The April 13, 2023, Planning Board work session for the Little Falls Parkway pilot project is postponed due to the unavailability of Planning Board Chair Zyontz. A new date for the work session will be determined soon and details will be announced in a follow-up press release, on Montgomery Parks website, and on social media.
Parks staff presented details about traffic counts on the parkway and a recommendation to make the pilot project permanent at a Planning Board public hearing on March 30, 2023, which was followed by public testimony. The next step is for the Planning Board to reconvene after reviewing the parks department’s recommendation and the public testimony and decide on the future of the project. One week prior to the rescheduled work session, the Parks Department will post a memorandum summarizing and responding to the public testimony.
Montgomery Parks launched the Little Falls Parkway pilot project in June 2022, to address concerns with cut-through traffic in adjacent neighborhoods associated with the weekend closures of Little Falls Parkway while retaining space for recreation on the parkway. During the pilot, Montgomery Parks studied whether two lanes between Dorset Avenue and Arlington Road could adequately accommodate vehicle traffic while addressing cut-through traffic issues. The current configuration provides a seven-day-per-week open parkway, with two of the four lanes open for recreation and the other two lanes open 24/7 to vehicular traffic. This section was previously part of Montgomery Parks’ Open Parkways program between River Road and Arlington Road (1.3 miles).
The Open Parkways program launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide more outdoor space for recreation and exercise by closing portions of three parkways to vehicles on weekends. Since its inception, hundreds of thousands of visitors have used the Open Parkways and the program remains popular. The other two Open Parkways, Sligo Creek Parkway and Beach Drive will not be affected by the Little Falls Parkway pilot program. Learn more about the pilot project online.