The Maryland State Highway Administration is hosting an informational meeting Thursday on proposed improvements at a Bethesda intersection where three people lost their lives in a car accident.
State officials will share renderings of the proposed upgrades at the juncture of River Road and Braeburn Parkway and will answer questions from the community, according to a news release. The open house at Walt Whitman High School will run from 7 to 9 p.m. and will not include a formal presentation.
Community members have pressed the state for safety enhancements at the site, near the back entrance to Walt Whitman, after a deadly crash in February 2016. The collision killed a Walt Whitman senior and his parents and injured his sister, also a Whitman student.
SHA has since added flashing yellow signs to the site and reconfigured the intersection to prohibit left turns from Braeburn Parkway onto River Road. Only right turns are permitted.
Residents had asked SHA to create a new back entrance to the Whitman parking lot at Pyle Road and to install traffic signals at the River Road intersection and crosswalk.
SHA is holding the information meeting this week because the agency has completed a study on improving traffic and pedestrian safety at the intersection, the release stated.
Bethany Rodgers can be reached at bethany.rodgers@moco360.media.