A sign on MacArthur Boulevard just before going under the Beltway warns drivers of pavement conditions. Photo by Peggy McEwan/The Almanac
’Tis the season for rough roads and potholes, the result of winter’s freezing and thawing, rain snow and sleet.
Sometimes a rough road is just a bother, other times, like a slalom course, and still others, a true driving hazard.
Montgomery County citizens have several road departments to navigate in submitting road repair requests and it can be confusing.
Roads in the Potomac area can be under the jurisdiction of the county, the state, or the National Park Service. A little farther afield roads can also be maintained by one of the local cities such as Gaithersburg, Poolesville or Rockville.
“Montgomery County has been undergoing repairs for the last two-three months on the stretch [of MacArthur Boulevard] between Falls [Road] and Brickyard [Road]. They are taking up pavement and laying down new asphalt. Strangely, the repaired sections are ridiculously bumpy, not smooth. Drive from Brickyard [Road] toward Old Angler's Inn and you will not believe how much you bump up and down on brand new asphalt. Same in the earlier stretches. Can't figure it. …. Makes no sense. At a minimum, perhaps an engineer for the county could explain why it has to be so. Frankly, we preferred the old potholes,” Potomac resident Henry Strong wrote to the Almanac.
MacArthur Boulevard is a county road, maintained by Montgomery County Department of Transportation Gaithersburg West Highway Maintenance Area, according to Josh Faust, public outreach manager.
Faust was aware of the repairs Strong referred to and explained the repair was intended to be a patch not a full resurfacing. Indeed, the road surface does resemble a patchwork quilt.
“Every two years [MCDOT] surveys the 5,200 miles we maintain,” Faust said. “Every road is given a score from 0-100, grading on different factors” to determine what each road needs.
Faust said there is a short video on YouTube about the vehicle that travels the roads collecting information for the grading. That can be found on the department’s dedicated YouTube page.
Faust also said residents can call the Montgomery County Information Center at 311 to report a road that needs work or put in a request at the 311 website: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc311.
“Once a service request is registered it is sent to one of the county depots and generally we can process [it] in 72 hours,” Faust said.
Residents looking for service on state roads, most of the main thoroughfares, can place a service request on www.roads.maryland.gov, Christopher Bishop, Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman, said.
To see if a road is state maintained visit: http://www.roads.maryland.gov/Index.aspx?PageId=484.
In distinguishing between county, state and city-maintained roads calls for directions, there is one more jurisdiction to remember. The Clara Barton Parkway is maintained by the National Park Service George Washington Memorial Parkway division.
Though it is called George Washington Parkway, which is in Virginia, NPS does the repairs on the Maryland side too, said Aaron LaRocca, park ranger.
“Last week, I think on Tuesday, the National Park Service closed the Clara Barton from the Glen Echo turn around to Chain Bridge to make road repairs,” LaRocca said. “We have our eyes on the roadway, not only for potholes but for all kinds of [hazards].”
Information on Clara Barton road conditions and information for reporting needed repairs can be emailed to gwmp_superintendent@nps.gov.