Council Committee Examines Utility Work

The Montgomery County Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T and E) Committee will hold a worksession at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 to follow up on the Office of Legislative Oversight report “Coordinating Utility and Transportation Work in County Rights-of-Way.”

Photo | Thisisbossi Flickr

The report, released in July, identified opportunities to better coordinate projects in County rights-of-way so that County Government crews and those from utilities work together, leading to fewer cuts in roads and sidewalks.

Representatives of County Government and utilities will report on progress made on implementing the program of coordination.

The T and E Committee held a worksession on the OLO report on July 29. At that worksession, committee recommended that the County Government work with local utilities, the Maryland Department of Transportation and municipalities to develop a more systemized approach to the sharing of information and coordination of infrastructure improvements in County rights-of-way. Specifically, the County Government should evaluate the feasibility and cost of creating a GIS-based standard data set for sharing information about right-of-way projects from the County Government and other entities.

The committee also recommended that the County Government evaluate the possibility of using data from a shared project tracking system to develop an online tool to provide the public with consolidated, up-to-date information about right-of-way construction projects.

In October, the Council enacted Bill 2-13 that requires the director of the Coordinating Utility and Transportation Work in County Rights-of-Way to adopt a five-year schedule of construction, rehabilitation and resurfacing to County sidewalks and roads. The bill also directed the County Government to take all feasible steps to coordinate those activities with those of other government agencies, public utilities and other entities.

The T and E Committee, chaired by Roger Berliner and includes Councilmembers Nancy Floreen and Hans Riemer, will meet in the Seventh Floor Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be streamed through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov .

About Staff Writer

View all posts by Staff Writer