Category: Maryland

MD Comments: Draft Go Prince George’s

August 13, 2025

Ms. Lakisha Hull
Director, Prince George’s County Planning Department
Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Wayne K. Curry Administration Building
1301 McCormick Drive, Largo MD                             via: gopgc@mncppc.org

Dear Director Hull:

Thank you for your active engagement with the public on the preparation of Go Prince George’s. We wish to provide some initial comments on the draft Go Prince George’s in advance of its formal consideration. First, we wish to express our overall enthusiastic support for the greatly revised Master Plan for Transportation, a welcome move towards a multimodal, complete streets approach to transportation. Here are some highlights of exciting elements of the draft plan: 

  1. Urban Street Design Standards are integrated into Functional Classification of roadways — this is a crucial guide for how road engineers decide how to design a road. This is an important advance to achieving full implementation. 
  2. Urban Street Design Standards are applied to both designated regional and local centers streets, and beyond. We strongly support this approach.
  3. Road diets – roads downsized from 6-8 lanes to 2-4 lanes, per Urban Street Design Standards. This is a major advance for fostering safer streets, connected communities, and economic development. Right-sizing these roads are essential to attracting transit-oriented development, such as along the Central Ave./Blue Line corridor. 
  4. Bicycle facilities are fully integrated into each road designation – this is a significant improvement. Example: Facility Recommendations (section 3).
  5. Bus priority (Transit policy – Policy TR) policy and cross-sections are included, along with 5 high capacity routes identified. Bus priority, however, is not consistently mentioned in section 3. Bus lanes are identified for MD 458 for example which we support, but not for MD 410.

Recommendations for improvements:

  1. Eliminate Vehicle LOS (level of service) for Local and Regional Centers, and other appropriate areas. We recommend the following language:

Policy RH 4: Eliminate vehicular LOS requirements within all Local and Regional Centers. This strategy amends Table 21 of Plan 2035, applicable recommendations of the 2009 Countywide Master Plan of Transportation, and the Transportation Review Guidelines.

The above proposed language will replace the draft’s vague policy – “Policy RH 4: Establish realistic and appropriate traffic level-of-service (LOS) standards for the determination of adequacy of roads and highways within a first-tier suburb.” 

Our Policy RH 4 recommendation is taken from the West Hyattsville-Queen Chapel Sector Plan, which states:  “TM 1.17. Eliminate vehicular LOS requirements within the West Hyattsville Local Transit Center. This strategy amends Table 21 of Plan 2035, applicable recommendations of the 2009 Countywide Master Plan of Transportation, and the Transportation Review Guidelines.”

This recommendation was also suggested in a draft of the West Hyattsville plan to be considered for application within all Regional Transit Districts and Local Centers. We agree.

  1. Add intersection design guidance as a separate strategy. We appreciate the many mentions of intersection features as important to complete streets, and in notes for specific facilities. However, a policy or strategy devoted to the complexity of intersection design would help advance many of the plan’s goals. Intersections are the most challenging aspect of street design in an urban environment, thus warrant specific attention. 

Regarding “Policy CG 7 Regularly refine and update the County’s adopted Urban Street Design Standards to reflect best street design practices.” We recommend the following additional strategy:

Strategy CG 7.4 Work with DPW&T and MDOT to identify and establish best practices for intersection design guidance.

  1. Design speed of 20-25 mph for Urban Streets should be cited as a specific goal and receive explicit attention. We ask the plan state 20-25 mph design speed be used as a key metric to guide roadway design decisions. Design speed is not mentioned in the draft, even though it states “Intended Functional Operating Speed: (20-25 mph)” and maximum speed limit of 20 or 25 mph. Solving for a 20-25 mph street as an overarching goal provides a framework that is more comprehensive than listing individual tools and practices that help reduce vehicle speeds to intended speeds. 
  2. Use vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per household as a key measure for development review. The draft cites the Plan 2035 identification of VMT as an important measure, but the draft makes no mention of using vehicle miles travel as a part of the development review process to assess the traffic and pollution impacts of each project. Using VMT per household helps create understanding of traffic network impacts, location efficiency, and mitigation needs. CSG has done this kind of analysis here and here. Scoring each new development for its VMT per household performance will help identify developments most beneficial to the county, the transportation network, and the environment. It will also call attention to mitigation needs for less location-efficient projects. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely,

Cheryl Cort

Policy Director

CSG primer: Visualize 2050, our region’s 25-year transportation plan

The draft Visualize 2050 plan, our region’s long-range transportation plan, has too many highway and arterial road expansions that will increase driving and climate emissions. We will miss our region’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 – even if there’s a rapid switch to electric vehicles.

Get informed so you can take action on key decisions this fall: 

  • Upcoming key vote on flawed 495 Southside Express Lanes project 
  • Comment period on failing status quo Visualize plan

Source: TPB, with annotations by the Coalition for Smarter Growth

Background on Visualize 2050

  • Visualize 2050 is our region’s long-range transportation plan, prepared by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB), a regional body overseen by our local and state officials and transportation agencies. 
  • CSG background article
    • From March 2024, on draft project list that is now being presented for final approval this fall along with its performance results. 
  • 48 organizations criticized the previous plan, Visualize 2045 with very similar projects Letter by 48 regional organizations on Visualize 2045 (May 2022)

495 Southside Express Lanes Project

  • The TPB board will vote in October on whether or not to include the Virginia Department of Transportation’s flawed highway expansion project in the final plan.
  • Background on the project’s flaws, questions that VDOT has not answered, and better alternatives that need to be studied and advanced.

Stay tuned for actions you can take this fall!

  • Be on the lookout for CSG action alerts in September and October ahead of the TPB vote on the 495 Southside Express Lanes project.
  • Formal public comment on the entire draft Visualize 2050 plan will take place in late October through mid-November. CSG will provide a more in-depth overview of the draft plan – stay tuned.

VICTORY! M-83 Highway is Removed from Montgomery County Plans

Advocates spanning the generations celebrate our win at the Council Office Building on Tuesday, July 29! 
 

On Tuesday, the County Council voted 10-1 to remove the unbuilt portion of Mid-County Highway Extended (M-83) from county plans.  This was a victory decades in the making! 

Left on the books since the 1960s but largely unbuilt, M-83 offered false hope that extra road capacity could solve upcounty traffic problems. If built, it would have bulldozed farms, forests, streams, and wildlife in its path.

With this vote, our county leaves behind an outdated and harmful highway plan, and can focus on real, meaningful transportation investments upcounty. 

Thank you for your advocacy!

This win took a village. I am the fourth CSG Montgomery Advocacy Manager to have worked on this campaign (shout out to Kelly Blynn, Pete Tomao, and Jane Lyons-Raeder!) and am proud to have worked alongside dedicated advocates at TAMEACT, and other partners who have advocated to remove M-83 for decades, as well as a new generation of advocates like Eco MoCo, led by high school and middle school students.

Over the years, CSG joined leading advocates at TAME in forums, walking tours, and research, reports, and testimony that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the proposed highway, its environmental and community harms, and the benefits of more sustainable alternatives.

And we couldn’t have done it without you, our network of CSG supporters and advocates. In the past year alone, over 200 CSG supporters contacted the Planning Board and the County Council to support the removal of M-83 from county plans. That’s over 1,350 total emails!

What happens next?

Better street connections, safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and investments in frequent, reliable public transit all can help provide much needed transportation improvements upcounty—and upcounty residents need these changes sooner rather than later. 

When combined with mixed-use walkable neighborhood designs, these solutions will reduce the amount people have to drive, shortening car trips and increasing walking, biking, and transit use. 

As part of their vote on the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways, the Council approved an amendment to fund a comprehensive upcounty transportation study. CSG plans to support the special appropriation for this study at its September 30 hearing (sign-up opens August 1).

Once more, with feeling—THANK YOU, and let’s celebrate this win! 

I am so grateful for your support as we celebrate this victory, and I look forward to continuing to work with you all to win the sustainable transportation solutions upcounty residents need!

CSG in the News: County Council votes to abandon M-83 highway plan

July 29, 2025 | Ginny Bixby | Bethesda Magazine

An advocacy group that lobbied against the highway plan praised the council’s decision Tuesday in a press release.

“Plans for M-83 were based on obsolete planning assumptions that are out of sync with what we know today about effectively meeting transportation demand and protecting community and environmental health,” said Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery advocacy manager for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition for Smarter Growth. “With their vote to remove M-83, the County Council showed we are ready to offer upcounty residents transportation solutions that will offer real relief—not a costly and environmentally harmful false promise.” 

Read the full story here.

RELEASE: Montgomery County Council votes to remove the unbuilt northern portion of the M-83 highway from Master Plan

RELEASE: Montgomery County Council votes to remove the unbuilt northern portion of the M-83 highway from Master Plan

The Montgomery County Council voted today to remove the unbuilt northern portion of M-83 from the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways, a move strongly supported by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and local leaders in the TAME Coalition.

Big win in Montgomery County! Council allows more multi-family homes on county corridors 

Big win in Montgomery County! Council allows more multi-family homes on county corridors 

Yesterday, the Montgomery County Council voted 8-3 to pass Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 25-02. The legislation will allow more housing types, like townhouses or small apartment buildings, along major corridors, creating more homes near jobs and amenities.

RELEASE: We know we have traffic congestion. The real news is that we have more solutions to congestion than most regions of the country – and can do better.

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 23, 2025

CONTACT:
Stewart Schwartz, 703-599-6437

Consumer Affairs released its ranking of the cities with the worst congestion and DC ranked #1. “These rankings routinely show DC in the top four, so it’s not news that our region has congestion. For one thing, it’s a sign of a healthy economy, and in our case, the return to office requirement,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

“More importantly, this new report doesn’t appear to account for the 40% of workers[i] (almost a million) who take transit, carpool, walk and bike to work in our region, and who have been given great options for avoiding traffic,” said Schwartz. 

CSG reached out to Consumer Affairsabout their methodology, to determine if they counted transit, bike and pedestrian commuters in their analysis and ranking but the designated contact was listed as out of the office. It does not appear however that non-auto trips were included.

Bill Pugh, Senior Policy Fellow for CSG added, “Metrorail, Metrobus, local bus, VRE, MARC, and Amtrak, and our increasing number of homes in walkable, bike-friendly neighborhoods all provide options that are less stressful and healthier. We need our local governments to allow even more housing options in walkable, convenient, transit-accessible locations.”

“This report also helps make clear why our region should be investing in expanding transit options and making it even more frequent,” said Schwartz, who serves on the region’s DMV Moves Community Advisory Committee which is supporting elected officials looking at both transit improvements and dedicated funding options.

“Increased frequency on Metrorail has attracted more riders, and the WMATA 2025 Better Bus Network is also designed to increase bus frequency and speeds. Meanwhile, both MARC and VRE commuter rail have plans to increase service – including all-day bi-directional and weekend service,” said Pugh.

“So, let’s take this latest traffic ranking and use it to spur action on the increased and dedicated funding our transit systems need, and to provide more housing options in walkable communities linked to great transit options,” concluded Schwartz.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington, DC region advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the region to grow and provide opportunities for all.


[i]  Sources: National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, Visualize 2050 plan, and MWCOG employment data.

CSG in the News: In raucous session, County Council votes 8-3 to approve controversial housing zoning change

July 23, 2025 | Ginny Bixby | Bethesda Today

The Coalition for Smarter Growth released a statement prior to Tuesday’s vote voicing support for the zoning change. The nonprofit advocates for “walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities” in the Washington, D.C. area, according to its website.

“By making it easier to build more duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments near transit and jobs, [the] ZTA is an important step toward more sustainable housing options in Montgomery County,” the statement said. “Measures like this that take on the structural problems feeding our housing shortage are a necessary step to achieve our shared vision of a sustainable, inclusive county for all.”

Read the full story here.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County Council to vote on ‘missing middle’ housing plan

July 22, 2025 | Maureen Umeh | FOX 5 DC 

“Montgomery’s economy, the economy of Maryland, is in some trouble right now. If we cannot provide housing, that’s affordable to the workforce, they can’t come to the county and provide their talents and services to the county,” said Stewart Schwartz with the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Companies will not come to the D.C. region and to Montgomery County if they don’t believe housing is affordable for their workers, they’ll go to places where it is more affordable.”

Read the full story here.

CSG in the News: Montgomery County Faces Pushback On ‘Landmark’ Housing Package

July 21, 2025 | Jon Banister| Bisnow

Carrie Kisicki, the Montgomery County advocacy manager for pro-housing group Coalition for Smarter Growth, said requiring property owners to go through an approval process would make these multifamily projects take more time and money to pursue. But she supports the overall proposal because it creates a pathway to building more housing on lots that have long been restricted to detached single-family homes. 

“We’re still living in that world where people who 10 or 20 years ago would’ve been able to buy a starter home, or young professionals who would’ve been able to buy an apartment in the county, started to not be able to do that because of how little we’ve been building the types of housing that people needed,” Kisicki said.

“So this is to me a landmark package because it shows we’re willing to go back and look at some of those things we’ve taken for granted about where we build homes or don’t build homes.”