SILVER SPRING – Have an opinion about a plan that would bring rapid transit to Montgomery County? If so, mark your calendar for a May 16 public hearing scheduled by the Montgomery County Planning Board.
The public hearing is to invite input on the draft Countywide Transit Corridors Plan, which recommends a system to place high-quality buses in the county’s most congested areas – inside-the-Beltway communities, suburban activity centers and highly traveled commuter corridors. The draft plan recommends 10 transit corridors spanning 79 miles.
Along with forecast population increases, Montgomery County is expected to add more than 200,000 jobs over the next 30 years without the ability to expand roadway capacity. For the last two decades, policy-makers and planners have encouraged alternative modes of travel to reduce congestion.
BRT provides a flexible, cost-effective alternative to congested roadways, planners say, by offering reliable, fast connections in areas where development and density is not high enough to warrant rail. Planners focused on creating transit connections to Metro’s Red Line, the planned Purple Line and MARC.
The plan also makes recommendations to improve accessibility for bicycles, pedestrians, and train riders, such as designating bicycle-pedestrian priority areas around major stations and adding a third track on part of the MARC train’s Brunswick Line.
The Planning Board will begin a detailed review of the plan in the weeks following the public hearing, before revising and finalizing a new version for transmittal to the County Council in the summer.
Sign up to speak at the public hearing at www.montgomeryapps.org/planning_board/testify.asp; at date prompt, scroll to May 16.
The Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan will amend the Master Plan of Highways, which will be renamed the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways.
Who:
Montgomery County Planning Board
What:
Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan public hearing
When:
6 p.m. Thursday, May 16
Where:Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring
Learn more:http://tinyurl.com/3ce9rlh