The Montgomery County Planning Department unveiled draft recommendations for their first Pedestrian Master Plan, encouraging feedback from residents. The plan seeks to make “walking and rolling safer, more comfortable, more convenient and more accessible for pedestrians of all ages and abilities in all parts of the county,” according to their website.
Comments can be left at the bottom of their website’s page.
There are six themes covered in the plan: build, maintain, protect, expand access, monitor, and fund. Each aim to include new and improved policies, practices, designs and programming that help minimize traffic injuries and fatalities. A few suggestions include:
- Build more sidewalks faster
- Fix sidewalks proactively
- Design pedestrian-safe parking lots
- Provide pedestrians more time to cross the street
- Improve guidance for pedestrians with low or no vision
The plan is a key component from the county’s “Vision Zero” plan, approved in 2016. Vision Zero aims to improve road safety by 2030, through “shifting from a focus on maximizing motor vehicle efficiency to ensuring that our roads are safe regardless of whether travel is by car, bus, bicycle or foot,” their website states.
Montgomery Planning has included a timeline of the plan with it currently in the “Identify Best Practices and Existing Conditions” stage. The other stages include:
- Fall 2022 – Prioritization of Pedestrian Infrastructure –> Pedestrian Infrastructure –> Pedestrian Design Toolkit –> Pedestrian Supportive Policies –> Working Draft of Plan
- Spring 2023 – Planning Board Draft of Plan –> Planning Board Approval
We're committed to making #WalkingHere safer, more equitable, and easier in Montgomery County. Planners have released the draft recommendations for the Pedestrian Master Plan and need your feedback to let us know if we got it right. https://t.co/FqWaqGjyjD pic.twitter.com/dXGduf4w8A
— Montgomery Planning (@montgomeryplans) July 16, 2022
