Funding will create safer access to Montgomery Parks trails and parks.
WHEATON, Md. – Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), has received $7.5 million from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program. The money will be used to facilitate safe access to parks, trails, and recreation facilities in the county through 2026. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
“This funding will help achieve our shared Vision Zero goals, which, according to additional details in this article, seek to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on Montgomery County roads by 2030,” said Mike Riley, director of Montgomery Parks. “Our parkways and trails are intended to serve as safe corridors for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists, and with this grant, we will have the opportunity to make significant improvements.”
Montgomery Parks manages nearly nine linear miles of public roadways and 230 miles of shared-use pathways and hard surface trails, with more than 200 trail crossings of public roadways in the county.
The SS4A grant money will be applied to three major parks and trails in the county: Sligo Creek Stream Valley Park and trail, Matthew Henson State Park and trail, and Wheaton Regional Park. Additionally, part of the funding will support local economic initiatives to create job opportunities and stimulate the local economy. All these sites are adjacent to locations where 14 pedestrian and bicyclist deaths occurred between 2015–2019. The locations are all in historically disadvantaged communities, where these developments aim to enhance both safety and economic resilience.
The parks department will deploy four strategies to improve safety at the access points, including:
- developing safe trail connections to neighborhoods
- providing safe crossings for people walking, biking and driving through intersections
- creating separated spaces for all users of the transportation network in dense multimodal areas
- developing a permanent program of low-volume streets into neighborhood greenways
In addition, the department will consider adding street lighting, providing safety education programs, increasing enforcement for failure to yield to pedestrians and assessing 12 – 15 trail crossings with major roadways for future improvements.
About Montgomery Parks
Montgomery Parks manages more than 37,000 acres of parkland, consisting of 420 parks. Montgomery Parks is a department of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), a bi-county agency established in 1927 to steward public land. M-NCPPC has been nationally recognized for its high-quality parks and recreation services and is regarded as a national model by other parks systems.
Accessibility
Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, encourages and supports the participation of individuals with disabilities. Please contact the Program Access Office at 301-495-2581 (Voice), MD Relay 7-1-1 or 800-5527724 or ProgramAccess@MontgomeryParks.org to request a disability modification. Visit Montgomery Parks Accessibility for more information.
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