The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is lowering the speed limits on neighborhood streets and downtown boulevards across the County to promote safer streets and enhance safety for pedestrians and cyclists. MCDOT has reduced the speed limits on 33 roads, mostly located in residential areas, since July of last year.
More than 250 neighborhood streets have had speed limit reductions since 2021, following the passage of House Bill 562. The bill authorized the County to decrease the maximum speed limit on local roadways to 20 miles per hour (mph) and, in rare instances, to a speed limit as low as 15 miles mph.
A map of roads with reduced speed limits is available online.
“Lowering speed limits is an important step toward changing the culture of our neighborhood roads,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Our neighborhoods should be a community space, where residents can ride a bike, walk their dog, or go for a run safely. With schools out on summer vacation, more children are outdoors playing throughout the day. I appreciate MCDOT’s efforts to protect our communities. Reducing speed by just five miles per hour can prevent an unimaginable tragedy. When cars slow down, it saves lives.”
Additionally, MCDOT is reducing the speed limit on sections of roadways that are jointly maintained by MCDOT and the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA). MCDOT and MDOT SHA are reducing the speed limits on five corridors located in urban and suburban areas. Roadways identified as Urban Core will have a reduced speed limit of 25 mph. Urban Center roadways will have a new posted speed limit of 30 mph. Suburban Activity Center roadways will have a speed limit of 35 mph. The updated speed limits will be posted by the end of August.
Increased speed reduces reaction time, lengthens stopping distances, and increases crash severity. According to the Maryland Highway Safety Office, a pedestrian struck by a car traveling at 30 mph has a 40% likelihood of a serious or fatal injury. At 20 mph, the chance of a serious or fatal injury drops to 10%.
The reduced speed limits are part of a broader effort to slow down traffic and improve safety. The County’s Vision Zero initiative aims to eliminate serious and fatal traffic injuries by aligning road designs with safer target speeds. The County and State Highway Administrations have lowered speed limits across 18 High Injury Network (HIN) corridors to better align speed limits with community needs and safety goals. HIN corridors are roadway segments at the highest risk of serious and fatal crashes. MCDOT is also adding traffic‑calming features such as speed bumps, curb extensions, and pedestrian‑friendly medians to create safer community streets. Streets with traffic-calming features are safer, with more drivers following the speed limit, and pedestrian crashes fall by 44%.
The majority of the neighborhood speed limit reductions have come from resident requests. In some cases, MCDOT will also reduce speed limits along similar roads in adjacent communities.
“Residents have been asking for traffic calming and reduced speeds on their local neighborhood roads,” said MCDOT Director Chris Conklin. “Before implementing reduced speed limits, our engineers conduct safety, engineering, and traffic analyses to ensure the reduced speed limit will work in that location. We know that lower speeds mean reduced risk of serious injury or death in a crash. Lower speeds are even more important in areas with lots of pedestrian and bicycle travel. The reduced speed limits, alongside our pedestrian safety and traffic calming projects, promote safer driving behaviors.”
Recent neighborhood and downtown boulevard speed reductions include:
Bethesda
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Clarksburg
Colesville
Gaithersburg
North Bethesda
North Kensington
North Potomac
Potomac
Rockville
Silver Spring
Red Oak Drive and Columbia Boulevard and Woodland Drive
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South Kensington
Wheaton/Glenmont
Roadways jointly maintained by MCDOT and MDSHA that are undergoing speed limit reductions include:
Rockville
New speed limit: 35 mph
New speed limit: 35 mph
North Bethesda
New speed limit: 35 mph
New speed limit: 35 mph
Silver Spring
New speed limit: 25 mph
Additional speed reductions are planned. Residents may request a traffic engineering investigation to consider a speed limit reduction on their roadway by emailing TrafficOps@montgomerycountymd.gov.
For information on MCDOT programs and services visit montgomerycountymd.gov/mcdot, follow @MCDOTNow on X, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and subscribe to MCDOT’s “Go Montgomery!” newsletter.
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Read the original article at mcgov