We support the exciting vision you have laid out for a vibrant, walkable Downtown Largo and Blue Line corridor. In order to achieve this vision, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) should wholly rethink their current proposals for a greatly expanded I-495/Medical Center Drive interchange.
Category: Prince George’s County
TAKE ACTION: These two projects would put Prince George’s on the wrong road
We have two urgent actions we need you to take. Two massive road projects would undermine a sustainable and prosperous future for Prince George’s County.
We can’t save Downtown Largo by destroying it
Rethink the I-495/Medical Center Drive interchange project
FACT SHEET

CSG Testimony in Support of the Walkable Urban Streets Act
September 8, 2023
Council Member Eric Olson
Chair, Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee (TIEE)
Prince George’s County Council
Wayne K. Curry Administration Bldg., 1301 McCormick Drive, 2nd Floor, Largo, MD 20774
Dear Chair Olson:
Please accept this letter on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG). CSG is the leading non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish.
Thank you for introducing the Walkable Urban Streets Act, and our thanks as well to the eight co-sponsors. We are enthusiastic supporters of the Walkable Urban Streets Act, Council Bill 69-2023 and its companion resolutions CR 67-2023 and CR 68-2023.
This legislation updates and codifies DPW&T’s 2017 Urban Street Design Standards. These standards are to be applied to Regional Transit Districts and Local Centers as designated in Plan 2035. They will help build safer streets, especially for people walking and biking, and they will support transit-oriented development, a major priority of Prince George’s County.
The legislation is greatly needed for two reasons. First, the county’s roads are dangerous because they are too wide and too high speed. Fast, wide roads generate more severe crashes and the county leads the DC region in traffic and pedestrian deaths. The second reason to adopt this legislation is because walkable, bike-friendly street designs are necessary for high-quality and competitive transit-oriented development.
Despite prior adoption of the 2017 Urban Street Design Standards, DPIE and DPW&T have not taken advantage of opportunities to create the kinds of safer, vibrant, walkable, transit-oriented streets and places envisioned in Plan Prince George’s 2035. In fact, the streets in and near transit centers have remained overly-wide, fueling high speed traffic, making the roads dangerous for all users – people walking, bicycling, riding transit, and driving. For specific examples, see our companion fact sheet: Examples of urban street projects falling short of the 2017 standards.
One key reason is that the county’s traffic models often overpredict future traffic volumes, and do not adequately account for the increased walking, biking, and transit use in transit-oriented communities. Designing only for projected vehicle travel becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The wider and faster the road, the less inviting it is for people walking, biking or taking transit, and the more driving it attracts.
This approach gives priority to speed over safety. It also undermines the economic development that occurs in a place where cars are slower and people want to be – the walkable, mixed-use, transit-accessible centers of activity that have been so successful in other parts of the region. In fact, some congestion is an indicator of a successful local economy. Plan 2035 recognizes this and the county’s transportation review standards allow for an urban level of traffic volumes on streets around mixed use transit centers and a focus on improving access by means other than driving.
The updated Urban Street Design Standards proposed in this bill require safer streets around transit districts and local centers, and include these components:
- 25 mph design speed maximum
- 2-4 travel lanes total roadway maximum
- 10′ travel lane widths (11′ for bus routes)
- 15′ corner radii (and no slip lanes/high speed turn lanes)
- Buffered walk and bike facilities
- On-street vehicle parking with bulbouts (where appropriate)
The Walkable Urban Streets Act will ensure the county is planning and building the streets needed for improved safety, people-oriented places, and economic success.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Cort
Policy Director
Event Materials: Walkable Urban Streets Act activists’ briefing
Thank you for joining us on Tuesday, August 15 for a conversation with Council Member Eric Olson on the Walkable Urban Streets Act, landmark legislation that would ensure safer road designs for people walking and biking near transit districts and local centers.
Walkable Urban Streets Act advocacy resources
Check out our factsheet and other resources on the Walkable Urban Streets Act.
Event Materials: “Where and how should Prince George’s grow?” with Peter Shapiro
Thank you for joining us on Tuesday, July 18 for a conversation with Planning Board Chair Peter Shapiro on where and how Prince George’s County should grow. We had a great turnout and a robust discussion.
RELEASE: Prince George’s County Safer Streets Legislation Hailed by Community Advocates
The Walkable Urban Streets Act will require county officials to apply its own urban street design standards and update the standards to keep abreast with national best practices. Better street designs will make urban centers safer and foster transit-oriented economic development.
TAKE ACTION: A townhouse ban is not the way to guide us to smart, equitable development
Prince George’s County Council is considering a bill to freeze new townhouse construction for 2 years. We agree that too much growth is occurring outside priority centers, leading to increased traffic and high infrastructure costs, while diverting resources from existing communities. But a townhouse ban is an overly broad, indiscriminate approach that overlooks the underlying problems of Prince George’s zoning: too much single family zoning across the vast acres outside the beltway, and not enough flexible residential and mixed use zoning inside the beltway.
CSG comments opposing the townhouse moratorium in Prince George’s County
While we oppose CB 52 as not the right approach, we wish to express our support for the concern expressed in the bill in terms of ensuring residential growth is directed to the right locations. We find the singling out of townhouses for blame unjustified when permissive single family zoning across vast acres outside the beltway “established communities” are the underlying problem. Most of the land outside the beltway is zoned for low density housing, causing growth and additional demand on urban infrastructure, and robbing reinvestment resources from existing communities.