The Montgomery County Planning Department, which is part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, will hold a virtual public meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20, on the preliminary transit plan for I-270. Corridor Forward: The I-270 Transit Plan will have planning staff presenting recommendations, including a potential transit network, to serve communities and employment centers along the I-270 corridor.
The Corridor Forward Plan will provide guidance to the County—regardless of the outcome of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Managed Lanes effort. While the Plan will not specifically consider the role of transit in relation to the Managed Lanes study, it will identify transit options that offer an alternative to travel by car. Each of the options advanced for detailed study is anticipated to reduce vehicle miles traveled. A combination of the options will further transit accessibility and competitiveness for communities along the corridor.
The community meeting will be a follow up to an Oct. 7 briefing to the Montgomery County Planning Board at which Planning staff presented and received guidance on the Plan’s preliminary recommendations.
RSVPs are required to attend the Oct. 20 meeting, which will be held via Microsoft Teams.
The preliminary recommendations are the result of a planning process in which Planning staff:
- Compared transit vehicle attributes and inventoried transit options that could serve the I-270 Corridor.
- Completed a pre-screening analysis, which evaluated the initial list of inventoried transit options based on indicators such as travel time, population access, job access, ability to accommodate growth and equitable access and advanced six transit options for detailed analysis.
- Refined and analyzed the six transit options, including an evaluation of strategic merits, economic and financial outlook and potential implementation challenges and risks.
- Completed additional evaluation on combinations of the six transit options to inform the development of the preliminary recommendations.
- Strategic Connections: Serve high-demand origin and destination pairs, balancing costs of implementation with projected benefits.
- Economic Health: Enable existing development and master-planned communities to realize their potential as livable and economically vibrant places.
- Community Equity: Align with the County’s social equity goals and principles.
- Environmental Resilience: Operate sustainably and reduce negative environmental impacts.
