It’s a small town in terms of size, but the city of Mount Rainier, Maryland, is also dense, with thousands of residents living in a municipality that’s less than 2 square miles.
It’s very urban today, though it was designed as a much more suburban locale decades ago. But the streets and sidewalks haven’t changed, even though the rest of the city has.
A big jolt of federal grant money is aiming to help change that.
The mayor and other municipal leaders from around the Route 1 corridor gathered at Thomas Stone Elementary in Mt. Rainier on Monday to accept a ceremonial check worth almost $11 million to help improve transportation infrastructure for those who don’t drive everywhere. Money is going to towns like Edmonston, Riverdale Park and Brentwood, but the bulk of it is going to Mt. Rainier.
“You’re seeing easily like, over 1,000 people walking a day within the streets,” said Mayor Celina Benitez. “You have a lot of people that bike and walk and also take public transportation.”
The more than $9.75 million the city got will help address those residents, building on existing efforts, such as the reduction of the speed limit in residential areas from 25 mph to 20 mph. The new grant money, along with a 20% match by the city, will change the infrastructure all over the town.
In some places, like along 34th Street in front of Thomas Stone, raised sidewalks will ideally make kids walking to school more visible, while requiring cars to slow down as they drive over the humps. Other streets are going to see curb extensions that help collect rain water while slowing down traffic by narrowing the street. It also gives pedestrian a shorter distance to cross.
“We have heavily focused on the areas that are most needed,” said Benitez, “where we have the heaviest amount of residents that do a lot of walking and biking.”
Pedestrian safety and mobility has been one of the top issues that District 2 Council member Wanika Fisher has focused on since joining the council just over a year ago.
“We’re the most urban so people are out of their vehicles and are walking or biking in my district,” Fisher said. “You shouldn’t have to risk your life to go to school. You should be able to just go to school.”
A notable thing about many of these projects is the aesthetic nature of them. In at least some of the redesigned intersections, the plan right now is to incorporate art into them to make them brighter and stand out in ways that most intersections don’t. It could also include some sort of imagery painted on the ground too. An aerial photo showing the changes coming to 34th Street in front of Thomas Stone shows the school’s logo painted into two intersections in front of the school as an example of what it could look like.
“We’re a very artistic city,” Benitez said. “We want to make sure it’s not just speed bumps — they’re raising street walks — but also making sure that art is incorporated in order to divert some of the traffic and the speed that goes along with it.”
Delivering the check was Rep. Glenn Ivey, who said he used to live in Mt. Rainier; he now represents the area on Capitol Hill.
“Pedestrian safety is a very serious issue for us,” Ivey said. “This federal funding is critical to try and enhance that and make sure the transportation structures improve.”
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