Wayne Avenue and Second Avenue bike and bus lanes, in downtown Silver Spring. Image by Dan Reed used with permission.

2024 isn’t even halfway over, but it’s been a pretty good year for transit and Complete Streets in Maryland. Meaningful legislation embodying the principles of the movement, which attempts to bring a more multimodal, less autocentric, and more bike/pedestrian friendly approach to transportation, made its way through the state’s General Assembly this past spring, transit and Complete Streets-friendly candidates had an absurdly good night in Baltimore’s primaries, and the state’s biggest public spending board is approving engineering contracts for one of its biggest transit projects.

But in terms of direct tangible impact, the new statewide Complete Streets policy announced on June 6 by the Maryland Department of Transportation might have them all beat.

A wider lens on complete streets

Complete Streets isn’t particularly new to Maryland, of course, either at the state level, where MDOT first adopted a policy on it in 2012, or more locally. What is new is the policy’s scope.

Where previous policies were limited either to a particular city or county or to a limited set of state agencies on a limited set of projects, the new policy, which actually went into effect June 1 but is meant to be fully implemented starting in 2025, is specifically intended to apply across MDOT to all six of its component agencies. The remit is broader than just the State Highway Administration (SHA), which was largely the focus of, and was directly responsible for, administering the original 2012 policy and its programs.

More specifically, the policy applies whenever MDOT is implementing a capital improvement project like constructing or reconstructing a “roadway, intersection, or bridge,” permitting new or reconstructed streets to access MDOT right-of-way, or “when there is an opportunity to improve safety for all users by applying proactive engineering safety countermeasures to resurfacing projects.”

That, combined with a more stringent waiver process directly dependent on the approval of Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul Wiedefeld instead of the individual agencies themselves, magnifies its impact significantly, according to MDOT Assistant Secretary for Project Development and Delivery Joe McAndrew.

“This policy essentially makes Complete Streets the primary factor for how we design and plan for much of our transit and roadway surface infrastructure network throughout the state,” McAndrew said.

Beyond broadening its scope, the new Complete Streets policy is designed with three particular goals in mind, at least as outlined in a FAQ MDOT released for the program: designing systems for a wide range of travel options, not just cars, listening to impacted communities that haven’t always been heard, and delivering on a shared commitment to safety.

In practice, that might look something like MDOT and SHA’s recent project along part of MD-187 (Old Georgetown Road). In that project, with some community input, the agencies added a bike lane with green pavement markings and flex posts, improving conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians alike and upgrading a stretch of road known for its disproportionate numbers of fatal crashes involving cyclists to the point where no fatal crashes have occurred since the bike lane’s installation.

Speaking to Streetsblog, GGWash’s own Regional Policy Director Dan Reed expressed support for the policy change, but noted that the Governor’s commitment to reducing VMT would be evidenced by his administration’s actions on highway widening and other issues.”

Stop, collaborate, and listen (then plan)

As part of the implementation process for the new Complete Streets policy, each of MDOT’s modes represented by their six agencies, the SHA, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA), the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA), the Maryland Port Administration (MPA), and the MVA (Motor Vehicle Administration), will develop implementation strategies over the next six months. They’ll work in conjunction with the Office of Active Transportation and Micromobility within the Secretary of Transportation’s Office, using already existing Complete Streets-friendly MDOT tools like their Context and Bus Stop Design Guides and then updating the Maryland General Assembly on all of the department’s Complete Streets projects annually.

In the end, though, as McAndrew pointed out, MDOT’s Complete Streets policy is important less for its specifics and more for how successfully it can be put into practice and the goals it represents in doing so. “At the end of the day, the policy advancement is not the most important thing,” McAndrew said. “This is a critical step, though, to set clear expectations and for us to be able to demonstrate the results that we’re after here for a more safe, more equitable, and faster transportation system…the implementation’s the most important thing. And so that’s where we’re really excited to turn the page and to be able to work with our colleagues to deliver. That’s the work that we’re already doing and we’re going to roll up our sleeves and expedite it so that we’re really ready to hit the ground running.”