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Questions, large and small
Got any questions about anything around (or near) our town? Maybe some alert reader will know the answer!
Please post your Qs -- and please share any knowledge you have that shed lights on any of the questions you see here.
4. HOW CAN YOU BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE IF YOU'RE REALLY NOWHERE AT ALL? (Why are there TWO Baltimore Avenues and TWO Rhode Island Avenues in Hyattsville?)
Am I the only one perplexed (and amused!) by the fact that both "Baltimore Ave." and "Rhode Island Ave." can exist simultaneously on both sides of the CSX tracks in the vicinity of Franklin's Brew Pub and the County Courthouse and County Services Bldg?
Note that in the top photo you can see that the name Baltimore Ave is attached to both Alt U.S. 1 that leaves U.S. 1 and heads over the bridge behind Franklin's... AND remains on Rt. 1 down to Farragut St., at least 2 blocks south of there. What we have then is the somewhat inexplicable dilemma that both Franklin's (5121 Baltimore Ave.) and Domino's Pizza (4717 Baltimore Ave.) share the same street in their address, though they are clearly on different streets...
In the same way, a bit south of there, (see the next photo) we have "Rhode Island Ave." simultaneously being the name of U.S. 1 in front of the county buildings, and the road on the opposite side of the tracks, where several auto repair shops are. So here we have Carquest Auto Parts (4825 Rhode Island) and Automotive Service of Hyattsville (4817 Rhode Island) on the east side of the tracks, while Japanese Auto Service (4824 Rhode Island) and K&W Auto Repair (4802) lie on the west side of the tracks.
If you don't think this is weird, check out the route suggested by Google maps to get from Automotive Service of Hyattsville to K&W Auto Repair -- both in the 4700 block of Rhode Island Ave in Hyattsville, 20781: [link to Google map directions]
Let me see... so I start out on Rhode Island Ave., go a block or two where I turn left on Baltimore Ave., go up and across the bridge behind Franklin's, to the light at Route 1 -- where I am to turn left onto Baltimore Ave., which then, after two blocks, becomes Rhode Island Ave. That makes sense, right? o) --Dwight Holmes
5. LAST I HEARD, HYATTSVILLE HAD TWO METRO STATIONS...
1) West Hyattsville, and
2) Prince George's Plaza...
So which station is this sign pointing to?!?
Please post your Qs -- and please share any knowledge you have that shed lights on any of the questions you see here.
- IS CSX BOUND-BY-DEED TO PROVIDE PASSENGER SERVICE IN RIVERDALE? We heard -- and I can't remember who told us -- that the reason Riverdale has and will always have MARC train passenger service dates back to the original ceding of the right-of-way to B&O railroad (or its predecessor). Supposedly, the land was given to the railroad on the condition of a strict stipulation: that passenger rail service always be provided somewhere on the property. I've googled this and haven't found any mention of such a binding requirement. It does make for a great story though. Has anyone else heard this? Do you know of any factual basis (evidence, citation) for it??? --Dwight Holmes
WHY DOES COLLEGE PARK METRO LIST ITS ADDRESS ON A NONEXISTENT STREET? What's with this address for College Park Metro (7300 50th Ave.)? What's wrong with "River Road" as an address? I'm sure 50th Avenue existed there at some time in the past -- before River Rd was built. But there's no trace of it now. WMATA lists the address as being on Calvert Rd -- on the other side of the tracks. But this very official-looking WMATA-style sign stands right in front of the River Rd entrance. As the River Rd side is the main entrance to the station, it seems appropriate that it be the one that the street address refers to -- but no mapquest, google, yahoo or anythingelse.com is going to point you to the Metro station by putting in 7300 50th Avenue.--Dwight
WHAT PAGAN SITE IS THIS? ;-) What's the story behind this rather odd-looking 'monument' at our MARC Station? Does it mark some cosmic power axis? Site of pagan ritual? Might this explain the chicken sacrifices on the RxR tracks??? ;-)
4. HOW CAN YOU BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE IF YOU'RE REALLY NOWHERE AT ALL? (Why are there TWO Baltimore Avenues and TWO Rhode Island Avenues in Hyattsville?)
Am I the only one perplexed (and amused!) by the fact that both "Baltimore Ave." and "Rhode Island Ave." can exist simultaneously on both sides of the CSX tracks in the vicinity of Franklin's Brew Pub and the County Courthouse and County Services Bldg?
Note that in the top photo you can see that the name Baltimore Ave is attached to both Alt U.S. 1 that leaves U.S. 1 and heads over the bridge behind Franklin's... AND remains on Rt. 1 down to Farragut St., at least 2 blocks south of there. What we have then is the somewhat inexplicable dilemma that both Franklin's (5121 Baltimore Ave.) and Domino's Pizza (4717 Baltimore Ave.) share the same street in their address, though they are clearly on different streets...
In the same way, a bit south of there, (see the next photo) we have "Rhode Island Ave." simultaneously being the name of U.S. 1 in front of the county buildings, and the road on the opposite side of the tracks, where several auto repair shops are. So here we have Carquest Auto Parts (4825 Rhode Island) and Automotive Service of Hyattsville (4817 Rhode Island) on the east side of the tracks, while Japanese Auto Service (4824 Rhode Island) and K&W Auto Repair (4802) lie on the west side of the tracks.
If you don't think this is weird, check out the route suggested by Google maps to get from Automotive Service of Hyattsville to K&W Auto Repair -- both in the 4700 block of Rhode Island Ave in Hyattsville, 20781: [link to Google map directions]
Let me see... so I start out on Rhode Island Ave., go a block or two where I turn left on Baltimore Ave., go up and across the bridge behind Franklin's, to the light at Route 1 -- where I am to turn left onto Baltimore Ave., which then, after two blocks, becomes Rhode Island Ave. That makes sense, right? o) --Dwight Holmes
5. LAST I HEARD, HYATTSVILLE HAD TWO METRO STATIONS...
1) West Hyattsville, and2) Prince George's Plaza...
So which station is this sign pointing to?!?
| Update! Proof our government does work: On 8/5/08 I wrote the 3rd District office of the State Highway Administration (thanks, Stuart Eisenberg, for the email address!) and lo and behold, they fixed it! They changed the sign. It now reads simply "Metro Station ==>". I even got an email on 8/22/08 from Brian Young, Asst. District Engineer-Traffic, thanking me for bringing it to their attention. |
dwightrholmes |
Latest page update: made by dwightrholmes
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| dwightrholmes | re IS CSX BOUND-BY-DEED TO PROVIDE PASSENGER SERVICE IN OUR TOWN? | 1 | Feb 25 2008, 11:31 PM EST by theemdnut4139 | ||
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Thread started: Jul 30 2007, 8:32 PM EDT
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I posted this question to the RiverdaleRailFans yahoo group -- I really thought that was an inspired solution but, alas, no answer has been forthcoming. And just today I sat next to an AMTRAK employee riding home on the MARC train... he agreed it makes for a good story, but had no idea if it was true or not.
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