The scariest aspect of Georgetown Prep: The roads surrounding it

Looking south down Rockville Pike, in front of Georgetown Preparatory School (Photo by me)

During Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, America learned more than it ever wanted to know about Georgetown Prep, the all-boys high school the judge attended. .

The campus may have two graduates on the nation’s highest court. But no safe transportation routes lead to it.

The Red Line soars over the Capital Beltway (Photo by me)

As my northbound train emerged from a subway tunnel just south of Grosvenor-Strathmore Station, the darkness of the concrete walls gave way to a panoramic view of something even bleaker: the interchange of infamous I-495 and equally infamous I-270. With asphalt expanses surrounding us, mirroring overcast skies on our country’s most controversial Federal holiday, we gradually slowed down and pulled into the station. 

Red Line trains make their scheduled stops at Grosvenor-Strathmore Station, near Georgetown Prep (Photo by me)

WMATA riders know Grosvenor Station not for the vaunted Little Hoyas, but instead for the rush hour trains that turn around there, leaving stations farther up the line with more limited service. (This is set to change in around two months). The station opened in 1984, so Kavanaugh was gone a year before he could have ridden a train to his campus. 

Top: Rockville Pike, west of the Metro station. Bottom: The park and ride lot, with bus stops in the foreground (Photos by me)

A large park-and-ride lot envelops the area east of the platform, while six-lane Rockville Pike blocks the way west. Thanks to this people-hostile planning it’s questionable whether the Red Line, or the bus lines that feed into the station, would have replaced the car trips to parties that we heard about during the hearings had it opened prior to Beach Week.  

The nearest entrance to Georgetown Prep sat to the northwest of the station. Thanks to an underpass, I didn’t need to cross Rockville Pike – yet.

My first view of Georgetown Prep (Photo by me)

A short walk north brought me to another wide arterial. With the edge of the campus across the way, I crossed the street and first walked west, then through an auto-oriented apartment complex.

Even if the gate were open, there's nowhere for pedestrians to walk (Photo by me)

The entrance to campus was gated shut – Georgetown Prep had the holiday-that-must-not-be-named off too – but there was no hiding what lay on the other side: a long driveway with no sidewalks.

I had to move to the far left of the Rockville Pike sidewalk to make sure the white truck in this photo didn't clip me. To the truck's left: an out of service Ride On bus (Photo by me) 

I then trekked to the main entrance to Georgetown Prep, situated back on Rockville Pike and farther to the north. As I walked, no buffer separated the sidewalk from automobile traffic, so cars whizzed by, inches from me, at 50 mph or so.

Do any bus routes that serve this stop even operate on I-495? (Photo by me)

I walked past a bus stop. I don't know which bus routes serve the stop, but Interstate 495's logo sure was clear. 

Top: A cyclist (visible in the distance, wearing a pink shirt) pedals away from Georgetown Prep. Bottom: The road she had to bike on. (Photos by me) 

As I approached the entrance, a person exited the campus on a bicycle, perilously crossed Rockville Pike and continued east on a bike lane-less road.

Georgetown Prep's main entrance. Don't try walking or biking! (Photo by me)

The main entrance consisted of another driveway, again sidewalk-less, that led up a hill to a security checkpoint with a cop car on hand.

They may like beer, but they don't like crosswalks! (Photo by me)

The south side of the intersection lacked a crosswalk, forcing any brave soul trying to reach the campus on foot to cross three times.

Was it this difficult for Georgetown Prep students to get to school in 1789? (Photo by me)

Georgetown Prep is an atypical high school, as some students live in on-campus dorms,while others live more typical teenage lives at home with their families. But the school’s auto-dependent surroundings are a disaster for all Little Hoya students, faculty, and staff.

Local students face the same daily peril as the four John F. Kennedy High students who were struck by a car and injured while heading to their school bus stop on Georgia Avenue, another Montgomery County super-arterial. One of those four students remains in critical condition.

Grosvenor Market's deli (Photo by me)

Meanwhile, the boarders are almost completely cocooned from the real world, like prisoners working on a rock pile. Thanks to the closed southern entrance, they would have had to take a circuitous route – via the terrifying sidewalks pictured above – just to go grab a sandwich at Grosvenor Market, the excellent neighborhood grocery store where I got lunch after my walking tour of the neighborhood.

Green space surrounded by apartment complexes, near Grosvenor Market. The path leads to the Metro station, via an underpass at Rockville Pike (Photo by me)

The dense residential area where the market is located was green and walkable, secluded from the hellish haven for roaring automobiles located just steps away. The park could even be a nice spot for an afternoon beer, if you like beer.

The Supreme Court hears plenty of cases related to transportation, so perspectives shaped by the asphalt surrounding Georgetown Prep’s campus may well affect mobility for all of us.