Residents and Business Owners Wanted to Serve on Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Advisory Committees
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation and the Maryland State Highway Administration are seeking volunteers — residents, businesses and community organizations — to serve on Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Advisory Committees. The two agencies are seeking public input as they develop concepts for a Rapid Transit System, a network of rapid transit routes that is being studied along various county and state roadways.
Photo | Maryland Department of Transportation
Over the next two years, four major corridors will be evaluated for rapid transit systems, including Georgia Avenue, Route 29 (Colesville Road and Columbia Pike), Route 355 (Frederick Road, Rockville Pike and Wisconsin Avenue) and Veirs Mill Road. A committee is expected to be established for each corridor under consideration. Longer corridors may be broken into several committees, according to a county press release.
The committees will advise MCDOT and SHA on bus rapid transit design concepts, study assumptions, transit access and operations, coordination with other studies, planning for public involvement, and community needs and concerns. MCDOT is recruiting committee members who live or work within or adjacent to the communities in the proposed transit corridors as well as those with a general interest in the system.
“We believe the RTS will play a vital role in Montgomery County’s future, enhancing the mobility of those who live and work here, boosting economic development and job creation and providing much needed relief from traffic congestion,” said RTS Development Manager Joana Conklin, in a county press release. “The scope of this long-term project is just being developed, and given its magnitude, the project will proceed in stages. That is why it is so important to obtain input from stakeholders now — right at the beginning of the process.”
A CAC nomination form, due on November 21, is available online and details the structure, selection procedures, specific tasks, formation process, and operating guidelines for the CACs. Residents along the corridors under study are asked to send their nomination forms to the president of the civic/homeowner association that represents them. Each civic group along the corridor will select one representative to serve on the CAC for that corridor.
Businesses along the proposed routes are asked to send their nomination forms to their respective Chamber of Commerce, which will make recommendations on proposed business representatives. The chambers are the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce, Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County, Olney Chamber of Commerce, Rockville Chamber of Commerce, Wheaton and Kensington Chamber of Commerce, Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce, and Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce. Links to all the chambers are available online.
Each committee also allows for a number of “at large” representatives who may not live or work directly along the corridor but have an interest in the project. Those forms, also due November 21, should be submitted by email to rapid.transit@montgomerycountymd.gov or mailed to MCDOT Director’s Office, 101 Monroe Street, 10th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850. Residents may nominate themselves or be nominated by others.
To be eligible to serve on a CAC, representatives must be willing to regularly attend meetings, which are expected to be held at least four to six times a year.
More information is available on the County’s RTS website.
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