Dude, There's Your Car

It's been sitting there for a month.

Patiently, a white Dodge Stratus with its tags removed, waits on the shoulder at the bottom of the off ramp from eastbound I-370, about 30 feet from where it merges with northbound Rt. 355. There is no visible damage. On all sides, work on the Intercounty Connector ramp carries on. Cement curbs have been poured and set. Newly planted grass has begun to grow up around the wheels.

The car is abandoned.

After weeks of driving past the moldering auto, Patch decided to find out who is responsible for the car, and how it managed to sit undisturbed in a donut hole of government authority for so long.

A call to Kevin Roman, the director of Gaithersburg's Neighborhood Services department, revealed that the car's location, although within the City limits, is on the State's right-of-way.

If a vehicle is abandoned in a neighborhood with a homeowners association, Roman added, the association is often responsible.

If it were on a local road, the City would remove it.

Therefore the State Police had somehow missed it for weeks.

Patch called the State Police Barracks in Rockville and spoke with the Sergeant in charge of removing abandoned vehicles.

He said generally vehicles have 24 hours to sit unattended before the Police deem them abandoned.

Passing State Troopers must not have seen the car, or no passing motorists must have reported it.

When told about the Stratus' exact location, he said, "I don't think we ever go near 370 anymore."

He did not explain why.

But he did say that while crews would not be able to pick up the car on Friday, it would be gone soon.