ACT website

the web

 

purple light rail

 

 

 

Will the County No Longer Include Pedestrian Facilities When New Roads First Open?

Letter to MCDOT Director Arthur Holmes and Planning Board Chair Francoise Carrier
Feb. 20, 2013

Dear Mr. Holmes and Ms. Carrier:

At ACT's upcounty pedestrian forum on January 26, a comment from Upcounty Regional Services coordinator Catherine Matthews suggested that MCDOT may implement a new policy about pedestrian facilities in new road construction. Under this policy, pedestrian facilities will not be installed at an intersection until all of the planned road construction is complete.

Ms. Matthews's comment came during a discussion of two unmarked crosswalks in Clarksburg that parents and children use to cross Stringtown Road on their way to and from Clarksburg Elementary School. The unmarked crosswalks have curb ramps and a pedestrian refuge in the median. According to an e-mail from Mr. Leggett in December, these pedestrian facilities were not installed during the construction of Stringtown Road for current pedestrians, but rather to minimize the expense and disturbance when Observation Drive is eventually extended from Germantown to Clarksburg.

Could you please clarify whether MCDOT is planning to implement such a policy?


Sincerely,

Miriam Schoenbaum, Upcounty Coordinator
Action Committee for Transit