Letter: Walkable Urban Streets Act in Maryland

Lower speed limits, lane reductions, buffered or separated sidewalks and bike lanes will reduce deaths and serious injuries for pedestrians, bicyclists, and all roadway users.

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Walkable Urban Streets Act-2023 Sep 14

Walkable Urban Streets Act Washington Area Bicyclist Association

September 14, 2023
Chair Olson and members of the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) supports the Walkable Urban Streets Act, Council Bill 69-2023 and its companion resolutions CR 67-2023 and CR 68-2023.

WABA’s mission is to empower people to ride bikes, build connections, and transform places. We support projects and legislation such as the bills before you today that boost mobility and roadway safety for bicyclists, walkers, transit users, and everyone who needs to travel anywhere in Prince George’s County and throughout the DMV.

Prince George’s County has experienced 84 traffic fatalities this year, 2023, through yesterday, September 13, including 21 pedestrian and 3 bicyclist deaths. (MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration Highway Safety Office statistics, https://zerodeathsmd.gov/resources/crashdata/crashdashboard/.)

These deaths have occurred despite Prince George’s County’s, and the State of Maryland’s, commitment to Vision Zero, “a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.” The guiding principle for Prince George’s County – quoting the Vision Zero Prince George’s Web site – is that “tragic roadway crashes are preventable with the right actions and commitment.”

The Walkable Urban Streets Act bill and resolutions are instances of the right actions. Enacting them will be an important step toward fulfilling the county’s commitment.

The Act will update the county’s Urban Street Design Standards, sensibly and in keeping with recognized effective design elements and responsive to local conditions. The key provisions – lower speed limits, narrower travel lanes and reduction in number based on current traffic volumes, buffered or separated sidewalks and bike lanes, tighter turns (which force vehicles to slow or stop at intersections, the most dangerous part of our road network) – coupled with an inescapable requirement to adhere to standards, will reduce deaths and serious injuries for pedestrians, bicyclists, and all roadway users.

We concur with advocacy that the bill should be amended to carefully review and limit the situations in which the agencies – DPW&T and DPIE – can deviate from the updated standards.

The Act will bring additional benefits. Safer, slower streets will mean walkable, vibrant downtowns and local centers, which will in turn boost community vibrancy and local economic opportunity.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association urges Favorable action on bill CB 69-2023 and resolutions CR 67-2023 and CR 68-2023. Thank you for considering our testimony.

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

More about Maryland Legislation

WABA develops and advocates for state legislation to make bicycling in Maryland safer and more accessible and for state funding to expand Maryland’s bicycle network, working directly with legislators and Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) leadership and as part of the Bike Maryland coalition. We also work on broader road-safety, transit, and environmental legislation and funding, typically as part of larger statewide coalitions. The annual Maryland legislative session runs from January to April, but our work developing legislation starts the preceding summer.

We’re thrilled that several bills we worked on or supported were enacted in 2024, directing an MDOT Vision Zero Coordinator and public review process; the Better Bus Service Act, allowing bus-lane enforcement cameras (with bikes allowed); authorizing stop-sign cameras near schools in Prince George's County; and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act, addressing penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane.

Our 2024 advocacy included unsuccessful efforts that we will likely pursue in future years. (It often takes years to pass a bill. ) These include a Great Maryland Trails Act, an E-bike Rebate and Voucher Program bill, and a bill addressing maintenance responsibility for sidewalks and bike paths along state roads. Another topic on our list for 2025 is contributory negligence, a prejudicial statute that says that if a crash victim is even only 1% at fault, then they are liable and may not recover (full) costs and damages from the party largely at fault.

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

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.