Connecticut Avenue thoroughfare

A total of 118 speeding commuters were ticketed on Connecticut Avenue between the Washington, D.C., border and Wheaton on Tuesday as part of the Montgomery County Police Department's efforts to slow traffic on the highway.

The "high-intensity traffic enforcement" had 10 officers using laser devices to monitor speed at five intersections along the road from 9-11:30 a.m. Two of the targeted intersections were in Kensington -- at Everett and Glenridge streets -- but the number of drivers ticketed on those roads was not available, said Lucille Baur, department spokeswoman.

"We would have considered today's enforcement a success if we had not had to write a single citation," she said. "It is very disappointing that we had to issue 118 citations for speeding."

The police issued more than 14,000 tickets on Connecticut Avenue in 2004, she said. The posted speed limit on the road is 35 miles per hour. The top speed clocked on Tuesday was 67 miles per hour.

The stepped-up enforcement efforts got mixed reviews from Kensington residents who see the traffic on Connecticut Avenue as a safety and quality-of-life issue. The six-lane state highway divides the small, mostly historic town.

"Not a car...goes down the street at 35 miles, said Chris Schiponi, who lives on the corner of Baltimore and Connecticut avenues. Schiponi said she has witnessed six car accidents at her intersection since last June, including one that demolished a fence on her property.

Her three children, ages 7 to 13, are not allowed to cross Connecticut Avenue by themselves, she said. She and her husband, Mark, have also installed an electric fence in their front yard to safeguard the family dogs, Kirby and Myles.

The crux of the problem, said Town Councilman Al Carr, is jurisdiction. The State Highway Administration has to approve any engineering changes to the road. According to Carr, who also chairs the town's committee on traffic and pedestrian safety, Kensington has approached the state agency with several suggestions. Ideas have included narrowing lanes on Connecticut Avenue and providing pedestrians with orange flags to carry when crossing busy intersections, as has been done with some success in Washington, D.C.

Chuck Gischlar, agency spokesman, said the highway administration evaluates all ideas carefully, but could not comment specifically on any received from Kensington.

He said the agency will be installing new, wider striping on Connecticut Avenue, which will make lanes appear narrower. It will also be closing off the end of Armory Avenue at Connecticut Avenue and rerouting traffic onto Warner Street, which, he said, should also slow traffic.

"We're constantly re-evaluating the effectiveness of our highway plans," he said.

The town has stepped up its own pedestrian safety efforts in the wake of a January collision that killed Laurel Wolchok, 78, who lived on Frederick Avenue. The March Town Council meeting included a presentation by Christy Huddle, pedestrian safety coordinator for Montgomery County. She distributed a number of GlobeStrobes, small flashing lights pedestrians can wear around their necks to increase their visibility.

The town may also be beefing up its traffic safety budget, Carr said, from the $70,000 included in the current budget to $110,000 tentatively penciled in for 2006. The money will be used primarily for sidewalk improvements and hiring off-duty police officers for neighborhood traffic control.

He appreciates enforcement efforts by the county police but doubts they will have a "long term impact."

"They're here enforcing, next day they go away, people speed," he said.