Sidewalks connect people and places, help create a sense of community and provide access for persons with disabilities. In fiscal year 2014, MCDOT constructed 6.5 miles of ADA-compliant sidewalks and repaired 32 miles of sidewalks and ensured they met ADA requirements.
MCDOT has the following programs to build, maintain and fix accessible sidewalks:
- The Division of Transportation Engineering (DTE) manages the County's Sidewalk Program that constructs new walkways or retrofits existing sidewalks to meet ADA standards along both County and State maintained roadways. Learn more about the program and the process.
- The Division of Highway Services fixes and maintains sidewalks, curbs and gutters and connects missing links between stretches of existing sidewalks. Learn more about Highway’s concrete program.
- The Division of Traffic Engineering manages the County’s pedestrian safety program and closely coordinates its efforts with other departments and agencies. To enhance safety, staff conducts pedestrian safety audits on major corridors, during which recommendations may be made to widen sidewalks, if needed, add new sidewalks where appropriate to complete connections, enhance crossings at intersections or mid-block to improve safety, and add traffic calming measures to slow traffic. Learn more about the County’s Pedestrian Safety Initiative.
- The Safe Routes to Schools program is managed by Traffic Engineering and funds projects to improve traffic and pedestrian safety within a half-mile of all public and private schools. MCDOT staff seeks input from school administrators, principals, teachers, and Parent Teacher Association representatives and uses field observations to make changes to traffic flow, signage, traffic signals, sidewalks and crosswalks. All 202 public schools have been assessed and improved. Pedestrian collisions near schools were reduced by 85 percent over a three-year period from 2010-2012. Find out more about Safe Routes to Schools.
- Montgomery County is committed to making public transportation fully accessible and, in 2006, MCDOT created the Bus Stop Improvement Project to ensure that the County’s 5,400 bus stops meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements. This multi-year, $11 million project is still ongoing and has, so far, successfully improved 91 percent of the 3,325 stops requiring ADA compliance upgrades. Bus stop improvements provide waiting passengers with a safe location that is located away from traffic and has added or enhanced ADA accessible pathways for passengers as they travel to and from their bus stop. The upgrades also reduce the distance to crosswalks, provide pedestrian refuge islands, establish connections to existing sidewalks, address slope issues and improve drainage.
From Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 to FY2015, MCDOT has spent more than $8.2 million to construct:
- 166,777 square feet of five-by-eight-foot concrete pads at 3,025 bus stops;
- 85,618 square feet of sidewalk leading to bus stops;
- 1,255 ramps at 826 intersections; and
- 422 “knee walls” at sloped sites to prevent wheelchairs from rolling onto dangerous terrain and to provide seating for waiting passengers.
For information about a particular bus stop, call MC311 by dialing 311 from within the County, 240-777-0311 from outside the County.
