MoCo Deputy Director says Complete Streets are too expensive and too hard on drivers

Planners in Montgomery County want to make Veirs Mill into a Complete Street, with BRT, sidewalks, a grade-separated crossing of the Matthew Henson Trail and a bikeway; but Montgomery County Council Deputy Director Glenn Orlin, in a memo to the Planning, Housing, and Economic Development Committee says that will all be too expensive and will make driving worse. 

Orlin states that Complete Streets are an "urban" thing, but that Veirs Mill is a suburban major highway. 

Like most major highways, Veirs Mill Road has a heavy volume of traffic because-unlike in city environments where there is a fine-grained street grid-in the suburbs there are far fewer route choices by which to convey people and goods, and much longer distances that need to be traversed.

The Draft Plan has the goal of recreating Veirs Mill Road as a "complete street." This concept which would treat the safety and mobility needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles more or less equally-is normally reserved for urban environments where all are moving closer to the same pace.

However, Veirs Mill Road, from where it leaves the Wheaton CBD to where it enters the Rockville CBD, traverses what is clearly a suburban environment, and the Draft Plan's land use recommendations would not change that. Except for the Veirs Mill commercial area, there is no concentration of pedestrian-oriented uses that would warrant urban-type street treatments.

And so any changes to make it more pedestrian or transit oriented, if they harm drivers, are a real problem. 

The Draft Plan calls for an expensive package of improvements, and each improvement would enhance transit, bicycle, or pedestrian mobility. On the other hand, all the road changes newly proposed by the plan would render more difficult the mobility of people in motor vehicles: taking away through lanes, eliminating channelized turn lanes, and eliminating double left-tum lanes, among others. 

As to the costs

Executive staff estimates the County cost of new capital improvements associated with the Draft Plan to be $175.3 million, all of which would be transportation improvements.

The largest items are for their assumed County's costs to construct Veirs Mill Road Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Alternative 2.52 ($39.6 million) and, ultimately, to include continuous BRT lanes (Alternative 3, another $34.4 million); and grade separating Veirs Mill Road over the Matthew Henson Trail ($44.4 million). The $56.9 million balance is almost entirely for a host of other bicycle and pedestrian improvements. The FIS notes that if the Matthew Henson Trail were bridged over Veirs Mill Road instead of vice versa, the grade separation cost would be $11.2 million, bringing the overall County cost down to $142.1 million.

One of the big criticisms is that vehicle delays will become inadequate (more than 2 minutes per vehicle in some cases) as defined by the county. Planners are suggesting that maybe the county should accept longer delays in order to get safer streets. County Staff recommends against because....allowing more congestion will lead to more congestion. 

Elsewhere, the Draft Plan recommends removing a master planned diamond interchange at Randolph Road because "A grade-separated interchange at this intersection is inconsistent with the overall transportation goals of this plan, which seek to improve conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users on Veirs Mill Road and the surrounding communities", but County Staff recommends against that because the interchange will reduce congestion. They recommend the design below because it will break up the crossing distance for pedestrians and cyclists and more efficiently use land. 

The Draft Plan recommends removing double-left turn lanes because of safety concerns. County Staff recommends against that because - you guessed it - it would cause congestion.

County Staff also recommend faster design speeds, more channelized right turn lanes and wider lanes, all contrary to the Draft Plan recommendations.

They also state that "where there is a frontage street that it serve as the bikeway on that side of Veirs Mill Road, at least in the short term" instead of a protected bike lane. 

One good recommendation involves short-term planning for the Henson Trail crossing. Planning Staff recommended an improved at-grade crossing, but Council Staff recommends an overpass. 

Frankly, the County should have budgeted the cost of a trail bridge when the trail was initially built.

I have to agree there. 

It does look like these changes will be expensive. But if we start arguing that traffic sewers are popular and important ways to deal with congestion and that therefore we can't change them, then we're just deciding to have traffic sewers forever. No one said Vision Zero was going to be cheap. 

Comments

[Joe F.]

This is disappointing to see with Montgomery County claiming to want to improve cycling and walking throughout the County. Reminds me of the ICC trail.

This show staff are not serous about Vision Zero.

[drumz]

"The Draft Plan has the goal of recreating Veirs Mill Road as a "complete street." This concept which would treat the safety and mobility needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles more or less equally-is normally reserved for urban environments where all are moving closer to the same pace."

A: Even in very dense urban environments this isn't true. I'm definitely getting someplace faster when I bike/drive compared to walking. And biking is really only competitive when traffic is really heavy and I get lucky with lights.

B: And that's the whole point of a complete street. In that case it makes even more sense on a road where you can get up to speed. Making Veirs Mill a perfect candidate for complete streets for the exact reasons its argued that its a bad one.

C: "It's a suburb" is not some magical cantrip you can utter to stop debate on something. If it doesn't work in online comments sections it certainly shouldn't be parroted by actual policy makers.

[Crickey]

Honestly, the County and the State are horrible on pedestrian and cycling issues. And they're surprised that death rates are rising. News flash: you built traffic sewers that run right through densely populated, mixed use areas.

[Jacob Mason]

This is not very different from the perspective of DDOT engineers. When it's a hard choice between safety and car speeds, car speeds win 9 times out of 10.

As a society, we care much more about driving fast than not killing people.

[Douglas A. Willinger]

Any consideration of a vehicular underpass with a traffic circle atop?

To help with envisioning such a solution, please look at WDC's DuPont Circle as well as my cir. year 2000 Rt 1/Beltway "Alexandria Orb" proposal.

[James C. Walker]

In most cities, drivers constitute 70+% of the commuters and efficient main collector & arterial streets are needed for commerce.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association

[Joe F]

Yes James the vast majority of people drive because the vast majority of amenities built for transportation in the US are roads. Build more and better connected ped, bicycle amenities and mass transit less people would drive. The proof is seen around the world.

[huskerdont]

And while arterial streets will be needed for the foreseeable future, that does not mean that pedestrians and cyclists should have to cower in fear around roadways, nor that 30,000+ roadway fatalities per year are acceptable. I would think that anyone at the National Motorists Association would have an interest in bringing that huge number down.

[washcycle]

"In most cities..."

Most cities don't have heavy rail transit like we do. And this road stretches between two transit stations. So what is true in most cities is about as useful as a doctor telling a pregnant woman "most people aren't pregnant, so you don't really need to do anything."

But like others said, we need to redefine efficiency away from QUICKLY moving cars and trucks and towards SAFELY and CLEANLY moving people and things.

[AdamB]

"collector & arterial streets are needed for commerce"

Counterpoint: no they're not. See any dense grid design, or any number of non-motorized designs in other countries.

The future of commerce and the human race depends on averting climate change by removing these dinosaurs from positions of power. They had their chance and they screwed up.

[Brett young]

"In most cities, drivers constitute 70+% of the commuters and efficient main collector & arterial streets are needed for commerce.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association"

And how many of those people are miserable as they sit in traffic.
Poll after poll shows that people who commute by walking or cycling are much happier.

I'm surprised you posted on this particular road. Is this the type of society you really want to protect? I find it depressing
https://goo.gl/maps/6U6rBHV2hwD2