(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) The minimum right-of-way for a road may be specified in the most recent applicable functional plan, master plan, or sector plan for the area where the road is located. Minimum rights-of-way generally do not include continuous features along a typical section, and account for parking, drainage and stormwater management, spot conditions such as auxiliary lanes or transit stations, or infrastructure at intersections such as signal equipment and protected intersections. If a minimum right-of-way for a particular road is not specified in a functional plan, master plan, or sector plan, the minimum right-of-way must be:
(1) 80 feet for a Downtown Street;
(2) 80 feet for a Town Center Street;
(3) 70 feet for an Area Connector;
(4) 70 feet for a Neighborhood Connector;
(5) 60 feet for a Neighborhood Street;
(6) 50 feet for a Neighborhood Yield Street;
(7) 80 feet for an Industrial Street;
(8) 74 feet for a Country Connector;
(9) 70 feet for a Country Road;
(10) 20 feet for an Alley serving any non-residential zoning;
(11) 16 feet for an Alley serving only residential zoning;
(12) 40 feet for a Commercial Shared Street;
(13) 40 feet for a Residential Shared Street.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.
(f) The curb radius at the corner of each intersection is 15 feet. Exceptions to these requirements may be allowed as follows:
(1) A maximum 10-foot corner radius is required at intersections where all intersecting streets are Area Connectors, Neighborhood Connectors, Neighborhood Streets, or Neighborhood Yield Streets;
(2) A larger corner radius is acceptable where there is a curb extension;
(3) A 25-foot radius is acceptable where at least one street is an Industrial Street;
(4) A larger corner radius is needed to serve the design vehicle and control vehicle with consideration of the allowable encroachment defined by the Complete Streets Design regulation; or
(5) A road improvement required by a subdivision or site plan would significantly impair public safety.
(g) Each pedestrian refuge must be at least 6 feet wide. A pedestrian refuge must be located at each intersection approach along a divided highway with 6 or more through travel lanes.
(h) Unless otherwise specified in a master plan or the approved capital improvements program, the maximum target speed for a road shall be:
(1) 25 mph for a Downtown Boulevard;
(2) 20 mph for a Downtown Street;
(3) 35 mph for a Boulevard, except 25 MPH if in an Urban Area;
(4) 30 mph for a Town Center Boulevard, except 25 MPH if in an Urban Area;
(5) 25 mph for a Town Center Street;
(6) 25 mph for an Area Connector;
(7) 20 mph for a Neighborhood Connector;
(8) 20 mph for a Neighborhood Street;
(9) 20 mph for a Neighborhood Yield Street;
(10) 25 mph for an Industrial Street;
(11) 40 mph for a Country Connector;
(12) between 20 to 35 mph for a Country Road;
(13) between 45 to 55 mph for a Major Highway;
(14) case-by-case determinations for Alleys, and Shared Streets; and
(15) 30 mph for Rustic Roads, and Exceptional Rustic Roads. (2007 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1; 2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 1; 2014 L.M.C., ch. 37
, § 1; 2022 L.M.C., ch. 31, § 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.
2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 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.