Panel Discussion: Prince George’s vision for safer streets, more choices, better communities

WABA’s Complete State Roads initiative aims to promote remaking 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. 

Prince George’s County presents a particularly urgent safety challenge, with 129 road deaths in 2023, including 39 pedestrians and 3 bicyclists, far higher rates than neighboring Montgomery County. WABA has been pursuing safe-streets and bikeways advocacy, including in state-road corridors in the county, for some time. And as part of the Complete State Roads initiative, WABA backed the development of legislation for introduction in the 2024 Maryland legislative session. Follow the link for information on that campaign.

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.

• Maryland Complete Streets Policy
• Montgomery County Complete Streets Design Guide
• Prince George's County Complete Streets Program
• DC Complete Streets Policy
• Arlington County Complete Streets Program
• Alexandria Complete Streets Program
• Fairfax County Complete Streets 
• Virginia Complete Streets 

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.