Intercounty Connector Bicycle Route
Following up on the State Highway Administration’s (SHA) final plan to design and build the Intercounty Connector (ICC), Montgomery County planners are studying how to create the 18-mile cross-county hiker-biker trail envisioned to run parallel with the highway. The trail has long been identified in county plans as part of the proposed ICC.
When the SHA published its final ICC plan, called a record of decision, it recommended seven miles of the trail to be built as part of the ICC. That decision also included a bicycle and pedestrian plan that identifies a route for the trail’s remaining 11 miles along parallel roads.
County transportation planners are studying:
- How to implement the SHA bicycle and pedestrian plan
- Whether the SHA bicycle and pedestrian plan presents a safe alternative to the route the county identified for users of all ability levels
- How to best link the portions of the county-identified route that were not included in the SHA bicycle and pedestrian plan
- Whether to remove from county master plans segments of the path passing through parkland
Montgomery County Planning Board’s Role
In September, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved the hiker-biker trail study, which will determine ways to connect existing and planned county bikeways and sidewalks to bicycle transportation hubs, such as the Shady Grove metro station and popular county parks like Olney Manor and Northwest Branch. As part of the study, planners will develop a comprehensive bikeway plan amendment to address those issues, particularly in light of the route’s path through some of the county’s most environmentally sensitive stream valley areas. The study will result in an amendment to two county plans: the Countywide Bikeways Functional Master Plan and the Countywide Park Trails Plan.
Among their priorities, planners will develop a route that accommodates pedestrians and novice bicyclists as well as expert cyclists and avoid constructing paved trails in environmentally sensitive areas such as Upper Paint Branch Stream Valley Park.
Seven miles of the route will be a hard-surface trail built by the state in the highway’s right-of-way. The remaining 11 miles will either follow existing roads or run parallel to the highway within parkland and remain flexible enough to minimize its environmental impact.
The study also will examine potential designs and locations for two interchanges: at Briggs Chaney Road and a future connection with Mid-County Highway.
Transportation planners are creating an informal advisory team of bicycle and hiking advocates, park and trail users, and environmentalists to gain their input for the hiker/biker route, both along roads and through parkland. They also plan to convene experts from the State Highway Administration (SHA) and county agencies in a technical working group, as well as to engage interested residents in public meetings in early 2008.
Planners will research the issues associated with the route and provide recommendations – developed in concert with the advisory groups and public input – to the board next summer.
Project Schedule
- May 15: Transportation staff to present draft plan to the Planning Board (tentative)
- June 19: Planning Board public hearing on draft plan (tentative)
- July: Planning Board transmits draft plan to County Council
Previous Actions
- April 2: Public information meeting
7 p.m.- 9 p.m., Shady Grove Maintenance Yard
Meeting minutes - March 2008: Interagency team reviews preliminary recommendations
- March 19: Public information meeting
7 p.m.- 9 p.m., Spencerville Park Activity Building
Meeting minutes - January 2008: Technical advisory team meeting to discuss results of the field work, develop preliminary recommendations
- November/December 2007: Planning staff field work, interagency meetings
- October 2007: Planning Board approves Purpose and Outreach Strategy report, kicking off the study
M-NCPPC Staff Contact
Charles Kines, Transportation Planning
301-495-2184
Charles.Kines@mncppc-mc.org
