Aerial photograph of suburban housing in Maryland. Photo by Vidiot.

The BeyondDC newsfeed yesterday just blew my mind. Of yesterday’s five headlines, each and every one is about some part of Montgomery County embracing a more sustainable, more urban land use pattern. Let’s go through them one by one:

Wheaton redevelopment to seek private partners: Wheaton is in the earliest stages of building a new downtown; this article reports that planners are about to find private developers to build up the area. What Wheaton has set as priorities, though, is extremely encouraging. Wheaton is requiring transit oriented development around the Metro station, LEED-certified buildings and mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development. Montgomery County has even been working with the International Downtown Association, an organization generally associated with urban centers, to make Wheaton a true center for the area. This plan is most likely years from even breaking ground, but Wheaton is showing all the right signs.

MoCo, PG agree to revitalize New Hampshire corridor, but how?: The headline on this one buries the lede. It’s true that there are disagreements between the two counties over what to do in the Crossroads area of Takoma Park, at New Hampshire and University, but it seems that the most contentious has to do with how cars should take left turns. Both plans are centered around the Purple Line station that will (hopefully) be built there, mixed-use residential and retail in very dense high rises, pedestrian-only paths and physically separated bike lanes. This would be as friendly to a car-free lifestyle (or afternoon) as almost anywhere in the District.

Rockville to begin pedestrian upgrades on city streets: This is the smallest scale of the four stories, but it’s still good news. The city of Rockville will be implementing the recommendations of a study on pedestrian safety, including widening sidewalks, leveling ramps, repainting crosswalks and more. While this won’t fundamentally shift the modes of transportation used by Rockville residents, it should make it easier and more pleasant to walk around Rockville, and every little bit counts.

The big story, though, is the combination of all these headlines. Across Montgomery County, we are seeing a fundamental rethinking of suburbia. An area that was developed according to the single-use, auto-dependent, and decentered model of American post-war suburbia is embracing mixed-use, transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly, dense and sustainable development. It’s almost hard to believe.

It’s also more important than similar changes in the District would be. As Ben Adler argues, in America we have to change transportation and land use patterns in the suburbs. More than half of all Americans live in suburbs and suburbanites drive more and further than city dwellers do. Improving the sustainability of the District’s transportation system is critical, and we’d be lucky to have the physically separated bike lanes and high-rises that Takoma Park is planning. But each of those changes will have a far, far greater impact in the suburbs, since they’re starting from a lower point. Montgomery County is about to look very different, and that’s a very good thing.

noah kazis

Connect with Noah on

Subscribe

Other posts by Noah