery County Police detectives will be handing out flyers about the recent murder of Bradley Colmes, 60, in Montgomery Village today. Colmes was assaulted and beaten in late June, and died from his injuries. His death was later termed a homicide, and an investigation is underway.

Police will hold a press conference this afternoon at 1:00 PM, in the 10300 block of Ridgeline Drive in Montgomery Village, where the attack took place.

Detectives will then canvas the neighborhood with flyers, as they seek leads and a motive in the case. A reward of $10,000 is currently being offered.

Cricket is the new soccer in I-270 corridor, MoCo officials say

"[C]ricket today in the United States is where soccer was thirty years ago," a Montgomery County Department of Parks memo to the County Planning Board says, in making a request that the body approve the dedication of two cricket fields in the Interstate 270 corridor. The memo argues the sport, invented in England around the 16th century, is growing in popularity among residents and the world. "It is estimated that the World Cup of Cricket will be watched by over 1 billion people," it predicts.

The department is asking for the fields to be constructed at southwest corner of Schaeffer Road and Burdette Lane in the South Germantown Recreational Park, and at the corner of Skylark Road and Piedmont Road at Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park in Clarksburg. Should the latter site not become available to Parks, the department suggests locating the second field at South Germantown, as well.

Should the fields be approved at this Thursday's board meeting, Parks says it will fund the first in its FY-2017-22 Capital Improvements Program budget. The department is also hoping to construct two cricket fields in the eastern part of the county, and says additional fields could be needed in the I-270 corridor.

Planning staff are recommending approval of the requests.

Howard enters 6th District race for Congress

Laytonsville resident Frank Howard has officially filed to run for Congress in Maryland's 6th District, the ridiculously-gerrymandered area that runs from Western Maryland all the way into many parts of Montgomery County. Within Montgomery, it includes rapidly-growing towns and cities like Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown and Clarksburg; rural areas like Poolesville; and parts of Rockville and Potomac - and even a tiny bit of Bethesda, around Westfield Montgomery Mall. But wait, there's more: it also takes in parts of Aspen Hill.

The seat's current occupant, Congressman John Delaney (D), has been considering runs for the retiring Barbara Mikulski's U.S. Senate seat, and Maryland Governor.

Howard says he would seek to lower the U.S. corporate income tax, restore defense spending, protect Western Maryland workers against the "War on Coal", and replace the Affordable Care Act with a free-market alternative.

The Republican ran a formidable campaign for the District 14 State Senate seat in 2014, in which he was endorsed by the Washington Post, The Gazette, and the Maryland Farm Bureau PAC. An Old Dominion University graduate, Howard is an Air Force veteran and an owner of Shipley Associates. He has also been active in the community, as President of the Board of Directors for Second Chance Wildlife Center, and with Gaithersburg Meals on Wheels.

Photo courtesy Frank Howard for Congress

VDOT out of step with MD/VA leaders on new Potomac River crossing

The Virginia Department of Transportation has lost a few steps since Gov. Bob McDonnell left office. While some overt, and in more cases, subtle, steps toward building a second Potomac River bridge were taken during the McDonnell years, the latest talking points from VDOT are decidedly less favorable toward such a venture.

VDOT recently released a study of traffic on existing Potomac River crossings that did briefly mention a new bridge remaining a long-term option. But the study "results" strongly favored another option, the extension of HOT lanes along I-495 over the American Legion Bridge onto Maryland's stretch of the Capital Beltway. That's certainly a positive and common sense option that should indeed go forward, particularly to give Beltway drivers willing to pay the toll a faster route.

But HOT lanes on the existing bridge won't give Montgomery County the economic benefit of a more direct route to Dulles Airport, the preferred flight option of firms who do business internationally. Conversely, they won't help boost economic development in the Dulles area, either. And they won't solve the reality that about 25% of Legion bridge traffic is traveling to, or from, the Dulles area.

That latter figure, from a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments study, mysteriously appears nowhere in the report. Other figures that are in the report are questionable, such as the maximum speed claims for rush hour traffic in the area of the bridge on the Beltway. As bad as they sound, they're too fast for Legion bridge commuters to believe.

22.5 MPH speed crossing
from Tysons to Bethesda
during evening rush?
Traffic isn't moving
that fast in real life

There's one other engineering issue: the current Legion bridge isn't wide enough to hold an extension of the Virginia HOT lanes. Widening a bridge is not easy. The report makes no mention of the costs and challenges in doing so.

Moreover, VDOT's downplaying of a new crossing is out of step with their own elected leaders, and the change in leadership on our side of the river. Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently endorsed a new Potomac River bridge at a conference called Dulles Matters. U.S. Senator Mark Warner favors a new bridge, as well.

Maryland has a new governor, too. But Virginia's transportation secretary apparently hasn't heard yet. In his usual dismissal of a new Potomac River crossing, the Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock quotes him as follows: 

“Maryland has publicly stated they’re not interested in any additional river crossings,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne told members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board. “Okay, what’s the practical solution we can work on?”

That's complete baloney. Gov. Larry Hogan has never publicly stated he's not interested in any additional river crossings. That was the previous, Martin O'Malley administration that stonewalled any attempt to discuss the matter by Virginia officials.

By all means, go ahead and extend the HOT lanes. But this is also the time to finally begin a legitimate dialogue on a new bridge between the two states, while common-sense governors who understand highways are the major transportation method of the majority of commuters, and will remain so in the future.

Images: VDOT