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Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan

Amendment to the Master Plan of Highways

Bus Rapid Transit photoPlanners are working on a bus rapid transit (BRT) network to improve accessibility and mobility throughout Montgomery County. BRT is similar to light rail operations, but runs on county roads.

Background

View the project Scope of Work(3.8 MB), which the Planning Board reviewed on September 22, 2011. The starting point for this effort was the 16 corridors recommended in the Countywide Bus Rapid Transit Study performed by MCDOT. The County Executive's Rapid Transit Task Force subsequently recommended (1.4 MB) studying additional corridors in the BRT network.

Jarrett Walker, an author and international consultant on public transit planning and policy, participated in the Planning Department's speaker series on February 7, 2012, making the case for focusing on network design and maximizing the usefulness and reach of quality transit service. View Walker's presentation.

Purpose

The Countywide Transit Corridor Functional Master Plan will recommend rights-of-way for individual transit corridors to accommodate bus lanes, queue jumpers to assist bus operations at intersections, and station locations for the proposed transit network, as well as additional turn lanes at intersections, where necessary. The plan will inform planning efforts and provide policy guidance to the Planning Board and County Council on the BRT network. This functional plan amendment will not include any changes to land use plans or zoning.

Bus Rapid Transit Network Draft Map

This map shows the 12 corridors that will continue to be evaluated for inclusion in the Countywide Transit Corridor Functional Master Plan. The network reflects the following changes:

  • The ICC and Midcounty Highway Corridors are not being pursued.
  • The MD355 North and South corridors have been merged into one. The southern end has been extended to the District of Columbia line. The northern end has been altered to include Midcounty Highway north of Ridge Road.
  • The Georgia Avenue North and South corridors have been merged into one. The southern end has been extended to the District of Columbia line.
  • The US29 corridor has been extended along Colesville Road to the District of Columbia line.

Bus Rapid Transit map

Click image for larger view


Corridors under Study for Inclusion in the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan
(Working Draft as of February 2012)
Corridor Number
Corridor
From
To
Route Length1
(miles)
Number of Stations
BRT Corridors2
3 MD 586/Veirs Mill Road Rockville Metrorail station Wheaton Metrorail station 6.2 11
4 MD 97 / Georgia Avenue Montgomery General Hospital District of Columbia Border 13.5 17
5 Rockville Metrorail-Life Sciences Center3 Life Sciences Center Rockville Metrorail station 4.7 7
7 MD 124/Muddy Branch Road4 Lakeforest Mall Life Sciences Center 4.8 8
8 MD 185/Connecticut Avenue Georgia Avenue and Bel Pre Road Medical Center Metrorail station 7.3 10
10 MD 355 Snowden Farm Parkway and
Stringtown Road		 District of Columbia Border 23.5 28
11 MD 650/New Hampshire Avenue5 White Oak Transit Center Fort Totten Metrorail station 4.9 7
12 MD 187/Old Georgetown Road6 White Flint Metrorail Station Bethesda Metrorail Station 6.5 13
14 Randolph Road White Flint Metrorail station Glenmont Metrorail station 4.5 7
18 MD 193/University Boulevard Connecticut Avenue and Howard
Avenue		 Takoma/Langley Transit Center 7.1 12
19 US 29/Columbia Pike/Colesville Road Burtonsville Park-and-Ride lot District of Columbia Border 11.0 11
21 North Bethesda Transitway Montgomery Mall Transit Center Grosvenor Metrorail station 2.8 7
  Overall System Total7 94.8 113

1 Individual corridor and system lengths exclude short segments connecting to park-n-ride facilities and turning buses around to the start of each corridor.
2 Corridor names reflect the primary roadway on which BRT service would operate. Travel along short segments of other roadways is needed to access many of the corridor termini.
3 Corridor 5: Alignment starting at the Rockville Metrorail station is along East Middle Lane, Washington Street Jefferson Street, Montgomery Avenue, and Key West Avenue.
4 Corridor 7: Alignment starting at the Life Sciences Center is along MD 119/Great Seneca Highway, MD 124/Muddy Branch Road, MD 355, and looping around Lakeforest Mall.
5 Functional Plan will focus its runningway and station-area recommendations for rights-of-way on locations within Montgomery County.
6 Corridor 12: Alignment also serves Montgomery Mall and Rock Spring Business Park by way of Rock Spring Drive and Fernwood Drive
7 System totals reflect removal of overlaps among corridors sharing runningway segments or station locations.

Recommendations

The BRT plan will include:

  • Changing the name of the Master Plan of Highways to the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways
  • Determining which corridors recommended by the Countywide BRT Studyshould be included in the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways
  • Refining the corridors and station locations recommended by the Countywide BRT Study
  • Developing typical sections that illustrate how the proposed transitway and stations are accommodated in the corridors, and determine the preferred and minimum rights-of-way
  • Identifying where additional right-of-way or repurposing of travel lanes is required for the bus rapid transit corridors and stations
  • Recommending an approach to network phasing
  • Locating major bicycle and pedestrian access points and establish guidelines for access by station type
  • Establishing Bicycle-Pedestrian Priority Areas around BRT stations
  • Displaying all BRT corridors, BRT stations, and other master planned transit centers on the map and create standardized transitway map symbols to be used for both the Master Plan of Highways and new master and sector plans

Transportation planner Larry Cole explains the scope of the BRT project in this excerpt from the Montgomery Plans cable show.

Get involved

Planners will host public meetings to present draft recommendations and solicit feedback.

Past meetings

  • February 2, 2012: Planning Board worksession
    Staff and the Board discussed network methodology on Thursday, January 19, 2012: At this worksession, the Planning Board discussed Bus Rapid Transit corridor functions, repurposing travel lanes as bus lanes, and the impacts of various levels of treatment on a sampling of corridors.
  • January 19, 2012: At this worksession, the Board discussed alternative methods for repurposing travel lanes as bus lanes and the impacts of BRT lane construction on two sample corridors.
    • Read the staff memo (pdf, 560 KB)
  • January 12, 2012: At this worksession, the Planning Board discussed the purpose of the Bus Rapid Transit network and the criteria used to select corridors, the link between the BRT network and existing and planned development, and what year should be used for traffic forecasting purposes for the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan.
  • December 15, 2011: The Planning Board considered the study's Network and Methodology Report, which evaluates 16 corridors and recommends changes to the scope of the project
  • November 29, 2011: Upcounty BRT Open House
    Upcounty Regional Services Center, Room A, 12900 Middlebrook Road, Germantown
  • October 24, 2011: Community meeting to introduce where the service is proposed
    Park and Planning Headquarters, 8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring

Want to weigh in? Let us know what you think using our comment tool. Planners will consider comments as they proceed in developing recommendations.

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Project schedule

The Planning Board Draft is to be approved by September 2012. The key milestones in the BRT Amendment include:

September 22, 2011 Planning Board reviews draft Scope of Work
December 2011 Planners release Countywide Network and Methodology Report
April 2012 Planners release preliminary recommendations
May 2012 Planners complete public hearing draft
July 2012 Planning Board creates BRT draft plan
September 2012 Planning Board transmits final draft plan to County Council

M-NCPPC Staff Contact

David Anspacher, Functional Planning & Policy Division
301-495-2191
David.Anspacher@montgomeryplanning.org

Date of last update: February 17, 2012