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In 2024, Smart Growth America brought the Complete Streets Leadership Academy to Maryland. The Town of Bel Air, the City of Hagerstown, and Howard County worked with Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and its State Highway Administration (SHA) to design and install quick-build demonstration projects in their communities. These temporary installations provided near-term safety improvements, an opportunity to test new designs and materials, and a way to build relationships between the state and local jurisdictions. Communities also experience benefits from these projects such as increased physical activity, economic opportunity, and readiness in the face of ever-emerging challenges.

From May to August 2024, MDOT, SHA, and local teams attended a series of workshops on Complete Streets and quick-build demonstration projects. The teams used this learning to each design and install a quick-build demonstration project by the end of the summer:

• Bel Air reduced confusion at an intersection on Main St;
• Hagerstown slowed vehicle speeds entering the historic downtown;
• Howard County built a multi-use path on a highway with no sidewalk.

The process of the local teams and the state working to design, install, and measure the impact of these projects revealed insights as to what enabled these projects to happen, how they could have been improved, and how MDOT should approach future quick-build demonstration projects.

Read about the successes, challenges, and lessons learned as well as case studies about each project in this report.

Read the report