County gears up to enhance public transit

New transportation plan avoids adding roads

The plan, designed to guide road and development decisions in the next decade, calls for no new major roads to be built. Officials instead plan to focus on extending bus and rail service, and adding more sidewalks and walking trails to accommodate travelers.

Early drafts were unveiled at a public meeting July 24. Formal drafts will be posted in county buildings and libraries this fall, as well as online.

The transit-oriented plan offers a new approach for the county, said Eric Foster, county transportation project manager. Traffic jams, rising gas prices and other factors make public transit a more viable option, he said.

"There's great interest in changing modes of transportation and not driving as much, though a lot of it depends on what happens on the federal level and world economics," said Foster, who said this marks the first time transit has been an active part of the county's master plan. "What we can do is give people options."

Transit options include extending the Purple Line, a state-funded light rail or bus route proposed to connect Montgomery County to Prince George's. Though the current line is being designed to end in New Carrollton, planners propose to set a goal of eventually sending it farther south, to the National Harbor waterfront in Oxon Hill.

"It would link most of the major spots," Foster said. The extension is proposed to stop at FedEx Field in Landover, Largo Town Center, Prince George's Community College in Largo and Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs.

Officials also hope to boost bus service through regular and more frequent stops, and to promote developments that center around public transit hubs. Recent studies have noted that the county hasn't capitalized on building mixed-use apartments and shops near its Metro stations and bus stops.

Pedestrian improvements also top the priority list on the plan, which would replace an older plan developed in 1982. Drafts propose altering and reworking roads to include bike lanes and sidewalks, while the county would also look at installing walking trails along the side of Suitland Parkway in the south and New Hampshire Avenue in the north.

One thing that wasn't added is roads. Though the plan states that longstanding highway projects like the Intercounty Connector, an 18-mile toll highway that will link I-270 in Montgomery County to Route 1 and I-95 in Prince George's, and other streets near Konterra, a $3 billion mixed-use development just outside the Laurel city limits, should still proceed, no other major routes are planned for road construction, Foster said.

"With all the development we have, there aren't a whole lot of places you could improve without getting into some serious impacts," he said.

Public transit will be used to accommodate additional traffic, said Foster, who said this is the first time long-range transit goals have been part of the plan.

Also off-limits is the Rural Tier in the eastern and southern sections of the county, where development and transit projects are to be minimal.

According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, 397,000 motorists travel out of the county each day for work and more than half head west to Washington, D.C.

Some county residents questioned omissions in the transportation plan, which was based on resident comments and focus groups this spring.

"There need to be some changes," said Lee Walker, Landover Hills mayor, who said the county should spell out what it plans to do about traffic jams on the Route 450 corridor near New Carrollton twice a day.

"It's a major artery," said Walker, who raised his concerns at the meeting.

Main roads could be upgraded in the future under the plan, Foster said. County officials have already proposed reclassifying Route 197 between Laurel and Bowie as an artery road, which could make the two-lane highway eligible to be widened to six lanes in the future.

That idea isn't sitting well with Bowie city officials, who say enlarging the road could encourage speeding and more traffic.

"Our policy is that there are certain roads that shouldn't be more than four lanes," said Joe Meinert, planning director for Bowie.

Meinert said the city supports the county's push for more public transit, which includes running a bus or train line along Route 50 from the New Carrollton station to Bowie for commuters.

"It's much more direct," Meinert said. "And you could even think of extending it to Annapolis some day."

The County Council is scheduled to begin reviewing the transportation master plan this fall and adopting it in early 2009.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.