On October 21, the Greenbelt City Council met with representatives of Berwyn Heights, College Park and Beltway Plaza to discuss strategies on how best to move forward with plans to make Greenbelt Road safer for pedestrians and bikers. Plans for this go back as far as a Neighborhood Conservation Program report from 2003, with a more recent study developed by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in a June 2018 Technical Assistance Panel report.
The consensus of the meeting was that an essential step would be for all three cities to agree on a plan that can then be put before the county council, state legislature and the State Highway Administration (SHA), the idea being that a unified proposal would make any movement forward more efficient, even if the plan were later amended by SHA. Ultimately, SHA would be the primary entity in any designing, construction and funding, as Greenbelt Road is a state highway. Councilmember Emmett Jordan stated that Greenbelt Road is an artery that connects all three cities, and even if all “may not agree on everything,” the cities must work together in order to create a framework to work from.
For several years, the improvement project has remained number two on a list of county transportation improvement priority projects. Greenbelt’s Director of Planning and Community Development Terri Hruby stressed that it must make its way to be part of the Maryland Consolidated Transportation Program for it to be viable, along with SHA involvement. Recently, the Greenbelt Road project was missing from a list of county projects, with Hruby urging all three councils to quickly advocate with their county representatives to put it back on, as the list would soon be before the county council for consideration.
While all agreed on the need for a clear plan, College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn suggested engaging SHA as soon as possible and putting initial efforts into acquiring funding, largely through grants, that would enable design work to begin. He cited the recently begun construction improvements along Route 1, a process that lasted more than 10 years and only reached its fruition through state involvement.
“Kap” Kapastin, general counsel for Quantum Companies, and engineer Nat Ballard, from Rodgers Consulting, laid out details from their recently submitted Detailed Site Plan (DSP) for the redevelopment of Beltway Plaza, in regard to its connection with Greenbelt Road. While the DSP calls for improvements to the safety of the sidewalks and exits and entrances to the Beltway Plaza property, it would not contribute significantly to the Greenbelt Road project’s goals or to the road as a whole. Councilmember Judith Davis asked Kapastin to consider making similar alterations to the Quantum properties on Greenbelt Road’s opposite side, with Kapastin agreeing to consider it, but noting the significant expense.
There was discussion on the creation of a task force to collect all pertinent data and develop a comprehensive plan. Davis suggested using members from existing groups like Greenbelt’s Advisory Planning Board, and parallel groups in Berwyn Heights and College Park. Resident Bill Orleans suggested making it open to the cities’ residents.
Hruby pointed out that at present only the ULI report has up-to-date data and recommendations and that experts will need to be brought in to make useful decisions on things like road changes and traffic studies.
In the end, all present were keen on making this long-standing project happen, with Mayor Colin Byrd saying, “let’s get it done.” There was an agreement for further meetings in the near future. Jordan suggested an ongoing quarterly schedule. Berwyn Heights Councilmember Ethan Sweep suggested setting deadlines, determining short- and long-term goals, with funding acquired as things progress. Berwyn Heights Mayor Amanda Dewey said “we need a way forward” and “to be better prepared next time.” Hruby said that this would be a joint effort of the jurisdictions.
Jordan laid out a vision of an attractive and unified corridor, fruitful for businesses, which would draw people in to all three cities.