Question Description
Instructions: Write a 275-300 word news story based on a press conference held earlier today in Washington, D.C., by Mayor Dattolli. She released the reports findings at the press conference.
Use the statements provided from the mayor and different interest groups at the end of the story.
Here are the facts:
The Chevy Chase Commission on Traffic Safety released a report today. The report suggests three ways to make East-West Highway in Chevy Chase safer for drivers and pedestrians. Chevy Chase is a town in Montgomery County, Md. The report was commissioned by Mayor Sabrina Dattolli after a deadly accident on East-West Highway last year. In the accident, two high school seniors were killed instantly when the car in which they were riding on East-West Highway was hit head-on by a minivan.
Here is a summary of what the commissions report says:
1. The commission offers three recommendations:
- Widen part of the highway to three lanes in each direction, between Wisconsin Avenue and Connecticut Avenue.
- Make part of the road one-way during rush hour.
- Put up a traffic light at Maple Avenue and East-West Highway (a busy cross-section).
2. The commission does not rank the recommendations, though the report contains an analysis of the potential costs and benefits of each. The proposal to widen the highway would take one year to complete at a cost of about $400,000. To do this, the median dividing the road would have to be removed and sidewalks would have to be narrowed. The commission said this recommendation, on its own or combined with the others, would have the greatest effect on safety.
Under the flow proposal (proposal 2), all traffic between Wisconsin Avenue and 16th Street would travel east between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Traffic between 16th Street and Wisconsin Avenue could travel only west between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Installing a traffic light (the last proposal) is estimated to cost $15,000 with some of the cost going to improve nearby roads that would draw traffic that had been commuting on East-West Highway.
The report was submitted to Mayor Dattolli, who is free to accept or reject any or all of the proposals. She will accept public comment for 90 days before making a decision. She then will forward her recommendations to the city council for action.
Copies of the full report, which consists of 105 pages of analysis and recommendations, are available at the Bethesda Public Library on Arlington Road and at Chevy Chase City Hall on Willow Avenue.
Here are statements issued by the mayor and two interest groups.
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Statement of Mayor Sabrina Dattolli released to reporters: I want to thank the members of the commission for its fine work on a difficult subject. The report will go a long way toward helping our community move past the tragic events of last November. I am eager to study the proposals and the comments I will receive from the community.
Statement of Neighbors United for Traffic Safety: We strongly urge Mayor Datolli to accept all of the recommendations of the commission. The panel has bravely spoken out loud what we all have known to be true for some time: East-West Highway is a death trap. It is a 1940s-era road that is poorly equipped to handle todays traffic. Lets act fast, before the next tragedy occurs. (Neighbors United for Traffic Safety consists of residents of Chevy Chase and nearby communities. Many members of the organization live near East-West Highway, though none lives on the road itself.)
Statement of Citizens Against Ridiculous Spending: The report by the commission is a knee-jerk solution looking for a problem. East-West Highway is perfectly safe for safe drivers. The taxpayers of Chevy Chase cannot afford to foot the bill for another big-government boondoggle that wont prevent the next crazy teen-ager from driving like hes in the Indy 500. (Citizens Against Ridiculous Spending is a group of Chevy Chase merchants and homeowners who own property along the portion of the highway that would be affected by the recommendations.)
