The Montgomery County Planning Board will hold a work session about the Little Falls Parkway pilot project on Thursday, April 27, during its morning session. The actual time for the session has yet to be set, but will eventually be available at Planning Board agenda. At the work session, the Planning Board will hear Montgomery Parks’ response to public testimony and determine whether to retain the current two-lane configuration between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue and make additional improvements to the roadway.
During a March 30 public hearing on the project, Montgomery Parks presented details about traffic counts on the parkway and made a recommendation to make the pilot project permanent. The presentation was followed by public testimony.
The Planning Board work session on April 27 will take place in person in the second floor auditorium of at the Planning Board’s Wheaton Headquarters building
at 2425 Reedie Dr. in Wheaton.
To view the work session online, visit www.MontgomeryPlanningBoard.org and click the “watch” link on the homepage banner.
The Little Falls Parkway pilot project was initiated in June 2022 to address concerns with cut-through traffic in adjacent neighborhoods associated with the weekend closures of Little Falls Parkway for the Open Parkways Program, while retaining space for recreation on the parkway.
Traffic counts were conducted on Little Falls Parkway between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue during May, July, September and December of 2022. During its presentation on March 30, Montgomery Parks showed how the parkway functions with two lanes of traffic and how the “road diet” improves safety for all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists.
The Little Falls Parkway pilot project currently provides an open parkway for pedestrians and bicyclists for two of the four lanes between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue. This section was previously part of Montgomery Parks’ Open Parkways program between River Road and Arlington Road (1.3 miles).
The Open Parkways program launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis to provide more outdoor space for recreation and exercise by closing portions of three parkways to vehicles on weekends. Since its inception, hundreds of thousands of visitors have used the Open Parkways. The other two Open Parkways, Sligo Creek Parkway and Beach Drive, will not be affected by the Little Falls Parkway pilot program.
Learn more about the pilot project online.
