Category: Testimony & Letters

MD 214/Central Ave. safety workshop comments (Prince George’s)

MD 214/Central Ave. safety workshop comments (Prince George’s)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

RE: MD 214/Central Ave. 12/10/24 safety workshop comments

TO: Mulowa K. Kajoba, Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) Project Manager, mkajoba@mdot.maryland.gov

FROM: Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth

DATE: December 16, 2024

Dear Project Manager Kajoba: 

Thank you for holding a public input workshop regarding MD 214/Central Avenue. We have been working with community members in this corridor for several years. We are excited to see important safety measures be contemplated by SHA. We are hopeful that they can be implemented as soon as possible, taking advantage of quick build low cost solutions.

Regarding the MD 214 12/10/24 display boards “Improvement Opportunities,” we wish to add some comments to this excellent list. Overall, we hope to see retrofits that create a 30 MPH design speed/operating speed roadway, which is the posted speed limit in portions of the corridor. A design speed of 30 MPH better reflects the Metro station local center designation by the County’s General Plan, and better utilizes the state’s investment in the Metrorail system. 

  • Construct missing sidewalk – Yes, and Old Central Av. at Zelma should be closed.
  • Tighten curb radii – All intersections should be assessed for tighter turns (15′ turning radius standard or 25’ effective radii for truck/bus routes), and driveways can be narrowed or closed across public ROW too. These and other measures should narrow crossing distances and slow vehicle speeds to benefit pedestrians.
  • Remove channelized turn lanes or improve sight distance for pedestrians and drivers – Yes, closing off slip lanes would be a big help for pedestrians, and slow vehicle operating speeds.
  • Add new signals or pedestrian hybrid beacons – Yes — Cabin Branch Rd should be a top priority for a new signal, but should be done with travelway narrowing and other measures to slow operating speeds to ensure compliance with the signal and posted speed limit of 30 MPH (near Cabin Branch Road). 
  • Implement road diet to add buffered bike lanes – Yes, the traffic volume of 30,000 vehicles/day does not justify a six lane roadway, thus the oversized road encourages drivers to greatly exceed the posted speed limit of 30 MPH. This urban area — by 2 Metro stations, a high school, local businesses should have an urban roadway designed to encourage slower, safe operating speeds and safe, easy crossings for people walking, biking and riding transit. A road diet configuring the roadway for four rather than six lanes is sufficient to address vehicular traffic. 

Further, travel lane widths can be narrowed consistent with PG DPW&T’s Urban Street Design Standards of 10’ for general lanes and 11’ bus routes. 

We support a buffered bike lane as a good use of the excess space, however these lanes should be vertically separated to ensure both safety for cyclists and visually narrowing of the roadway to reduce operating speeds to safe levels. The new AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities can help address the most appropriate design to match this high-volume location. Interim, less expensive protected bike lane elements that can be deployed quickly should be done as soon as possible to improve roadway safety, followed by more expensive permanent measures. 

Better walking conditions created by buffered bike lane: We note that a buffered bike lane will also improve the safety and comfort for people walking along the road. In our walk audit of Central Avenue, Central High School students identified the discomfort of walking on a sidewalk next to high speed traffic as a problem, and also occasional vegetation or standing water as a partial obstruction of sidewalks and crossings, and narrowness of some sidewalk segments. 

  • Provide bus stop connectivity – Yes, this is a problem in several places along the corridor but is acute for students who ride the bus to and from Central High School. SHA should make a special effort to solve for safe access for these students, and other bus stop users. 
  • Provide bus stop amenities [my addition] — add a bench and shelter to the Cabin Branch Rd stops. If SHA does not normally do this, it should work with agencies like MTA to install facilities to give students and other bus riders a more comfortable trip. 
  • Replace and upgrade signs – yes, and look at ways to consolidate, narrow and close driveways unnecessarily intruding on the public sidewalk and roadway creating extra or elongated conflict points. 
  • Add lighting – yes.

Making Capitol Heights more bike friendly: Establishing protected bike lanes to Central Ave. will greatly enhance bike connectivity in the corridor. The Central Ave. Connector Trail will also do this, but is not in conflict with bike lanes on Central Ave. Repurposing travel lanes to bike lanes is a good way to improve safety for drivers, bikers & pedestrians. 

Quick build, low cost, tactical measures: Many interventions can be done quickly at low cost but deliver big benefits to safety, and can even lower maintenance costs over time. Given the budget constraints faced by Maryland, deploying low cost tactical measures within months or the next year will have major benefits to safety and support transit-oriented development. As more funding is available, more permanent retrofits can be implemented. Other jurisdictions often use this approach – quick build temporary safety measures right away, followed by more expensive permanent elements later.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Please keep us informed as this important project moves forward.

Better Buses Coalition Letter in Support of Georgia Ave. Dedicated Bus Lanes (Montgomery)

Better Buses Coalition Letter in Support of Georgia Ave. Dedicated Bus Lanes (Montgomery)

Posted on by Carrie Kisicki

Dear Secretary Wiedefeld, GM Clarke, County Executive Elrich, Council President Stewart, and Director Conklin:

The undersigned organizations representing the Montgomery County Better Buses Coalition are writing regarding the MD-97 (Georgia Ave.) dedicated bus lane proposal. We are encouraged by the success of the pilot project and ask you to make the dedicated lanes permanent.

Testimony: U St Police Station Zone Modification (Support)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

We urge the Zoning Commission not to further shrink the housing capacity of the site, and to accommodate its other essential uses – a new police station and fire station. This is an important public land site for needed affordable housing. The proposed text amendment is a reasonable approach to making the most of the opportunity for new housing, supporting new public facilities, while also being respectful of the desires of nearby neighbors.

Annual Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Meeting (Comments)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Re: NoVA transportation needs to prioritize transit funding and service enhancement, roadway safety, alternatives to road capacity expansion, and climate action 

Chairs and directors of Northern Virginia transportation agencies:

The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) appreciates your gathering together to hear from the public and stakeholders and share information on current projects and programs. CSG has worked on Northern Virginia transportation and land use for the past 27 years, advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, as the most sustainable and equitable way for the region to grow and provide opportunities for all. Please accept these written comments on behalf of CSG, as unfortunately we cannot attend in person. 

Right now, Northern Virginia has four main needs in transportation. Residents and workers need you to:

  1. Expand transit, and Increase Metro and local transit funding, both capital and operating. The region and the state’s prosperity depend on officials securing a dedicated funding source for this critical service and infrastructure. Our continued prosperity also depends on funding the necessary improvements that regional leaders are planning, such as the Metrobus visionary network, the DMV Moves action plans that are underway, VRE, and bus priority corridors. 
  2. Prioritize making arterial roads safer for Northern Virginia residents and workers walking, riding bikes and scooters, and accessing transit stops. The region has the funds, it just needs to shift money planned for hundreds of miles of new highway and arterial lanes to instead address safety. A secure transportation network must also fund climate resilience investments to deal with increased flooding, sea level rise, and heat, and to prioritize safer, less polluting modes of travel like transit. 
  3. Ensure that major corridor improvement projects – such as I-495 Southside – have objective studies that fully evaluate alternatives rather than starting with a conclusions-first approach. We should not be making multibillion dollar, 50-year decisions via poorly structured studies. We are disappointed that VDOT has decided – yet again – to only evaluate build alternatives for widening and HOT lanes, and not meaningfully consider a comprehensive transit, travel demand management and land use solution.
  4. Follow through on your climate change commitments. Virginia transportation agencies oversee the largest source of planet-warming pollution in the state, yet residents do not see accountability in plans and policies – and little urgency in agency actions. VDOT’s Carbon Reduction Strategy, for example, sets no targets or performance measures. Statewide funding decisions have used the additional federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money to worsen the climate change impact of Virginia’s transportation system. 

Recent analysis by the organization Transportation for America shows that Virginia will pollute 1.3 million more tons of carbon dioxide through 2040 as a result of state, local and MPO-level decisions to prioritize even more money for highway expansion. Meanwhile, a number of other states instead used this additional funding to address maintenance backlogs, fund cleaner affordable travel modes, and reduce emissions.

Numerous analyses show that electric vehicles – while essential – will not be enough to slash greenhouse gas pollution to safe levels. Northern Virginia localities and agencies must ensure that communities can meet their daily needs with less driving and more affordable, convenient and sustainable options. If Virginia did this statewide (e.g., a 20% decrease in per capita vehicle miles traveled due to more accessible communities and travel options), it would save households $1,280 per year in transportation costs, avoid 105 crash deaths, save 761 lives due to better health outcomes, reduce load on the electric grid, and slash GHG emissions. 

CSG recently prepared a brief for regional officials of actions that you can take now, which we attach.

With the incoming federal administration, even more responsibility will rest on your shoulders to fund transit, provide safe streets, and reduce climate pollution. We ask you to act quickly on these four priorities.

Thank you,

Bill Pugh, AICP CTP
Senior Policy Fellow

Testimony: Emergency Rental Assistance Reform Amendment Act of 2024 (Support, DC)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

We ask the DC Council to support the Emergency Rental Assistance Reform Amendment Act (B25-994) to avert a crisis driven by unprecedented levels of unpaid rent. The bill would ensure that DC law establishes the right incentives to bring tenants and housing providers together to save and stabilize at-risk housing to serve low income DC residents.

Comments: MD-410 PSAP draft plan (Maryland, Support)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on these SHA concepts for MD 410. We greatly appreciate the efforts of MDOT and SHA to address safety and access for all users through the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan process and the Complete Streets Program. We wish to endorse the thoughtful comments submitted by Dan Behrend. Here are additional specific comments: 

Testimony: Removing M-83 from Master Plan of Highways and Transitways (Montgomery County, Support)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

We are grateful to Planning staff for their attention to the public feedback they have received concerning M-83. Organizations including CSG and Transit Alternatives to Mid-County Highway Extended (TAME) and other community members have been raising serious concerns about the community and environmental impact of M-83 for years. We have documented how M-83 is unnecessary and that local street connections combined with bus rapid transit and walkable, transit-accessible communities would meet future needs.

Testimony: West Hyattsville-Queens Chapel Sector Plan and Proposed Sectional Map Amendment (Prince George’s, Support)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of the Staff Draft West Hyattsville-Queens Chapel Sector Plan and Proposed Sectional Map Amendment (SMA) (CR-002-2022). This plan will shape growth and change in this area to enhance housing choices, improve walk and bicycle access, and better connect the community to two Metrorail stations. This plan would provide increased access to jobs, services and homes, in a way that minimizes automobile trips and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This plan is comprehensive and extensive. We will only be able highlight a few of the important recommendations.

Testimony: Silver Spring mixed-use development at Georgia and Cameron (Support, Montgomery County)

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

We wish to express our support for the proposed mixed-use development at 8676 Georgia Avenue and 8601 Cameron Street. This development will provide up to 525 additional transit-accessible homes in downtown Silver Spring; improve pedestrian and bike infrastructure in the surrounding area; and offer additional retail and commercial space to serve this neighborhood and its many residents and visitors just blocks from the Silver Spring Metro.