Testimony: Prince George’s County FY25 Operating Budget & CIP

WABA submitted testimony on Prince George's County's FY25 capital and operating budgets.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

Prince George's County, FY 25 Operating Budget and FY25-FY30 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

April 29, 2024

Council Chair Ivey, Vice Chair Harrison, and Council Members,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is an advocacy organization with over 21,000 supporters regionally. We envision a just and sustainable transportation system where walking, biking, and transit are the best ways to get around.

We appreciate the attention and resources that the County has put into an array of pedestrian and bicycle improvements including design funding for Dept. of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) top 15 Bicycle Network Plan projects. Regarding County capital investments:

Please sustain and expand bikeways planning, design, and construction funding including build-out of the Capital Trails Network in Prince George’s County.
Please also allocate capital funds to retrofit road-safety improvements per the new design standards you directed last year, via the Walkable Urban Streets Act.

Other investments will advance active transportation in Prince George’s County – walking, biking, and other non-motor vehicle modes – in conjunction with strong transit support. Our vision is green mobility for Prince George’s residents, visitors, businesses, and employees. We ask you to:

Add DPW&T design and engineering staff focused on pedestrian-safety improvements, safe roadways, and bicycling infrastructure, to accelerate project development and construction, tapping federal and state transportation funding.
Add DPW&T resources to pursue federal and state grant funding.
Fund Bikeshare expansion with a focus on geographic equity to expand access to central and southern areas of the County.
Create a Prince George’s County e-bike purchase subsidy program, heavily income-qualified, to boost uptake of this ultra-green mobility solution. Washington DC’s program, implemented in 2023, provides an excellent local example of what you can do without breaking the bank.

And Prince George’s County must sustain a strong Vision Zero focus. DPW&T staff are reworking the county’s Vision Zero plan, in keeping with the County’s commitment “to make our streets safe for everyone by 2040… eliminat[ing] all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all including people who walk, bike, drive, and use transit.” Prince George’s experienced 129 road deaths in 2023 including 39 pedestrians and three bicyclists. We’ve seen too many tragedies like the deaths of 5-year-old Sky Sosa and 10-year-old Shalom Mbah, killed in November walking to school in Riverdale Park.

One of our points is “Add DPW&T resources to pursue federal and state grant funding.” DPW&T senior staff have lamented that the department is under-resourced, which means that the County is unable to leverage funding that could be applied toward safe streets and pedestrian and bicyclist facilities.

Prince George’s County has been successful in securing federal grants to support this important work. The County led a 2023 $25 million RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability) award that will fund regional trail projects including the Central Avenue Connector Trail, a component of the Blue Line Corridor economic development platform. Prince George's County was awarded $21 million dollars in Safe Streets and Roadways for all (SS4A) grant funding last year and won $4.6 million in Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) pedestrian-safety project funding. Please work with the Administration including the Dept. of Public Works and Transportation to aggressively pursue opportunities to secure federal and state funds for projects that will make Prince George’s streets safer and encourage walking and bicycling.

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with you on this important work.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of WABA and our Prince George’s County members.

Seth Grimes

seth.grimes@waba.org

More about Prince George's County Budget

Prince George's County's budgeting process, both for its annual budget and its 6-year capital budget, takes place in the spring. WABA works with grassroots advocates and partner organizations to build support on the County Council for funding individual projects and to ensure that the Department of Public Works and Transportation and the Parks Department have the resources required to grow and maintain the County's active transportation network.

Current priorities include expanding Capital Bikeshare in the county, funding trail development to expand the Capital Trails Network, additional design, engineering, and grant-writing staff at DPWT, and an e-bike purchase rebate program.

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.