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Category: Safe Streets for Biking and Walking

CSG & partners call for progressive MCDOT director appointee

CSG & partners call for progressive MCDOT director appointee

Posted on by Jane Lyons

A copy of the letter below was sent on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 to the Montgomery County Council and County Executive. The PDF can be found here.

 

Dear Council President Navarro and County Councilmembers:

We thank and commend Al Roshdieh, the departing Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Director, for his public service and the commitment he has shown to promoting sustainable, safe, multimodal transportation options. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

When considering an appointee for Mr. Roshdieh’s successor, we urge the Council to ensure that the next MCDOT director is a leader in implementing modern transit, green and complete streets that are safe for all users, and transit-oriented development. The next director must be committed to achieving the county’s Vision Zero and climate goals, reducing vehicle miles traveled, and making major shifts in mode share to transit, walking, and bicycling. We also believe the next director should pledge to be a frequent transit user.

Specifically, we ask that the next director be committed to the following priorities:

  1. Hold MCDOT accountable to the county’s Vision Zero initiative.

People want to safely bike and walk in Montgomery County. However, in 2019 alone, more than 300 people have been injured or killed due to inadequate pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and the prioritization of cars on our roadways. This is up 14 percent since 2018, with 38 percent of crashes on county roads. Since the Vision Zero resolution was passed in 2017, at least 50 people have died.

MCDOT is the lead agency on many of the most critical pieces of the county’s Vision Zero initiative, and it is the responsibility of the director to hold the department accountable to those goals. This requires tough choices that will substantially cut traffic fatalities, such as remaking  arterials and roads into streets that encourage walking and biking through road diets, including protected bicycle lanes, fewer and narrower vehicle lanes, tighter turn radii, pedestrian refuges, bumpouts and well-marked crosswalks and other infrastructure improvements.

Vision Zero implementation should be especially prioritized around schools, where children are at high risk of injury or death simply when trying to walk or bike to school. In addition, providing safe pedestrian and bicycle access to future Purple Line stations, and during construction, is essential. We also hope that the new MCDOT director will collaborate with the Planning Department to implement the Bicycle Master Plan and forthcoming Pedestrian Master Plan.

  1. Commit to implementing the county’s planned bus rapid transit (BRT) network in a timely manner.

The groundbreaking of BRT on Route 29 and funding for preliminary engineering of BRT on MD-355 and Veirs Mill Road are steps in the right direction. MCDOT must continue to prioritize the creation of a gold standard BRT network. We need a visionary BRT system that addresses the county’s economic development, social equity, and greenhouse gas emission reduction challenges.  

When designing BRT, MCDOT must prioritize dedicated lanes; off-board fare collection; frequent, reliable service; and stations with real-time travel information. These standards are essential for generating high ridership, improving the commutes of all users, and creating a key economic asset. Phase 1 of the planned BRT network alone is projected to bring in over $871 million in net fiscal revenue over 25 years.

  1. Maintain and expand transit opportunities through RideOn and external collaboration.

Ride On has the second highest ridership of any suburban bus system in the country at over 22 million trips in 2017. MCDOT been innovative through programs like Ride On Extra, and can build upon those successes. We encourage the next director to support a redesign and upgrade of the combined Ride On and WMATA bus network to ensure service is frequent, reliable, equitable, and customer-focused. There may also be opportunities to better integrate with other transit services, like MetroRail, MARC, BRT, MetroBus, and TheBus.

The director will need to collaborate and coordinate with outside agencies to effectively expand transit opportunities, such as BRT routes and road diets on state roads and the construction of new Metro entrances. Transit opportunities will not grow without close collaboration with such agencies as the Maryland State Highway Administration, Maryland Transit Administration, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

  1. Further the county’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2035.

MCDOT must work to meet the mobility needs of residents throughout the county with environmental sustainability in mind. Meeting the county’s climate change goals requires transportation projects and programs that promote sustainable transportation options. Moreover, MCDOT should not support highway expansion projects, such as Mid-County Highway Extended, which incentivize single-occupancy vehicle trips and damage the natural environment. Finally, the director should strive to move all MCDOT vehicles towards electrification and continue to increase electric vehicle infrastructure. 

In conclusion, the next director should have as a key objective creating a transportation system that supports the environment and people. We recognize that for the future director to implement these priorities, MCDOT requires support from the operating and capital budgets passed by the County Council. Therefore, we also call on the County Council to prioritize funding for these crucial projects.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Signed,


Jeffrey Weisner

President, Steering Committee

350 Montgomery County

 

Denisse Guitarra

MD Conservation Advocate

Audubon Naturalist Society

 

Julio Murillo

Government & Strategic Relations Specialist

CASA

 

Jane Lyons

Maryland Advocacy Manager

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Barbara Noveau

Executive Director

DoTheMostGood Montgomery County

 

Diane Hibino, Kathy McGuire

Co-Presidents

League of Women Voters of Montgomery County

 

Walter Weiss

Administrator

Montgomery County Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions

 

Michael DeLong

President

Montgomery County Young Democrats

 

Shruti Bhatnagar
Chair

Sierra Club, Montgomery County Group

 

Maurice Belanger

President

Takoma Park Mobilization

 

Johanna Wermers

Transportation Representative

The Climate Mobilization

 

Margaret Schoap 

Organizer

Transit Alternatives to Mid-County Extended

 

Greg Billing

Executive Director

Washington Area Bicyclist Association


CC: County Executive Marc Elrich

 

Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Montgomery_County_Transit_Ride_On_2017_Gillig_LF_Advantage_Diesel.jpg

CSG in the News: Bowser does an end run around D.C. Council, transfers traffic camera program to DDOT

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Bowser does an end run around D.C. Council, transfers traffic camera program to DDOT

By Luz Lazo Oct. 1, 2019 at 6:43 p.m. EDT, Washington Post

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has moved the city’s automated traffic enforcement program — which deploys speed, red-light and stop-sign cameras — from D.C. police to the District Department of Transportation, doing an end run around the D.C. Council, which opposed move.

The transfer, effective Tuesday, ramps up an ongoing fight between the mayor and the council over some of the city’s transportation priorities. And it comes after the council nixed a request by Bowser (D) to move the nearly two-decades-old automated enforcement program to DDOT, citing doubts about how the transfer would increase its efficiency.

Bowser administration officials said that the mayor did not need the council’s approval to move the team of 20 city employees overseeing the traffic camera program to DDOT. The mayor had proposed the transfer multiple times in recent years, and each time her request was denied by the council. The administration touted the transition as critical to the mayor’s Vision Zero strategy, a plan to create safer streets and lower the number of traffic fatalities and injuries.

“This is a mayoral program because it is operational,” Deputy Mayor Lucinda Babers said. “The mayor did have the ability to make the transfer without legislation. She simply utilized her authority as the mayor to make this transfer.” Bowser signed an executive order Friday authorizing the change.

D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), who chairs the panel’s transportation committee, said she found Bowser’s decision to go around the council “troubling,” and “disrespectful” to the legislative body…

Because DDOT is leading the city’s traffic safety efforts, Babers said, it makes sense that it oversee automated enforcement….

In May, Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, wrote that transferring the program to DDOT was one of a number of actions the mayor could take to make city streets safer.

“Traffic cameras can be an effective approach for discouraging dangerous behavior by drivers,” Cort wrote in Greater Greater Washington. “By placing oversight of this tool with the agency responsible for managing our streets, automated traffic enforcement could more effectively improve safety. Traffic cameras are helping now, but they could be used much more strategically if DDOT is able to integrate them into its safety programs.”

“Traffic enforcement is a function of law enforcement agencies, not transportation departments,” said John Townsend, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. He said the transfer will probably increase the number of traffic citations issued, which he said would undermine the program’s integrity….

“This is only about revenue,” Townsend said. “This is not about traffic safety. This is about scoring political points.”…

“Everything will be on the table as we look at Vision Zero,” Babers said. “It is absolutely critical that we take a stronger stand in terms of what is in our power to control.”

View full Washington Post story here.

CSG in the News: Alexandria City Council Puts Seminary Road on a Diet

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Alexandria City Council Puts Seminary Road on a Diet

City slims four-lane thoroughfare into Complete Street with bike lanes.

By Bridgette Adu-Wadier, Alexandria Gazette Packet, Saturday, September 21, 2019

Seminary Road is about to go on a diet, slimming down from four lanes to two.

Last weekend, the Alexandria City Council narrowly approved a plan to remove two traffic lanes from a stretch of Seminary Road. The “road diet” will create new bike lanes and improve pedestrian safety along a busy stretch in the West End. The four-to-three vote was cast Saturday night after a contentious day-long public hearing….

“When you expand roads, you can attract more drivers, but when you cut roads and invest in better alternatives, traffic will adjust,” said Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a supporter of the road diet. “We will still be driving, but the more people we have not driving because of alternatives will be safer and better for us.”

View full story in the Alexandria Gazette Packet here.

StreetsCamp 2015

StreetsCamp 2015

Posted on by Emily Maurer

Advocacy knowledge + technical knowledge = power!

StreetsCamp was a one day summit held on June 20th, 2015 to provide participants with the tools to make our streets better: safer for walking and bicycling, transit-friendly, and more.

StreetsCamp includes both subject matter and advocacy skills workshops on everything from how to plan a neighborhood campaign, to safe street design for walking and cycling, to the ins and outs of zoning codes. 

How does it work?

You will hear from leaders in sustainable transportation and urban planning, but StreetsCamp is more than just workshops. Every attendee is a part of shaping and leading the day. Be prepared to get involved and meet people!

In the morning, local advocates and experts lead sessions on topics like campaign strategy, organizing, messaging and media, telling your story, safe street design, and more.

In the afternoon, StreetsCamp turns into an ‘unconference’ . That means session topics and activities will be suggested and organized by YOU and everyone attending!

Presentation materials

Not every session at StreetsCamp incorporated a PowerPoint presentation or handouts, but for those that did, we have compiled the materials here.

Telling Better Stories About Public Transportation, Paul Mackie, Mobility Lab

So You Think You Can Blog (Blogging 101), Aimee Custis & Abigail Zenner, Greater Greater Washington

Street Design Secrets Revealed, Dan Emerine, CNU-DC

Transit Today, Tomorrow, and the Future: There’s More to It Than Metrorail, Kristin Haldeman & Allison Davis, WMATA

How Safe Routes to School Are Driving Change in the Greater Washington DC Region, Matt Colvin & Keith Benjamin, Safe Routes to School

How Could We Get a Majority of People to Bike? Bike Infrastructure Best Practices, Jess Zdeb, Toole Design Group

Blogging 102, Dan Malouff & Aimee Custis, Greater Greater Washington

StreetsCamp 2015 was made possible by these partners:

Greater Greater Washington

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Georgetown University School of Urban and Regional Planning

Congress for New Urbanism, DC Chapter

Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Mobility Lab

Smart Growth America

National Complete Streets Coalition

Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling

Washington Area Bicyclists Association

All Walks DC

Sierra Club

Searching For Transit In I-66 Expansion Plans; Public Funds Give Virginia Options

Posted on by Winstina Hughes

Virginia is thinking about taking a different approach to toll roads.

After ceding future toll revenue on the I-495 and I-95 Express Lanes to the private-sector firm that built those highways in Northern Virginia, officials announced on Tuesday the results of an internal analysis on whether planned toll lanes on I-66 from the Beltway to Haymarket should remain under state control.

By fronting up to $600 million in public money for the estimated $2.1 billion project to build 25 miles of high-speed toll and carpool lanes on I-66 outside the Beltway, the state could reap hundreds of millions in toll revenue over the next 40 years to pay for other transportation improvements, said Aubrey Layne, Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation.

“The private sector is going to build this road. The private sector is probably going to operate this road. I’m not sure if the private sector is going to finance this road,” Layne said in remarks to reporters.

If the state decides to publicly finance the widening of I-66 to 10 lanes (five in each direction: two HOT lanes and three regular purpose lanes), it would mark a significant departure from the policy of previous administrations.

In the multibillion-dollar deals that built the Express Lanes on I-495 and I-95, the state’s financial commitment was small; the international road-builder Transurban took on the risk by financing the projects through a combination of private capital and federal loans. Thus, Transurban received concessions from the state to collect almost all the toll revenue on I-495 and I-95 for the next 70 years.

Such an arrangement is known as a public-private partnership, or P3, and Layne would not rule out another P3 for I-66.

‘We didn’t get transit’

“We didn’t get transit,” Layne said. “We might have made a different decision or the public might have weighed in differently had they known the project would have been different.”
Although the two toll roads may be helping drive-alone commuters and carpoolers, Layne said the benefit is coming at the expense of something else.

Only a fraction of the thousands of vehicles in the I-495 and I-95 Express Lanes are commuter buses. Transurban has little incentive to increase their number because buses do not pay Express Lanes tolls.

The 95 Express Lanes averaged 304 bus trips per day and the 495 Express Lanes averaged 177 in the most recent quarter ending March 31, according to data released by Transurban. These figures include school buses and charter buses.

Ridership remains relatively low on the new bus routes on I-495. OmniRide’s route from Woodbridge to Tysons Corner started in Nov. 2012. Fairfax County Connector launched express bus service to Tysons from Burke in January 2013 and added routes from Lorton and Springfield added two months later.

Two and a half years after opening to the public, 11 percent of all traffic on the 495 Express Lanes was either HOV-3 or otherwise exempt from paying toll (buses or emergency vehicles) during the most recent quarter, up from 8 percent in the April 2013 quarter, according to Transurban.

The future of I-66: buses, trains?

The McAuliffe administration would like to see a larger public transit share on I-66, although it is unclear what shape it would take.

The internal analysis unveiled by Layne before the Commonwealth Transportation Board on Tuesday “demonstrated that of the several available options for procuring the project, a publicly-financed design-build project may save taxpayers between $300 million and $600 million and provide for up to $500 million to be used for future transportation improvements in Northern Virginia,” according to a VDOT statement.

Transit advocates favor public ownership of future tolls on I-66.

“Our community is not going to support any project that does not put transit upfront as a major investment that we need in the I-66 corridor. Public ownership of the tolls may allow us to do that,” said Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and critic of the prior Express Lanes concessions.

“We’ve been disappointed that they failed to look at a transit-first alternative, simply looking at transit, transit-oriented development, rural land conservation, measures to reduce the driving demand overall and to shape land use to encourage more transit use in the corridor,” he added.

State officials are expected to make a decision on the I-66 procurement process this summer.

Updated 8:30 a.m., May 20.

Read the original article here.

Traffic light approved for Clarksburg school

Posted on by Claire Zippel

Parents with children at Wilson Wims Elementary School in Clarksburg finally got what they wanted after years of campaigning for a traffic light and crosswalk across Snowden Farm Parkway. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation announced in a March 13 letter that it will install a traffic signal at Snowden Farm Road and Grand Elm Street by the fall of 2015.

Testimony to restore capital funding to the Bicycle Pedestrian Priority Areas

Posted on by Candace Wilkinson

While Bicycle Pedestrian Priority Areas were first created 20 years ago by state legislation, the program has been slow to start. Now, as driving has begun to decline in the county over the last decade and rates of walking, cycling, and transit use in the county have been on the rise, it’s more important than ever to ensure it is safe and comfortable to walk, cycle, and take transit. Last year, people driving struck 483 people who were walking in the county – 60 more people than in 2013. We have much more work to do.

Fact sheet: Maryland state highway walking and biking safety bills

Posted on by acustis

Between 2003 and 2012, 5,799 people total were killed in traffic-related crashes in Maryland, 1,067 of them while walking. Such preventable, needless tragedies indicate a need for renewed focus on safety for everyone utilizing Maryland’s roadways. As driving continues to decline in Maryland, and walking, cycling, and transit usage rises, there is an urgent need to address the safety of all Maryland traveler

The Blueprint for a Better Region is here!

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