Your neighborhood may have a new speed limit this summer. Here’s what you should know.
What’s changing
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is lowering neighborhood and boulevard speed limits across the County to increase pedestrian safety. Since July of last year, MCDOT has reduced the speed limits on 33 roads, mostly located in residential areas.
After the passing of Maryland House Bill 562 in 2021, over 250 neighborhood streets have had reduced speed limits. The bill allowed the County to lower the maximum speed limit on local roads to 20 miles per hour and sometimes even to 15 mph.
Urban Core roads will have a reduced speed limit of 25 mph. Additionally, Urban Center roads will have a new posted speed limit of 30 mph. Suburban Activity Center roads will have a speed limit of 35 mph. Officials will release the updated speed limits by the end of August.
The why
County Executive Marc Elrich says reduced speed limits will make the County safer.
“Lowering speed limits is an important step toward changing the culture of our neighborhood roads,” said Elrich. “Our neighborhoods should be a community space, where residents can ride a bike, walk their dog, or go for a run safely. I appreciate MCDOT’s efforts to protect our communities. Reducing speed by just five miles per hour can prevent an unimaginable tragedy. When cars slow down, it saves lives.”
According to the Maryland Highway Safety Office, a pedestrian hit by a car traveling at 30 mph has a 40% chance of a serious or fatal injury, but if the car is driving at 20 mph, it lowers to 10%.
MCDOT Director Chris Conklin says the majority of the neighborhood speed limit reductions originate with resident requests.
“Before implementing reduced speed limits, our engineers conduct safety, engineering, and traffic analyses to ensure the reduced speed limit will work in that location,” said Conklin. “We know that lower speeds mean reduced risk of serious injury or death in a crash. Lower speeds are even more important in areas with lots of pedestrian and bicycle travel. The reduced speed limits, alongside our pedestrian safety and traffic calming projects, promote safer driving behaviors.”
Vision Zero initiative
The goal of the County’s Vision Zero initiative is to prevent serious and fatal traffic injuries by aligning road designs with safer target speeds. The County and State Highway Administrations have reduced speed limits across 18 High Injury Network (HIN) corridors to better match speed limits with community needs and safety goals.
MCDOT will add traffic‑calming features such as speed bumps, curb extensions, and pedestrian‑friendly medians to make community streets safer. Streets with traffic-calming features are safer, with pedestrian crashes falling by 44% and more drivers following the speed limit.
A map of roads with reduced speed limits is available online.
