Map It:  Rockville   Twinbrook 

ON CAPITOL HILL, it is sometimes said that observing legislators at work is kind of like watching sausage being made. On Rockville Pike, however, the new Kielbasa Factory lets its patrons focus more on eating sausages — a far more appetizing prospect.

As The Post's Walter Nicholls reports, the sausages at the Kielbasa Factory aren't actually made on-site, although in-house production is a long-term goal. Right now, the meat is prepared by a top butcher in Chicago. But local sausage lovers should still rejoice — we've been without a reputable Polish deli for years.

The eatery, owned by Polish native Krystyna Ahrens boasts more than just sausages. Expect pierogies, bread, brined Polish pickles and the Pope Kremowka, the late Pope John Paul II's favorite puff cake. And if you're looking for that ultimate of Fat Tuesday treats, the Polish jelly-filled paczki, Ahrens and her crew will have you covered for any gluttony before Lent.

» Kielbasa Factory, 1073 Rockville Pike, Rockville; 240-453-9090

Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

Posted by Michael Grass at 3:47 PM on January 2, 2008
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Tagged in Eating Around , Free Ride , Maryland , Montgomery County , Out & About , Rockville , Top Stories , Twinbrook

AFTER A METROBUS struck and killed a pedestrian Monday night near the Twinbrook station, initial reports had indicated that the person killed had been crossing the street without using a crosswalk. But as The Post's Ernesto Londono reports, 38-year-old Tao Sun was indeed in a crosswalk on Parklawn Drive when he was struck.

The Metrobus driver, Travis McDuffie, has been "placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of routine drug and alcohol tests and the outcome of the police investigation," Londono reports. Sun was the 16th pedestrian killed in Montgomery County so far this year.

» "Pedestrian Was In Crosswalk When Bus Struck Him" [WaPo]

Posted by Michael Grass at 9:24 AM on December 5, 2007
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Tagged in Free Ride , Maryland , Metro , Montgomery County , News , Top Stories , Transit , Twinbrook

Map It:  Twinbrook 

A METROBUS struck and killed a pedestrian near the Red Line's Twinbrook station Monday evening, the fifth fatality involving a Metrobus this year, The Post's Jenna Johnson reports.

The pedestrian, who has not been identified, had stepped off the curb and, as Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein notes, was not in a crosswalk when trying to cross Parklawn Drive near Twinbrook Parkway.

The Twinbrook-bound bus was not carrying passengers.

In a separate incident on Monday morning in Prince George's County, a driver of a sport-utility vehicle lost control and crossed the center line on Riverdale Road into the path of Merobus carrying 15 passengers. The driver of the SUV suffered injuries to the lower leg, as The Post's Hamil R. Harris reports. The Metrobus passengers suffered minor injuries.

» "Metrobus Strikes and Kills Pedestrian Near Twinbrook" [WaPo]
» "SUV Driver Hurt in Bus Crash" [WaPo]

Posted by Michael Grass at 8:43 AM on December 4, 2007
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Tagged in Free Ride , Maryland , Metro , Montgomery County , Prince George's County , Top Stories , Twinbrook

Map It:  Bethesda   Grosvenor   Rockville   Twinbrook   Silver Spring   Wheaton   White Flint 

EXPECT MONTGOMERY COUNTY'S transit corridors to get a lot more crowded in the coming years: The county council last week approved new planning rules to encourage development in places already served by public transportation.

That means Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton and Metrorail stations in the Rockville Pike corridor will likely see more dense development as the decades wear on.

Reports The Post's Miranda S. Spivack:

In the next 20 years, Montgomery faces several challenges as it tries to absorb the expected arrival of thousands of new residents and jobs already approved and plans for the proposed expansion of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. And the open land available for development is almost used up.

Taxes on new construction in the county will increase from 70 percent to 125 percent, depending on the location and type of development.

» "New Montgomery Growth Policy Formalizes Focus on Public Transit" [WaPo]

Posted by Michael Grass at 8:57 AM on November 19, 2007
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Tagged in Bethesda , Free Ride , Grosvenor , Maryland , Montgomery County , News , Real Estate , Rockville , Silver Spring , Top Stories , Transit , Twinbrook , Wheaton , White Flint

FOR THOSE WHO LIVE in Rockville or Alexandria, this could be a messy weekend to take Metrorail. Due to major maintenance projects, there will be delays of up to 40 minutes on parts of the Red and Blue lines this weekend. Ongoing railcar testing on the Green Line will continue with shorter delays.

» RED LINE: Expect delays of up to 40 minutes when traveling between the Shady Grove and Twinbrook stations from 10 p.m. Friday until closing on Sunday. Metro is closing one track to replace about 1,200 feet of fencing along the track right-of-way. Metro will run a shuttle train on one track between the three stations and will also provide shuttle bus service between Shady Grove and Twinbrook every 15 minutes.

» BLUE LINE: There will also be delays of up to 40 minutes between the Franconia-Springfield and King Street stations from 10 p.m. Friday until closing on Sunday. Shuttle trains between the two stations will run on a single track so the transit agency can repair track switches near the Van Dorn Street station. All trains that would normally go to Franconia-Springfield will stop at King Street and then proceed to the Yellow Line terminal at Huntington.

» GREEN LINE: There will be delays of up to 15 minutes between the Greenbelt and College Park stations from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Screen capture from wmata.com

Posted by Express at 2:22 PM on June 29, 2007
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Tagged in Blue Line , College Park , Franconia-Springfield , Free Ride , Green Line , Greenbelt , King Street , Metro , News , Red Line , Shady Grove , Top Stories , Transit , Twinbrook , Van Dorn St.

FOR SOME RED LINE COMMUTERS — those whose final stops are White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville or Shady Grove — encountering a train with a final stop at Grosvenor-Strathmore can be frustrating; it means somebody else's wait for a train is over, but theirs isn't.

The thinking behind these Grosvenor turnbacks is that there are more Red Line riders inside the Capital Beltway, rather than beyond it, so there's not as big a need for trains servicing the outer portion of the Red Line. But try telling that to those outer portion commuters, especially the thousands of new residents in the greater Rockville area who use Metrorail.

As part of a Metro pilot program, some of the Grosvenor turnbacks will be eliminated starting this Sunday. The $2.25 million program is being funded by the state of Maryland and will provide full Shady Grove service for all Red Line trains on the weekends and during mid-day weekday periods. That means some relief — at least until the 18-month program ends.

» GET DETAILS ON THIS WEEKEND's Metro track work and service changes after the jump.

Continue Reading "Destination Shady Grove, Not Grosvenor" »

Posted by Michael Grass at 12:23 PM on October 6, 2006
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Tagged in Grosvenor , Metro , Rockville , Shady Grove , Twinbrook , White Flint

Map It:  Columbia Heights   Fort Totten  Georgia Ave-Petworth  Grosvenor  Mt Vernon Square  Rockville   Shady Grove  Shaw-Howard U  Twinbrook  U Street-Cardozo   White Flint 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a change in leadership can make. If you remember last fall, Metro's then-chief executive, Richard White, was very much against any sort of extension of the Yellow Line from its terminus at the Mount Vernon Square-7th St.-Convention Center station through the Green Line's rapidly developing Mid-City corridor to Fort Totten. That was despite calls from residents in the U Street and Columbia Heightsneighborhoods. Mr. White's response, via a DCist post last November:

Such an extension of service would be exceedingly expensive, both from an operating cost perspective, as well as from a capital cost perspective. An additional 8 trains would be required to extend the Yellow Line. At 6 cars per train, the additional 48 cars plus spares would exceed 100 million dollars.

Flash forward to today's Metro Board meeting with Metro's new interim general manager, Dan Tangherlini. Voila! As part of an 18-month pilot study starting in January, the Yellow Line will run during weekday off-peak and weekend hours all the way from its Virginia terminus at Huntington to Fort Totten in the District, increasing the number of trains serving the Georgia Ave.-Petworth, Columbia Heights, U St.-Cardozo and Shaw-Howard University stations -- at a frequency of every 7 1/2 to 10 minutes.

Continue Reading "Yellow Line to Be Extended in Pilot Program" »

Posted by Michael Grass at 3:09 PM on April 20, 2006
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Tagged in Columbia Heights , Fort Totten , Georgia Ave.-Petworth , Green Line , Metro , Montgomery County , News , Red Line , Rockville , Shady Grove , Shaw , The District , Transit , Twinbrook , U St.-Cardozo , White Flint , Yellow Line