2024 Technical Update

Well-planned transportation can be a real asset to a community’s quality of life—and the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways (MPOHT) ensures Montgomery County has a well-planned transportation system that best serves its residents, business owners, and visitors. This functional master plan guides the county’s investments in its roads and related transportation infrastructure. It is a comprehensive summary of all significant existing and planned highway and transitway infrastructure in Montgomery County. It provides a “road map” for making transportation investments in the county and includes provisions that impact all mode of transportation, like preserving rights-of-way to accommodate future transportation systems, identifying lanes dedicated to general traffic, designated transitways and transit stations, and designating the target speeds for individual roadways. This technical update will not make policy changes, but it will establish an approach to street design that will be used to make streets safer, more accessible and to improve walking, bicycling and transit conditions by incorporating the county’s Complete Street Design Guide.

Tasks

The Scope of Work for the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways Technical Update was approved by the Planning Board on September 21, 2023.

Review of Street Type Designations
Reevaluate the classifications of all existing MPOHT roads to ensure that each road is accurately and contextually classified and consider adding new roads to the MPOHT.
Review of Target Speeds
Identify target speeds for all MPOHT roads where no target speed is currently recommended and consider adjustments to target speeds on MPOHT roads where the recommended target speed differs from the target speed identified in the Complete Streets Design Guide.
Development of a New Approach to Street Design along Growth Corridors
Introduce a new approach to street design for suburban sections of Thrive Montgomery 2050 “Growth Corridors”, such as Georgia Avenue, Veirs Mill Road and New Hampshire Avenue. As these streets are envisioned to be a focus of future growth and to experience substantially more walking, bicycling and transit use, they need to be designed for slower target speeds (the highest speed at which drivers should operate) and more frequent protected crossings.
Review Transit Stations
Recommend updates to master planned transit station locations to bring them in line with planning for Montgomery County’s bus rapid transit projects and additional connections that may be beneficial to bus rapid transit service.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are “Complete Streets”?

Complete Streets are roadways that are designed and operated to provide safe, accessible, and healthy travel for all users of the roadway system, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists. On a complete street, it is intuitive and safe to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to school. The approach to Complete Streets will vary in different parts of Montgomery County. Complete Streets in rural Boyds, suburban Olney, and downtown Wheaton will all look different depending on the adjacent land uses. Some areas may have dedicated bus only lanes on certain streets, and some streets may vary in what degree of bicycle facilities they have or whether they require any bike facilities at all. Complete Streets function as a system, ensuring that the transportation network as a whole provides safe and efficient access for all roadway users and only provides designated spaces for each mode when needed.
What is the process for transitioning to “Complete Streets”?
Transitioning from the previous street classification system to the CSDG street classification system is a three-step process, with the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways Technical Update representing the third and final step in the process:
- Phase 1: Enactment of Bill 24-22 and Bill 34-22
  With the enactment of Bill 24-22 on November 7, 2022 and Bill 34-22 on December 27, 2022, the County Council established interim designations of CSDG Area types (e.g. Downtown, Town Center, etc.), as well as interim translations for CSDG street types (Downtown Boulevard, Downtown Street, Town Center Boulevard, etc.) based on the designated CSDG area types and the previous street classifications. Street types not covered in the CSDG, including Freeways and Parkways, have been grandfathered into the revised MPOHT. Status: Complete
- Phase 2: Master Plan Area Types in the Pedestrian Master Plan
  To address some deficiencies in the Phase 1 area type designations, the Pedestrian Master Plan replaces the interim area type designations in the county code with permanent area type designations throughout the county. Changes to CSDG street types will occur in locations of the county where the area type is modified. Status: Complete
- Phase 3: Master Plan Street Types in a Technical Update to the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways
  To address the remaining deficiencies in the Phase 1 street type translations, the plan update will reevaluate the transportation function of all streets to fully ensure that each street is accurately classified. Status: Ongoing with this MPOHT technical update
How will the update to the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways help Montgomery County transition to a “Complete Streets” approach?

Montgomery County is in the process of transitioning from an auto-oriented transportation system to one that provides safety, transportation choice and accessibility to county and regional destinations for all modes of transportation. As part of this transition, the county is reclassifying all streets from a “functional classification” approach, which described streets based on their use by automobiles, to a “complete streets” approach, which classifies streets based on the type of land use they serve and the transportation function for all modes of transportation. This transition is necessary to ensure that Montgomery County’s streets are aligned with the county’s safety, equity and climate change goals as articulated in Thrive Montgomery 2050, the Climate Action Plan and the Vision Zero Action Plan.
When will we start to see Complete Streets in Montgomery County?

While many projects have been completed and many are underway, it took Montgomery County over 70 years to build out its auto-oriented transportation system and it will take many more years to retrofit our streets to a “complete streets” approach. Complete Street projects are being implemented through multiple approaches, including major retrofit of an entire roadway, incrementally on portions of a roadway, or through small neighborhood initiatives. Both state and county government, as well as private development, are contributing to these projects.
How will this update affect streets in my neighborhood?

As a technical update, the purpose of this effort is to ensure that new street types adhere to the vision of streets as identified in previously approved master plans. This vision is aligned with the multimodal focus of the CSDG to ensure that not only do streets adequately serve access and through traffic needs, but also that walking, bicycling and other non-motorized vehicular needs are addressed. Furthermore, the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways does not include Neighborhood Streets and Neighborhood Yield Streets that serve predominantly residential areas with low volumes of motor vehicle traffic, and which represent the vast majority of streets in Montgomery County.
How will these updates consider Thrive Montgomery 2050?

The MPOHT technical update will continue to implement the principles of the CSDG by ensuring that all primary streets in the county are accurately classified. Because they incorporate land use context and a multimodal focus on roadways, the complete streets classifications aim to improve economic competitiveness, racial equity and social justice, and environmental health and resilience, create more transportation choices, and increase access to destinations in the county and the region — all important concepts of Thrive Montgomery 2050.

Last Updated: November 1, 2023

Montgomery County
Planning Department
2425 Reedie Drive, 14th Floor
Wheaton, MD 20902

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