MARC Communities Plan
ACT supports the MARC Rail Communities Sector Plan as submitted to the Council last December, and is generally supportive of the County Resolution on the Sector Plan.
However, the proposed additional language on page 3, (see below), effectively allows MC DOT to undo the road diet developed for Middlebrook Road, with neither further review by the Planning Board, nor subsequent approval of the Council. This is not a good idea.
One of the important principles of the road diet is the balancing of auto time savings with the safety and convenience of other road users, notably pedestrians and bicyclists. Since Middlebrook Road is one of the principal boundaries of Seneca Valley High School, with significant student crossings and potentially much more foot and bicycle use with safer and more pleasant facilities and slower more cautious traffic, this is not a trivial issue.
ACT would prefer to keep the road diet as laid out in the Sector Plan. The traffic studies reported in Appendix C of the Plan find that under the 2040 Build Out with Road Diet scenario, “the overall intersection capacity for all study intersections are below the CLV and delay congestion standards.” And the road diet is exactly the kind of action that will implement the Council’s 2016 Vision Zero resolution language that “… a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach will lead to safer communities, benefitting all users of the road.” (Resolution No. 18-390, Adopted Feb. 2, 2016)
However, if the Council feels that additional traffic studies are needed or will be conducted by MC DOT, the last thing they should do is cede the power of review and approval to them. The Council has the responsibility to ensure that the traffic mobility objectives that are high on MC DOT’s list are adequately balanced against the safety of non-auto traffic, and the community desire to promote walking and bicycling.
The proposed resolution language has two phrases that are vague to the point of giving MC DOT the power to modify the Sector Plan unilaterally:
- “If this analysis proves” has no standard of proof
- "severe operational problems” has no definition of what constitutes severe.
As said before, the Council should require the review and comment by the Planning Board on any added studies that undo all or part of the road diet, just as the process worked to develop and bring the December 18 Sector Plan with the road diet to the Council.
The proposed language on page three of the resolution from line 94 to line 101 to which these comments pertain is:
94 Page 58 Add a new eighth bullet:
95
96 MCDOT is likely to conduct further analytical studies of the road diet. If this
97 analysis proves that full implementation results in severe operational problems on
98 Middlebrook Road, a modification of the six-lane section, with narrower lanes,
99 improved pedestrian facilities, and a two-way separated bike lane on the south side
100 of the road, should be implemented. Additional details on this section may be found
101 in Appendix C.