At our June 11 community meeting, most people noted that walking across Old Route 29 between Burtonsville Town Square and Burtonsville Crossing is dangerous. Some people suggested a pedestrian bridge to connect the two shopping centers. While a pedestrian bridge would definitely be safer, it would be expensive and unlikely to be constructed. A more cost-effective solution would be to narrow Old Route 29.
Old Route 29 is lightly used and carries fewer than 12,000 vehicles per day. Traffic volumes on this road have declined nearly 20% over the past 10 years, mostly due to the re-alignment of Route 29 when the State Highway Administration completed the the 29/198 overpass.
Because it originally served as a major highway, Old Route 29 is over-designed for today’s traffic volumes. It has two carriageways of three lanes each, plus turn lanes and shoulders. This type of design promotes speeding and dangerous driving. The excessive width increases the risk of crashes when making left turns into and out of the shopping centers. To walk between the shopping centers, people need to walk over 130 feet and cross 9 lanes of traffic.
Cross section of Old Route 29, just north of the intersection with National Drive (near the Burger King). The curb-to-curb width at this point is nearly 130 feet.
There is no need to have two carriageways of three lanes each. The State Highway Administration could entirely remove one of the carriageways and still have plenty of capacity.
One of the carriageways could be converted to a low-speed, two-way street. Each carriageway is over 50 ft wide, allowing enough space for up to five lanes (a typical lane is 10 to 12 feet wide).
It may even be possible to convert the carriageway to a three-lane street (one lane in each direction plus a center turn lane). According to the Federal Highway Administration, roads with fewer than 15,000 cars per day are good candidates for road diets (source: FHWA, 2016 “Myth: Road Diets Make Traffic Worse“).
The other carriageway could then be taken out of service and converted to public use, such as bike paths, trees, landscaping, open space, or sold/transferred to the adjoining property owner in exchange for something in return.
Cross section of Old Route 29 in the same location, with one of the carriageways converted to a two-way street and the other re-purposed for public use.
I love this idea! I can’t think of a single reason not to do it. What part of government would have to make this decision?
Hi Carmen, thanks for commenting and good question! Like most numbered highways, Old Route 29 is a state route maintained by the State Highway Administration. This makes it a little harder to change than if it were a county road.
The best approach to make this happen is to ask our county council, county executive, and state delegates to petition for this plan, but the final decision would be up to the SHA, which is ultimately only accountable to the governor.
That being said, I think “down-sizing” this highway might be appealing to our current governor from a fiscal policy perspective (reducing cost and potentially supporting private businesses).
I also struggle to think of a downside to this idea, aside from the upfront cost–which I think would be offset by either the sale of the land or greater tax revenue from increased economic activity.
I had a car coming at me the wrong way on the southbound carriageway last week. This road is big enough that people already think they’re separate streets.
How wise would it be to narrow old Route 29 before we know what will happen to Burtonsville Crossing? We may need the capacity to accommodate new development.
Good point. This is one of the topics that we hope to discuss with EDENS. Learn more at https://betterburtonsville.growingeastcounty.com/updates/we-invited-edens-to-talk/
Burtonsville MD Montgomery County, MD I often think of our youth, disabled, and seniors having to walk to and from without any transportation outside of it’s landscaping. Pretty dangerous