Letter: MD 198 Sidewalk Improvements

WABA submitted comments on the MD 198/Sandy Spring Rd Sidewalk Improvements Project.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

Khursheed Bilgrami
MCDOT Division of Transportation Engineering
100 Edison Park Drive, 4th Floor
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878
Khursheed.Bilgrami@montgomerycountymd.gov

Re: MD 198 (Sandy Spring Road) Sidewalk Improvements

August 27, 2024

Mr. Bilgrami,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) offers the following comment on the MD 198 (Sandy Spring Road) Sidewalk Improvements project.

Montgomery County’s Bicycle Master Plan calls for a sidepath where the current 30% design shows a narrower sidewalk to fill the missing link between Dino Drive and McKnew Road in Burtonsville, Maryland.

WABA asks MCDOT to redo the 30% design to create the master-planned sidepath, which would continue an existing sidepath between US 29-Columbia Pike and Dino Drive, the western end of the current project.

Montgomery County’s Bicycle Master Plan was approved by the Montgomery County Council and adopted by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in 2018. The plan “sets forth a vision for Montgomery County as a world-class bicycling community, where people in all areas of the County have access to a comfortable, safe and connected bicycle network, and where bicycling is a viable transportation option that improves our quality of life. The plan is a key element in Montgomery County’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.”

In accordance with the vision and plan approved by the County Council and adopted by M-NCPPC and with the county’s Vision Zero commitment, please redesign the project to create the master-planned sidepath.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Seth Grimes, Maryland Organizer
seth.grimes@waba.org

More about Complete State Roads: Montgomery County

WABA’s Complete State Roads initiative aims to remake state highways in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties as complete streets, boosting safety and mobility for people who walk, bike, roll, or use transit as well as for drivers and their passengers.

The Complete State Roads–Montgomery County report is available at waba.org/stateroads and you can watch a presentation delivered about it at WABA’s 4th Great Montgomery County Bike Summit in 2023.

As part of the Complete State Roads initiative, WABA backed the development of legislation for introduction in the 2024 Maryland legislative session.

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.