Maryland Department of Transportation

What: A deliberate approach to planning, designing, and constructing streets to be safe for all users.
Who: All users of all ages and abilities, especially underrepresented populations, and vulnerable users.
When: Any capital improvement project to a multimodal corridor in MDOT right-of-way starting in 2025.
How: Change our processes to better implement proactive safety strategies and innovative multimodal concepts supported by model policies and practices that demonstrate proven success.

Complete Streets is a pledge.
MDOT will adjust its policies and procedures to:

1. Design systems for a wide range of travel options, not just for cars.
2. Listen to impacted communities that are not always heard.
3. Deliver on a shared commitment to a culture of safety.

Complete Streets is a methodology.
The Complete Streets methodology is a deliberate approach to planning, designing, and constructing streets to be as safe as possible for as many types of travelers as possible. It requires the development of an objective. That objective must include performance targets that indicate how well the project could serve and protect people walking, biking, rolling, or using low-powered mobility devices like e-scooters.

Incomplete streets are recognizable.
Streets that were designed for cars have lanes that are noticeably wide, and there are often too many. The streets are uncomfortable for people walking or biking and are missing critical links in the network. Crossings are unsafe if present at all. If pedestrian signals are present at intersections, short countdowns make it difficult for children and the aging community to cross the street. Transit users feel unprotected boarding and alighting, and transit station access is limited or inconvenient. And in many cases, streets have not yet been retrofitted to accommodate individuals in wheelchairs or low-powered mobility devices.

Complete Streets are innovative.
You will likely find the latest approved technologies and engineering safety countermeasures on a newly constructed or resurfaced Complete Street in Maryland because these projects strive to be as safe and accommodating as necessary for the users. MDOT requires designers to apply the Context Driven Toolkit on Complete Streets projects to ensure designs are forward-thinking and that they perform best-in-class. Once upon a time, green pavement was the latest approved engineering safety countermeasure on MDOT roadways. Today, green pavement sits comfortably along with barrier separated bicycle lanes, protected intersections, midblock crosswalks and a growing list of other innovative treatments in the State’s Context Driven Toolkit.

Complete Streets are built to provide safe mobility for everyone regardless of how they travel. Converting car trips to any combination of walking, biking, or transit trips reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and fewer VMT translates to a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recommended initiatives to help reduce VMT include investing in and supporting transit, cycling, walking, carpooling, vanpooling, telework, and transportation demand management strategies.

Maryland’s Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) requires MDOT to identify projects and strategies that support efforts to reduce transportation emissions through safe, reliable, and cost-effective-options including reducing traffic congestion and VMT by facilitating the use of alternatives to single-occupant vehicle trips within the State.

MDOT created the Model Complete Streets Initiative to help transform MDOT into a role model for other States. MDOT will make a successful organizational shift towards more informed and equitable transportation decision-making as its default approach. The Model Complete Streets Initiative is an opportunity for the Secretary’s Office to collaborate with local governments, advocates, community members, and the State Highway Administration (SHA), Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA), Maryland Ports Administration (MPA), Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and more on critical transportation infrastructure needs while also introducing Maryland as an innovator in Complete Streets design and implementation. MDOT will operationalize any and all efforts that:

• Prioritize vulnerable and underserved users in MDOT policies and programs.
• Expand access to a range of travel options and make it affordable for everyone.
• Make it just as convenient to bike, walk, or use transit as it is to drive, no matter where you live or work.

MDOT’s first Complete Streets Policy was released in 2012. It only applied to projects led by some MDOT agencies and in some instances, the waiver process permitted exceptions in cases where MDOT would not approve them today. The 2012 Policy was supported by guidance and standards from more than a decade ago, yet Maryland continues to experience a steady increase in traffic deaths involving vulnerable road users (VRUs), mostly on State roads. New and improved policies, guidance, and laws have been adopted to advance bicycle and pedestrians programs and support Vision Zero implementation in Maryland.

In 2023, MDOT adopted the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) which provides a framework for a multi-pronged approach to eliminating serious injuries and deaths on the road. Updating the Complete Streets policy is one way for MDOT to demonstrate a commitment to the NRSS and to its customers. The new policy requires a coordinated update of other supporting documents and procedures to make transportation safer and more sustainable for all.

The Safe System Approach commits MDOT to advancing several efforts to improve safety in multimodal environments. The new policy promotes consistency across Maryland’s transportation system by committing all MDOT agencies to prioritize safe, accessible, and sustainable travel Statewide.

The new policy is issued by TSO and applicable to all modes, including State Highway Administration (SHA), Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA), Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), Maryland Port Administration (MPA); and the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA). It applies to all capital improvement projects within MDOT right-of-way, such as construction or reconstruction of a roadway, intersection, or structure, as well as resurfacing projects. The policy will be adopted in 2024 but implementation will be informed by activities completed over the next six months. MDOT anticipates being ready to officially implement the new Complete Streets Policy starting in 2025.

Everyone wins when a street is complete because it is safe, accessible, and convenient for all users. With more types of users sharing the corridor, drivers benefit from improved predictability, pedestrians become more visible, bicyclists are separated from high-speed vehicular traffic, transit riders are safer and on-time, and mobility-assisted individuals are afforded the most comfortable journey possible.

Purpose

• Ensures coordination across all modes and prioritizes safety for all users on multimodal projects.
• Requires compliance with the Context Guide and Bus Stop Design Guide.
• Prioritizes public engagement, especially with underserved and underrepresented communities.
• Streamlines the waiver process and delegate authority to approve design waivers for active transportation and micromobility accommodations to the Secretary of MDOT.

Actions

• Develop mode specific implementation plans.
• Update critical MDOT supporting documents.
• Develop active transportation performance measures.
• Adopt Safety Performance Functions like Crash Modification Factors (CMF) and crash reduction factors (CRFs) for each engineering safety countermeasure in the Context Driven Toolkit.
• Exhaust every effort with respect to maintenance agreements before deeming a project infeasible or cost prohibitive.
• Update the Maryland General Assembly on all Complete Streets projects annually.

• Adopt a policy.
• Administer training.
• Engage stakeholders.
• Update supporting guidance.
• Construct pilot projects.
• Develop an implementation plan.
• Adjust the waiver process.
• Implement the policy.

It might take some time to see the changes on State roadways but, using a holistic approach, local jurisdictions, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, advocates, commuters, and residents can help move MDOT in the right direction. Here’s what we need from you:

• Read the policy.
  The broad Complete Streets policy covers aspects of complete streets that all MDOT projects should incorporate.
• Review our resources.
  Certain references in the policy are available online, like the Context Driven Web Portal www.roads.maryland.gov/contextdriven.
• Sign up for training.
  As a reminder, in addition to projects within MDOT right-of-way, projects outside of MDOT right-of way using federal funds administered by the State (ex. HSIP, TAP) will be subject to the 2024 MDOT Complete Streets Policy. MDOT will provide access to training and technical assistance on Complete Streets for a range of stakeholders to prepare for implementation on non-MDOT projects that are subject to SHA review.
• Maintain a feedback loop with state and local representatives.
  Help us align our plans and procedures with community needs and local guidance.
• Get involved.
  Stay informed. Complete Streets projects will be tracked in a central location accessible to all online.
• Set an example.
  Be the driver and model good behaviors for safe roadway use.

Moore-Miller State Plan (2024)

2050 Maryland Transportation Plan (2024)

2050 Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2024)