Pedestrian Master Plan
Letter to County Council, September 15, 2023
Dear Council President Glass and Members of the Council,
ACT is pleased that the Council is moving forward expeditiously on the outstanding Pedestrian Master Plan proposed by the Planning Board, and we believe that it is a terrific document. However, our leadership is disappointed by the suggestions from MCDOT, council staff, and others that the plan should specify which of its elements are “low priority” compared to other elements, especially when prioritizing driver comfort over pedestrian comfort and when considering cost increases while ignoring cost savings and inequity.
The central finding of this plan is that the county’s existing infrastructure creates unacceptable conditions for travel on foot. For the last 100 years, transportation investments have underfunded foot travel when they have not actively deterred it. Setting priorities for pedestrian infrastructure in isolation from the rest of the transportation system would perpetuate the inequitable status quo, and the plan would be unable to accomplish its objective.
Council staff recommends that pedestrian safety should be prioritized over pedestrian comfort, implying that little or no money would be spent on pedestrian comfort. Yet MCDOT and MDSHA will spend billions of dollars over the next 30 years on driver comfort—filling potholes, repaving, surfacing new roadways with asphalt or concrete rather than gravel or cobblestones. There are many highways in the county where walking is far less comfortable than driving on a gravel road. It would be inconsistent and unfair to prioritize pedestrian safety over pedestrian comfort without equally prioritizing it over driver comfort.
The Fiscal Analysis displays a similar status quo bias. It measures only cost increases and ignores cost savings. Traffic calming and other road safety elements of the plan will reduce costs of emergency response and medical care. With more walking and less driving, road maintenance will be less expensive and there will be less need for new highway capacity.
The Fiscal Analysis describes the potential cost of county-funded sidewalk snow removal as “enormous” without addressing the extreme inequity of current policy. The county will pay for snow removal on a cul-de-sac with an average traffic volume of 2 or 3 vehicles per hour but not on a sidewalk with a traffic volume of 5, 10, or 100 people per hour. Cost is no reason to enshrine this inequity in the Master Plan.
The role of the Master Plan is to set out the county’s needs, not to set budget priorities among them. The substantial costs of implementing the Pedestrian Master Plan are a measure of how much damage was done by past mistaken policies, not a reason to continue those policies and preserve planning errors of the past.
We look forward to the passage and implementation of the Pedestrian Master Plan. As our Vice President, Erik Herron, testified, we believe that it is a terrific document, and we encourage the Council to pass it and then implement it in full without delay. We also look forward to the passage of the Safe Streets Act and partnering with you for the advocacy happy hour in support. Thank you for your attention to this matter and your dedication to safer streets for all.
Sincerely,
Amy Frieder
President, Action Committee for Transit