Councilmembers received a briefing Tuesday on a plan to make walking — and rolling — safer and more comfortable in Montgomery County.
The Planning Board approved the Pedestrian Master Plan in May and it was then sent to the county council.
It is the “first countywide plan” aiming to “improve the pedestrian experience in a holistic way” in Montgomery County, according to information about the plan.
During the first six months of this year, 320 pedestrians and bicyclists were struck, and nine have been killed, Council President Evan Glass said.
Eli Glazier, project manager for the Pedestrian Master Plan, said there are four main goals in the plan: (1) increase walking rates and satisfaction, (2) create a comfortable, connected, convenient pedestrian network, (3) enhance pedestrian safety, and (4) do all those things in an equitable and just way.
Councilmember Will Jawando appreciated the willingness to “shake things up,” including a recommendation to change the county’s longstanding sidewalk policy. The plan recommends changing the Annual Sidewalk Program from a “reactive, request-driven process” to a data-driven one, the plan states.
Councilmember Gabe Albornoz noted some specific concerns with elements of the plan, including Beach Drive. The plan includes a recommendation to make the open parkways along Beach Drive and Sligo Creek Parkway — currently operating on weekends — permanent.
“But I think there are reasonable solutions that we can achieve to both help ensure that we are opening up our parks in a way that has been extraordinarily successful during COVID, while also acknowledging the impacts on the broader community that lives immediately surrounding those amenities,” Albornoz said. “There’s a sweet spot.”
Noting the connection between pedestrians and public transit, District 7 Councilmember Dawn Luedtke said upcounty areas have bus stops that are in places where there is no sidewalk or place for a car to do drop-off — “They are literally in the middle of the road.”
She added that downcounty areas have bus stops in areas with pedestrian walkways where drivers do not stop, “which is a huge concern.”
“But upcounty, it’s these tiny roads where we run a bus line but we don’t have any way for the people to access the bus stop itself.”
Glass pointed out equity emphasis areas contain 14% of roads but have 40% of pedestrian incidents.
“That is why road safety is a social justice issue,” he said.
Following a public hearing on the plan Tuesday afternoon, a council committee will take up the plan mid-September. Tuesday is the council’s last session before recess until August.
