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The first comprehensive update of Montgomery County's road and transit plan in more than 50 years is about to begin.

County transportation planners are slated to present a proposal for the project to the county Planning Board on Thursday.

The last comprehensive road plan update was done in 1955, and that included only about a third of the county closest to the District of Columbia.

A draft master plan created in 1967 was not completed.

But many land-use plans adopted over the years, as well as direct amendments, have changed the highway plan.

The comprehensive update will provide better public access by incorporating those changes into a single plan.

It also will include new road classifications created in the 2007 Road Code and likely will reclassify some roads.

In addition, the update will address inconsistencies between adjacent master plans. One such example is discrepancies between plans as to the number of lanes on East Gude Drive. For that road, the 2004 Upper Rock Creek master plan appears not to match either the 2006 Shady Grove master plan or the way the road is built inside the city of Rockville.

County planners' updated work will cover the entire county except seven municipalities — Rockville, Gaithersburg, Barnesville, Brookeville, Laytonsville, Poolesville and Washington Grove — that have their own planning and zoning authorities.

Four public meetings to explain the project and hear from county residents will be held in throughout the county over the winter, Planning Department spokeswoman Valerie Berton said. Times and places for the meetings have yet to be announced.

Planners are scheduled to send a draft to the Planning Board in September, and the Planning Board is expected to present its proposal to the County Council in March 2011.

The county executive also will receive the plan for review and comment.

The council and Planning Board are expected to act on the plan in the summer of 2011.

More information is available online at www.MontgomeryPlanning.org/transportation.