Greenbelt Road should be reduced by one lane in each direction, have a reduced speed (25 mph) and have better pedestrian crosswalks.
Those are three of the recommendations Kittelson & Associates, Inc. have put in their nearly 200-page Greenbelt Road Corridor Plan Draft, which is available on the City of Greenbelt website at greenbeltmd.gov. Comments are being accepted through Tuesday, May 31.
The goals of this project, according to the draft, are to provide equitable and safe movement of people along Greenbelt Road; to provide key connections to residential communities, businesses, neighborhoods and parks; to support livability and economic development by improving access; and to create a more human-scale environment along the corridor.
Project staff included members of Kittelson & Associates, as well as Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning, plus Holly Simmons, Terri Hruby and Molly Porter from the City of Greenbelt Department of Planning and Community Development and Janie Nham from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
Within the planning-level analysis, Kittelson demonstrated the feasibility of reducing the number of through lanes on Greenbelt Road using Greenbelt peak-hour traffic volumes, according to Community Planner Simmons.
Kittelson reported that daily traffic volumes along Greenbelt Road peaked in 2006 and never fully recovered after the 2008 economic recession. More recently, daily traffic volumes have decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lasting effects of the pandemic on traffic volumes are unknown, Simmons said.
This project comes after several earlier studies, including the Greenbelt senior mobility and accessibility barriers study, as well as the Community Walk led by State Delegate Alonzo Washington in September 2021.
During the virtual visioning sessions, Greenbelt Road was called an “unfriendly, dangerous and ugly” road. One commenter explained, “[We need to] decide whether this is infrastructure for cars to pass through or a place for people.”
The draft plan addressed specifics, including how to make the corridor the right size for the demand.
“The consultant team recommends removing one through lane in each direction of Greenbelt Road …,” Kittelson wrote. “The removal of one through lane in each direction should be done in conjunction with analyzing the corridor intersections using current traffic volumes and include a review of corridor-wide signal timing.”
The draft also addressed specifics on making the corridor a place people want to walk and bike, and improving the transit experience. In addition, the team addressed how Greenbelt Road could better connect residential communities, businesses, neighborhoods, parks and trails.
To see the draft plan, visit the Greenbelt Road Corridor Plan website at greenbeltmd.gov/government/greenbelt-road-md-193-corridor. The page also offers a form for comments.
Commenters who cannot use the form may send comments to Simmons via email at hsimmons@greenbeltmd.gov, or send hard copy to Attn: Greenbelt Road Corridor Plan, City of Greenbelt Department of Planning & Community Development, 15 Crescent Road, Suite 200, Greenbelt, MD 20770.
