Category: Maryland

Testimony: Remove M-83 from County Plans (MoCo Council, July 2025)

Testimony: Remove M-83 from County Plans (MoCo Council, July 2025)

We urge you to adopt the recommendations of the Planning Board and remove the unbuilt northern portion of M-83 from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways.

M-83 is not the right path forward to provide better transportation options upcounty. The ways of thinking that informed plans for this road decades ago are fundamentally out of step with what we know today about best practices to address transportation needs, and about the vital connections between environmental health, climate resilience, and human health.

TAKE ACTION: The last, most important step to defeat Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) is here

TAKE ACTION: The last, most important step to defeat Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) is here

Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) wouldn’t relieve traffic upcounty long-term—but it would cut a divide through existing communities and destroy farmlands, forests, and sensitive wetlands in its path.

The County Council is finally considering removing M-83 from county plans this month, and we need you to weigh in.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County makes bus rides free, an idea that is gaining traction

June 28, 2025 | Dana Munro and Rachel Weiner | Washington Post
Also featuring Montgomery for All Steering Committee Mike Larkin!

One major concern of the free buses, Larkin said, is that the lack of revenue coming in could justify the county disinvesting in the system, especially as Montgomery County deals with the economic impacts of the Trump administration’s massive federal spending cuts and job cuts.

Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a group that advocates for more accessible communities around the D.C. region, agreed.

Residents and lawmakers “might see other problems going on in the community that are more visible to them or maybe more part of their everyday experience and wonder ‘should transit be a priority or not’ and it absolutely needs to be,” she said.

Read the full story here.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County’s Flash BRT on 355 will reduce travel times, if and when it is completed

June 27, 2025 | Ethan Goffman | Greater Greater Washington

“This is a plan that has been on the books a long time, and they’re taking lots of steps to finally build this network out,” said Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery Advocacy Manager at the Coalition for Smarter Growth. […]

Kisicki also emphasized the need for better pedestrian comfort and safety: “It’s already a very wide road, it’s already a harrowing place for pedestrians, it’s very much built as a suburban arterial, not considering the experience of people outside of cars.” Planned expansion of the right of way for a buffer and shared-use path will be welcome, she said, and will work in tandem with improved transit. “This is a huge investment,” she emphasized. “This is our shot to do it right.”

Read the full story here.

Event Materials: Prince George’s vision for safer streets, more choices, better communities

Event Materials: Prince George’s vision for safer streets, more choices, better communities

Veronica O. Davis speaking on Zoom screenshot.

On June 5, 2025, an all-star panel discussed county efforts to create more walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible communities with new county and state plans. 

Speakers: Prince George’s County Planning Director Lakisha Hull; Carm Saimbre, Maryland State Highway Administration; Prince George’s District 3 County Council Member Eric Olson; and chair of TIEE; Veronica O. Davis, national transportation expert, and author of Inclusive Transportation; moderator: Bernard Holloway, RISE Prince George’s. 

View the video recording here.

View Planning Director Hull’s presentation:

The discussion featured Go Prince George’s, a new draft master plan for transportation in the county.  This plan implements the newly adopted Urban Street Design Standards for activity and transit centers, and shifts focus to transforming the county’s transportation network by creating more travel options, focusing on the movement of people versus solely the movement of vehicles. A joint hearing by the County Council and Planning Board will be convened in fall 2025. Residents and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide comments on the draft. 

The June 5 discussion also included progress by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) to elevate its focus on addressing pedestrian and bicycle safety. Documents about the Complete Streets policy, statewide progress on implementation of the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, and other safety plans can be found here

Prince George’s new draft Transit Vision Plan is also open for review. To learn more click here

Learn about Prince George’s Transit Vision Plan

Learn about Prince George’s Transit Vision Plan

Image by Prince George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation

On May 22, 2025, RISE Prince George’s and CSG hosted a discussion on the county draft Transit Vision Plan (TVP), which seeks to create a more vibrant and connected county for all. The Transit Vision Plan is a five-year strategic framework for improving the county’s public transportation, developed through extensive public input. The county is seeking input from the public – go to an upcoming public meeting and check out the website.

Event materials – click here to view the presentation and video recording.

Transit Vision Plan video recording on CSG YouTube channel

Transit Vision Plan website

CSG in the News: Elrich vows to push back on approved More Housing N.O.W. legislation

“Every new home helps, but the Council must also adopt the other tools in the package to meet our county’s great housing need. Most important is the approach reflected by [the ZTA] —making it much easier to build duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments near transit and jobs,” Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, wrote in an email statement to Bethesda Today.