{"id":65170884,"date":"2007-01-25T07:01:24","date_gmt":"2007-01-25T07:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=65170884"},"modified":"2007-01-25T07:01:24","modified_gmt":"2007-01-25T07:01:24","slug":"the-road-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=65170884","title":{"rendered":"The Road Code"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note due to the size of this article it will be continued in comments.<\/em><\/p>\n

Montgomery County Council recently introduced a sweeping change in its road code. While it had many good intentions it failed to meet those intentions. The following comments are a worthwhile read for any transportation planning as well as any environmentalist who would like to see the transportation network more environmentally friendly.\n<\/p>\n

Comments from:
\n<\/p>\n

\n

From Coalition for Smarter Growth:<\/em><\/p>\n

\nRE: Bill 48-06, Streets and Roads – Comprehensive Revisions, and SRA
\n06-04, Streets and Roads – Design Standards\n<\/p>\n

\nDear President Praisner and Honorable Councilmembers:\n<\/p>\n

\nPlease accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter
\nGrowth, a regional organization focused on ensuring transportation
\nand development decisions are made with genuine community involvement
\nand accommodate growth while revitalizing communities, providing more
\nhousing and travel choices, and conserving our natural and historic
\nareas.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Coalition for Smarter Growth supports the general intention of
\nthese bills. We commend the Council for its consideration of
\ncorrections that are needed for road design standards that originally
\nwere written largely for the exclusive benefit of the flow of motor
\nvehicles – as if that should be an end in itself. We strongly concur
\nwith the basic premise of the bills – streets are generally built too
\nwide, and this has many negative effects on safety, walkability, and
\nattractiveness of business districts and neighborhoods. These bills
\nembrace many of the changes emerging from professional transportation
\nplanners’ thinking that recognize that most streets and public rights
\nof way are multi-modal and need to better accommodate non-motorized
\nusers.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe have several major concerns about the proposed bills, however.
\nFirst, the bills fail to appropriately treat bicycling as an
\nimportant part of the transportation system. Second, the bills miss
\nopportunities to adopt more proactive and state-of-the-art stormwater
\nmanagement practices. Third, we remain concerned that the drafting
\nof such regulations should be done with the extensive input from the
\ntransportation professionals who are transforming outdated streets
\nstandards throughout the country. We have provided a list of such
\nprofessionals as an attachment and strongly urge the Council to seek
\nand contract with experienced professionals who have successfully
\ntransformed outdated road codes around the country. This contract
\nmight best be managed in collaboration with the Department of
\nTransportation and Public Works, the Planning Board and Planning
\nDepartment in order to fully recognize the link between
\ntransportation and land use.\n<\/p>\n

\nOverall, we appreciate that the bills rightly propose narrowing
\ntravel lanes for motor vehicles, tightening curb radii, shortening
\nblock sizes, and other measures to better accommodate pedestrians and
\nsupport more walkable commercial districts. Many of these kinds of
\nmeasures will improve safety for pedestrians and increase the
\nvitality of business districts and the attractiveness of residential
\nneighborhoods. However, greater emphasis should be placed on posting
\nspeed limits below 30 miles per hour in order to support comfortable
\npedestrian and bicycle use. Also, extensive use of on-street parking
\nshould be encouraged through the road code. On-street parking has
\nmany advantages: it encourages slower and safer vehicle speeds;
\nprovides a buffer between pedestrians and moving traffic; offers
\nvaluable front-door parking to support businesses; and is the most
\ncost- and space-efficient way to provide parking.\n<\/p>\n

\nBicycling needs to be carefully accommodated<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nRegarding the accommodation of bicycling, it is first important to
\nrecognize that bicycling is an essential part of the transportation
\nsystem. Bicycling can and must be successfully incorporated into
\na “narrow streets” approach to creating slow speed residential and
\nbusiness districts. While bicycling may only enjoy a small share of
\noverall trips today, the potential of bicycling to serve many of our
\ntransportation needs is tremendous and almost entirely untapped. In
\nNorthern Europe, bicycling represents a major share of all trips,
\neven among older age groups. This is not an accident or a cultural or
\ngenetic pre-disposition; it is an intentional policy backed by
\nfinancial investment and allocation of street space and storage
\nfacilities to make bicycling a safe and convenient mode of travel.
\nWhile we strongly urge the Council to contract with an experienced
\ntransportation firm to provide detailed street design standards, we
\npropose the following recommendations in case this is not pursued.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe primary reason for narrow travel lanes in urban centers is to
\ncreate a pedestrian-friendly (and bus-user-friendly) environment by
\nreducing crossing distances at intersections and slow vehicle
\nspeeds. For multilane arterials and collectors posted for 25 MPH
\nwithin urban centers, bicycles can be fully accommodated as vehicles
\nin the outer lane within narrow lanes as prescribed in the bills. The
\nprevailing travel speed in the curb lane is often significantly less,
\nespecially with curbside parking, frequent right-turn opportunities,
\nand\/or frequent bus service. We encourage the conversion of four
\nlane roadways to three motor vehicle travel lanes and bicycle lanes
\nin each direction.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn arterial roads posted for 45 MPH or above, space for bicycling to
\nthe right of motor traffic should always be provided, as either
\ndesignated bike lanes, wide paved shoulders, or wide (14-ft minimum)
\noutside lanes. We prefer designated bicycle lanes wherever possible
\nto better indicate the roadway space that should be yielded to
\nbicyclists. Without such bicycling accommodations, such roads would
\nsimply fail as “complete streets.”\n<\/p>\n

\nOn roads that will be posted for 30 or 35 MPH, a Context-Sensitive
\nSolutions (community involvement) approach should be used to balance
\nthe inclusion of bicycle facilities with every other need for the
\nstreet, unless a bike lane is specified in an adopted plan [or it is
\na two-lane road]. Traffic volumes, adjacent land uses, right-of-way
\nconstraints, and the nature of the surrounding street grid should all
\nbe considered in evaluating the need for on-road bicycle facilities
\non these streets.\n<\/p>\n

\nOverall, the road code should specify that every street construction
\nproject shall improve the Bicycle Level of Comfort\/Service.\n<\/p>\n

\nGreen Streets Standards<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nWe concur with the bills that street design should be improved to
\nreduce stormwater runoff. We recommend incorporating green streets
\nstandards as a part of this legislation. Green streets concepts
\nintegrate a system of stormwater management within the public right
\nof way and reduce the amount of water that is piped directly to
\nstreams and rivers. We recommend the City of Portland Oregon’s Green
\nStreets program and publications by Portland’s regional government
\nMetro, “Green Streets: Innovative solutions for stormwater and stream
\ncrossings.” It is crucial to recognize the need to use green design
\napproaches that do not conflict with creating a good urban walking
\nenvironment. Portland provides many examples of achieving both goals –
\n reduced stormwater runoff through innovative design while offering
\nhigh quality built urban environments.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe also recommend that on-street parking be used as instead of off-
\nstreet parking. On-street parking consumes about half the space
\nneeded for parking because the access to the parking is shared with
\nthe through traffic function of the street. Reduction of off-street
\nparking lots would significantly contribute to overall reduced
\nimperviousness.\n<\/p>\n

\nConclusion<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nOverall, we greatly appreciate the Council’s leadership on the
\nnecessary updating of our outmoded road code. Again, we reiterate our
\nbelief that the details of such important changes to the road code
\nneed the input of experienced experts. This can only be gained
\nthrough contracting them to work with the County to achieve its
\ngoals. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.\n<\/p>\n

\nSincerely,\n<\/p>\n

\nCheryl Cort
\nPolicy Director\n<\/p>\n

\n

From MCBAG Members:<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe following is the testimony of John Fauerby and Lynne Rosenbusch regarding the oldId.2007012507012487<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note due to the size of this article it will be continued in comments. Montgomery County Council recently introduced a sweeping change in its road code. While it had many good intentions it failed to meet those intentions. The following comments are a worthwhile read for any transportation planning as well as any environmentalist who … <\/p>\n

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