What's happening
The Montgomery County Council voted on October 10 to approve the Pedestrian Master Plan. The planning board has worked on this comprehensive plan since September 2019. This plan was finally unveiled in 2023 after several studies, planning discussions, and public engagement.
Why it matters
The story has to be traced back to "Thrive Montgomery 2050", a county's General Plan. One of the plan's goals is to emphasize walking, biking, and transit (goal no.3). The county's Pedestrian Master Plan is a further action in responding to the General Plan to create a safer, more accessible, more convenient, and experience-enriched network connection. The plan focuses not only on people with vision and mobility issues but also on those who like to walk, bike, and roll in the county.
Moreover, the plan supports the goals outlined in the county's 2017 Vision Zero Action Plan and aims to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries.
What's the challenge
The Pedestrian Master Plan systematically toggle pedestrians' issues through the following areas:
Design policy and programming
Pedestrian and bike prioritization
Pedestrian shortcut identification
Country sidepath identification
Complete street design Guide Area Classification
However, when it comes to construction, the plan might have several unwanted impacts, such as:
The loss of existing green coverage or forest area
If the sidewalks are not being constructed within the existing roadway footprint, or if the added connection pathways traverse forest land, then the existing green coverage will be reduced.
Increased impermeable surface
Widening existing sidewalks and extending existing networks will increase impervious surface countywide. That creates more foot traffic in the flood-risk area and increases the chance of encountering the urban heat island effect.
The current survey has shown more than half of the surveyed residents were not satisfied with the temperature along the pathway (recommendation B-6). That was not only because there were not enough shading trees along the street; it was also because the material, color or coating the pavement used was not designed to avoid environmental heat built-up, with a low albedo material, for example.
What's Next
Montgomery County planning will track progress on implementing the plan's recommendation using a biennial monitoring report and interactive website. This interface will document how the county implements the plan's recommendations and let the public assess how the county is achieving the plan's performance and targets. The following goals will be their reference when evaluating during the process:
Increase walking rate and pedestrian satisfaction
Create a comfortable, connected, and convenient pedestrian network
Enhance Pedestrian safety
Build an equitable and just pedestrian network
Of note
Climate Assessment for Pedestrian Master Plan is the evaluation of the anticipated climate impact resulting from implementing the master plan. On July 25, 2022, the Montgomery County Council signed Bill 3-22, "Climate Assessments," into law. The Bill requires assessments of the climate impact of the county's Bills, Zoning Text Amendments, and Master Plans. This Bill requires Montgomery Planning to conduct a climate assessment for Zoning Text Amendments (ZTAs) and Master Plans. Therefore, this climate assessment for the pedestrian plan was prepared using the methodology recommended by the ICF's report in 2022.
Vision Zero is a global movement to end traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries by taking systematic approaches to road safety.
Montgomery Climate Action Plan is a Strategic plan to cut community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2027 and 100% by 2035.
Thrive Montgomery 2050 is the county's current General Plan. It is a framework to guide land-use planning for housing, economic development equity, transportation, environmental sustainability, and more for the next three decades. Montgomery County has established its first general plan, On Wedge and Corridor, since 1964. The plan was updated in 1969. Later, in 1993, the General Plan was refined with goals and objectives. Thirty years after the last General Plan was refined, Montgomery County developed Thrive Montgomery 2050 as the planning guideline for the next three decades.