Letter: Funding for Unlocking University Boulevard

This project would build community buy-in for safety improvements along the corridor.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

The Honorable Pete Buttigieg, Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20590

September 8, 2023

RE: Letter of support for MDOT‘s Unlocking University Boulevard Community Connectivity planning project

Dear Secretary Buttigieg,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) supports the Maryland Department of Transportation’s (MDOT’s) request for Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) program funding for MDOT’s Unlocking University Boulevard Community Connectivity planning project.

WABA’s mission is to empower people to ride bikes, build connections, and transform places. WABA supports projects like this one that transform our transportation system and make it safer, easier to use, accessible to everyone, more affordable, and climate-resilient.

The Unlocking University Boulevard Community Connectivity planning project will engage communities and stakeholders around the future of University Boulevard (MD 193) from Rhode Island Avenue to Hanover Parkway. The comprehensive study will analyze potential road diets, sidewalks and active transportation gaps, transit infrastructure improvements, crosswalks, and trail connectivity through the corridor to create stronger neighborhood connectivity and access to essential destinations.

The project will build off the planning efforts conducted by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the City of Greenbelt to determine a unified vision for moving the corridor forward. The MDOT State Highway Administration (SHA), as the facility owner, will closely engage with all community stakeholders to complete this comprehensive study.

This project strongly aligns with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)’s goals for the RCN program by proactively and holistically addressing barriers to community connectivity and access to essential destinations along the MD 193 corridor. I encourage your careful consideration of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s funding request. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Seth Grimes, WABA’s Maryland organizer, at seth.grimes@waba.org. He will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate USDOT's commitment to funding high-quality projects with visible and sustainable community benefits, and we urge you to support funding this worthy project.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Kiker, Executive Director

Cc: Sean Winkler, Maryland Dept. of Transportation

More about Complete Streets

Complete Streets are streets designed to accommodate all users, and that prioritize historically underinvested modes of transportation like transit, walking, and biking. An incomplete street might lack adequate sidewalks, low-stress bike infrastructure, or safe and comfortable access to transit.

Effective Complete Streets policies change the way a jurisdiction plans and builds transportation infrastructure—sidewalks, low stress bike infrastructure, and transit should be included in any new or rebuilt street by default, rather than as an add-on when there's space or demand.

While most regional jurisdictions have a Complete Streets policy of some sort, they lack teeth and permit transportation departments to continue to build streets that put cars first and squeeze other modes into the margins.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.