At tomorrow’s meeting, the Council will consider approving a letter with City comments on the Greenbelt Road Corridor Plan to be sent to the Greenbelt City Council. You can read the draft plan here.
The comments include
(a) Right-sizing the corridor is extremely important in order to make room for wider sidewalks, buffered bike lanes, and landscaping. A road diet seems appropriate.
(b) Improving connectivity between residential and commercial areas and the trail system should be a priority.
(c) Further analysis is necessary to determine appropriate operational changes at intersections.
(d) Reduce the speed limit to 30 mph or less.
(e) Restriping the segment of MD 430 to create a buffered bike lane and connecting it to the Paint Branch Trail could be a low‐cost SHA District 3 project.
(f) A pedestrian bridge across the CSX/WMATA railroad tracks has previously been explored between College Park and Greenbelt, however, not along Branchville Road. This is a recommendation that deserves further study and collaboration between us. (g) Accommodation for transit users should be well integrated into the overall plan.
Ben
I honestly believe that removing car travel lanes on Greenbelt Rd would be a huge mistake. The traffic on that road can get very backed up as it is, if a travel lane in each direction is removed the traffic backup could get consistently horrible. I fully support better and more bike / pedestrian travel (and I bike extensively with my family all over the College Park area), but it has to make sense. For instance making it easier to bike across Greenbelt Rd by the Trolley Trail would be a great improvement.