The Master Plan of Transportation (MPOT) is a functional master plan which addresses broad issues of all modes of transportation used in Prince George's County. Specifically, it will address:
Bikeways, trails, and pedestrian mobility,
Transit, and
Highways.
Updating the MPOT was one of the major implementation strategies identified in the 2002 Approved General Plan.
2.
Why are you updating the Master Plan of Transportation?
The current Master Plan is 26 years old. Since it was approved in 1982, it has been amended 34 times by more recently approved master plans for various areas of Prince George’s County. Those individual amendments, together with the 1982 Master Plan constitute the current MPOT. Particularly now that the General Plan has been updated, there is a need to update the Countywide Master Plan of Transportation, which is a major functional master plan that must be kept up to date to support the long-term growth and development vision in the General Plan.
The updated plan will integrate the transportation recommendations in these 34 master plans, and it will consider options for expanding the county transit network, such as extending the Metrorail System and extending and capitalizing on the Purple Line.
3.
Didn’t the last Prince George's County General Plan already update transportation policies in the county?
Not comprehensively, no. The 2002 General Plan has a Transportation System chapter that contains the overall transportation goals, policies and objectives for the County to achieve through about 2030. These General Plan policies constitute the broad framework for a balance between transportation facilities on the one hand and the land uses envisioned in the General Plan on the other, as well as strategies for carrying out those policies. But it is just that: only a framework. The MPOT needs to be updated to evaluate and provide the details of the transportation system, take into account and reconcile master plan amendments, and recommend a specific transportation network of services and facilities that will support the General Plan.
4.
Will this plan affect my property?
Not directly. The MPOT contains only recommendations for future transportation facilities, systems and some services. The MPOT itself will not recommend re-zonings. The MPOT will identify preliminary locations for transportation facilities (mostly along existing roads) that will be needed to support the county's land use patterns. In the future, once [decisions] proposals have been made about specific alternative alignments and locations for transportation facilities, individual property owners will be notified by the implementing transportation agencies (such as SHA, MTA, the County's DPW&T or WMATA) of the impacts that these decisions proposals might have on their properties. They will then be encouraged to participate in the public outreach and consultation efforts of the transportation agencies that will be conducted for each specific project that is undertaken to implement the MPOT as funding becomes available in future years.
5.
So, will the Countywide Master Plan of Transportation recommend zoning? changes?
What is the Master Plan of Transportation?
