SILVER SPRING, Md. — More than 100 Montgomery County residents came together Tuesday night to learn more about proposals to improve safety on local roads. In just three weeks, at least three people have been killed on Montgomery County roads.
Montgomery County Department of Transportation leaders held the meeting at East Silver Spring Elementary School in Silver Spring, and just before the meeting, Montgomery County police say a driver hit and injured a man near the entrance to Shady Grove Hospital in Gaithersburg.
At the meeting, officials spoke to locals about plans to reconfigure the Fenton Street/MD 410 intersection and create a greenway pilot along Grove Street in Silver Spring. The county also discussed a proposal to study the possible implementation of a separated bikeway along Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring.
"We already know there are a lot of cyclists that use Fenton Street today," MCDOT Program Manager Matt Johnson said. "We are working on trying to improve safety for cyclists in this corridor and these improvements will also include pedestrian safety improvements."
The bikeway project has not reached design stage. MCDOT said it was mainly interested in getting feedback from locals on the proposal.
Silver Spring cyclist Peter Gray said the Fenton Street bikeway project is needed.
"It's the only way for cyclists to get through the length of the central business district of Silver Spring," he said.
But, Gray added more must be done to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe on all Montgomery roads, including those that are maintained by the state of Maryland.
"We need to have both the state and the county, moving full force, to make things safer for cyclists and others," he said.
On Jan. 28, the Montgomery County Council will hold a briefing on pedestrian and bicycle safety during its afternoon meeting at the Council Office Building in Rockville.