This project provides for planning and preliminary engineering design for new and reconstructed highway projects under consideration for inclusion in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Prior to the establishment of a stand-alone project in the CIP, the Department of Transportation will perform Phase I of facility planning, a rigorous planning-level investigation of the following critical project elements: purpose and need; usage forecasts; traffic operational analysis; community, economic, social, environmental, and historic impact analyses; recommended concept design and public participation are considered. At the end of Phase I, the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment (T&E) Committee of the County Council reviews the work and determines if the project has the merits to advance to Phase II of facility planning: preliminary (35 percent level of completion) engineering design. In preliminary engineering design, construction plans are developed showing specific and detailed features of the project, from which its impacts and costs can be more accurately assessed. At the completion of Phase II, the County Executive and County Council hold project-specific public hearings to determine if the candidate project merits consideration in the CIP as a funded stand-alone project.

There is a continuing need to define the scope and determine need, benefits, implementation feasibility, horizontal and vertical alignments, typical sections, impacts, community support/opposition, preliminary costs, and alternatives for master planned transportation recommendations. Facility Planning provides decision makers with reliable information to determine if a master-planned transportation recommendation merits inclusion in the CIP as a stand-alone project. The sidewalk and bikeway projects in Facility Planning specifically address pedestrian needs.

Starting in FY01, Mass Transit Funds provide for mass transit related candidate projects. Impact taxes will continue to be applied to qualifying projects. Starting in FY23, Mass transit related projects are funded in Facility Planning: Mass Transit (P502308).

A pedestrian impact analysis will be performed during design or is in progress. Expenditures will continue indefinitely. The County Executive asserts that this project conforms to the requirement of relevant local plans, as required by the Maryland Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Act.

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Maryland DOT State Highway Administration, Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Permitting Services, Utilities, Municipalities, Affected communities, Commission on Aging, Commission on People with Disabilities, Montgomery County Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee