(a) The design standards adopted under this Article govern the construction or reconstruction of any County road except Rustic Roads and Exceptional Rustic Roads. If the Planning Board, in approving a subdivision or site plan, finds that a waiver from any applicable design standard is necessary to promote context-sensitive design of a specific road, the Executive or the Executive’s designee must adopt the Board’s recommendation unless the Executive or the Executive’s designee notifies the Board why approving the waiver would significantly impair public safety. The County Council may adopt alternative standards for a specific road constructed or reconstructed in a project in the approved capital improvements program.
(b) A limited segment of a County road may be designed to vary slightly from the applicable standards, criteria, or specifications, as necessary to adjust to site-specific conditions, as long as the road’s typical cross-section and other attributes conform to the applicable standards, criteria, or specifications. The regulations adopted under this Article must include a process by which the Department that approves a limited design variance under this subsection regularly notifies other affected County departments, the Planning Board, and the public of each variance.
(c) In this Article and the standards adopted under it:
(1) an ‘urban’ road is a road segment in or abutting a Metro Station Policy Area, Town Center Policy Area, or other urban area expressly identified in a Council resolution;
(2) a ‘rural’ road is a road segment located in a rural policy area as defined in the County Growth Policy; and
(3) a ‘suburban’ road is a road segment located elsewhere in the County.
(d) The minimum right-of-way for a road may be specified in the applicable master plan or sector plan for the area where the road is located. If a minimum right-of-way for a particular road is not specified n a master plan or sector plan, the minimum right-of-way must be:
(1) 80 feet for a Business District Street or Industrial Street;
(2) 100 feet for a Primary Residential Street with a median;
(3) 70 feet for a Primary Residential Street without a median;
(4) 60 feet for a Principal Secondary Residential Street or Secondary Residential Street;
(5) 50 feet for a standard Tertiary Residential Street;
(6) 27 feet, 4 inches for a reduced-width Tertiary Residential Street with two-way traffic;
(7) 21 feet, 4 inches for a reduced-width Tertiary Residential Street with one-way traffic; and
(8) 20 feet for an Alley.
(e) Grass shoulders must be load bearing at any specific location designated by the Director of Permitting Services after consulting the Fire Chief and Director of Transportation.
(f) Unless otherwise specified in this Article, each grading, drainage structure, paving, shoulder, landscaping, and traffic control must be installed as provided in the latest applicable County design standards, storm drain criteria, and specification. Unless extenuating circumstances would result in a safety hazard, when a road is resurfaced the road must also be restriped to meet any applicable lane width standard and may include bike lanes where appropriate.
(g) Each through travel or turning lane on an urban road must be no wider than 10 feet, except that a single travel lane adjacent to a parking lane must be no wider than 11 feet and a through travel or turning lane abutting an outside curb must be no wider than 11 feet, including the gutter pan. Each parking lane on an urban road must be no wider than 8 feet, including the gutter pan. The standards in this subsection do not apply if, for a road improvement required as a result of approving a subdivision or site plan, the Executive or the Executive’s designee concludes that applying a specific standard at a specific site would significantly impair public safety.
(h) The curb radius at the corner of each intersection of two urban roads must not exceed 15 feet except where:
(1) there is only one receiving lane;
(2) a curb extension is located; or
(3) for a road improvement required as a result of approving a subdivision or site plan, the Executive or the Executive’s designee concludes that applying this standard at a specific site would significantly impair public safety.
(i) Each pedestrian refuge must be at least 6 feet wide. A pedestrian refuge must be located at each intersection on a divided highway with 6 or more through travel lanes.
(j)
Unless otherwise specified in a master plan or the approved capital improvements program, the maximum target speed for a road in an urban area is 25 mph. (, § 1; , § 1
; 2014 L.M.C., ch. 37
, § 1.) Editor’s note—2014 L.M.C., ch. 37, § 2, states: The County Executive must transmit to the Council, by June 1, 2016, a regulation adopted under Method 2 that contains comprehensive complete streets guidelines. Once adopted, this regulation must replace the standards in Section 49-32(g), (h) and (i). Any revised road design and construction standards in Chapter 49, as amended in Section 1 of this Act, do not apply to any road construction project that is in final design or construction when this Act takes effect.
, § 3, states: Sec. 3. Any regulation in effect when this Act takes effect that implements a function transferred to another Department or Office under Section 1 of this Act continues in effect, but any reference in any regulation to the Department from which the function was transferred must be treated as referring to the Department to which the function is transferred. The transfer of a function under this Act does not affect any right of a party to any legal proceeding begun before this Act took effect.
Former Section 49-32 was renumbered Section
49-27 pursuant to 2007, ch. 8, § 1.
