With spring upon us, the weekend traffic problem at the intersection of Georgetown Pike and Old Dominion Drive (entrance to Great Falls Park) is causing long backups from both directions on Georgetown Pike and also north on Old Dominion Drive. The lack of turn lanes increases the congestion.

In the absence of physical changes to the intersection, there should be police presence during busy mid-day hours on weekends to direct traffic and not allow long backups when the Park’s parking is full.

As Great Falls Park is a National Park, one would assume that the responsibility for traffic management would belong to the US Park Police. No private venue would be allowed to avoid responsibility if their venue created this kind of problem. The alternative to the Park Police is the Fairfax County Police Department. In any event, mitigation of this problem belongs to one or more of our governmental entities.

The Park is a treasure and a wonderful part of our community. We have visitors from all around the area who very much appreciate and enjoy the Park. Reasonable traffic management would make their experience a better one and improve the quality of life for those of us who use Georgetown Pike and Old Dominion Drive for our normal weekend travels.

Peter Garahan

Great Falls