Response from State Highway Administration
This is in further response to your safety concerns at various location in Montgomery County. The State Highway Administration’s (SHA) District Three traffic office has completed its review, and is writing to provide you with the results.
The SHA follows the nationally accepted Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) as a guideline to determine when and where traffic control devices should be installed. These guidelines are nationwide in scope, and are endorsed by the Federal Highway Administration. As a highway operations agency, the SHA assumes an obligation to follow these guidelines. In response to your request for a Pedestrian Road Safety Audit along MD 118 (Germantown Road) between Wisteria Drive and I-270, we have requested our Office of Planning & Preliminary Engineering conduct a Pedestrian Road Safety Audit. Once this audit has completed, we will evaluate which suggestions are warranted and feasible. Dustin Kuzan leads the Pedestrian Road Safety Audit program for SHA and can be reached at 410-545-5656.
The SHA conducted a review of the intersection of MD 119 (Great Seneca Highway) and Dairymaid Drive including traffic and pedestrian volumes, crash history, prevailing speeds, and sight distances. Our study found that the pedestrian volumes do not warrant the installation of a crosswalk based on the MUTCD. Therefore, we do not recommend the installation of a crosswalk at this location. Please note that the introduction of an unwarranted crosswalk can create a false sense of safety among pedestrians, who may believe that approaching motorists will appropriately stop as required by law. Poor motorist compliance rates are particularly prevalent along multilane roadways with minimal pedestrian volumes, posing an increased risk to pedestrians.
The SHA conducted a review of the intersection of MD 117 (Clopper Road) and Mateny Road including traffic and pedestrian volumes, crash history, prevailing speeds, and sight distances. This intersection is currently under design for upgrading the pedestrian signals. As part of this upgrade, they will be adding crosswalks to the north and south legs of the intersection across Mateny Road. According to the Maryland MUTCD, the appropriate markings consist of two parallel lines; therefore, we do not recommend installing high visibility markings at this location. Additionally, due to the low pedestrian volumes we do not recommend installing a crosswalk across the west leg of the intersection.
In response to your request for a marked crosswalk across the south leg of the MD 355 (Frederick Road) at Shady Grove Road intersection, it was found that a crossing across the south leg is not feasible due to the lane configurations of the intersection. During certain times of the day, the westbound Shady Grove Road approach has a right-turn lane and a thru-right lane, which means that drivers can turn right onto southbound MD 355 from two different lanes at the same time. This scenario is not safe to have pedestrians crossing the street at the same time because vehicles in the second right turn lane cannot see pedestrians well. Also, due to the congestion and signal phasing at this intersection, a separate pedestrian phase to service the proposed crossing is not practical. Therefore, we are unable to provide a crosswalk across the south leg of the intersection at this time. In addition, it is SHA policy to only provide crosswalk hatching in crosswalks at mid-block crossings, across ramps, and at other unexpected locations. Therefore, we do not recommend adding crosswalk hatching to the existing crosswalks at this intersection.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me or my team leader, David Murnan at 301-513-7409 or 1-800-749-0737. Mr. Murnan will be pleased to assist you.