HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Hagerstown officials worry that the Maryland State Highway Administration’s plan to improve pedestrian safety along the U.S. 40 corridor would remove about 350 on-street parking spaces on Franklin and Washington streets.
During a work session on Sept. 8, the Hagerstown City Council received an update on the state’s Route 40 Pedestrian Safety Action Plan. While city officials saw some safety improvements as helpful, they questioned how removing parking would affect residents, businesses, people with disabilities and city parking revenue.
The project is still in the early planning stage, so both the city and the public can share their opinions before the State Highway Administration finalizes the design. A Sept. 15 open house will offer the public that opportunity.
City officials said the state’s plan would remove parking on the north side of Franklin Street and the south side of Washington Street, totaling about 350 spaces.
The State Highway Administration says the project runs from Garland Groh Boulevard to All Star Court along U.S. 40. It is part of Maryland’s Pedestrian Safety Action Plan and aims to improve pedestrian and bicycle traffic, lower speeds and make the corridor safer.
City sees benefits, but parking remains major concern
City engineer Jim Bender told council members that the city has been working on safety improvements to the route and had already briefed the council on the project
Bender noted several positive parts of the proposal, including better crosswalks, improved signage and overall pedestrian safety.
However, he said that losing parking spaces is still one of the city’s main concerns.
The plan would remove parking from the north side of Franklin Street, which Bender called the post office side. On Washington Street, parking would be taken from the south side, including the courthouse side downtown.
The proposed changes affect more than just a few downtown blocks. During council discussions, officials noted that the corridor covers a large part of the city.
Officials said the area under study includes 19 blocks, with parking meters on about seven of them. The exact number of metered spaces was not known at the meeting.
This raised questions about how the changes would affect the city’s parking revenue and the people who currently rely on those spaces.
Officials challenge assumption that other parking is available
Council members disagreed about whether existing parking could make up for the spaces that would be lost.
City officials said the amount of available parking depends a lot on where someone lives or works along the corridor.
Council members disagreed with the idea that just because many parking lots are visible from Franklin and Washington streets, alternative parking is easy to find. Many of these lots are privately owned and reserved for customers, employees, tenants or other authorized users.
One council member said there was a misunderstanding that having many visible parking spaces means the city can handle losing some.
The council also discussed the cost of building more public parking. One council member said it costs tens of thousands of dollars per space to build parking garages.
This issue matters most outside the central downtown area, where public parking garages and lots are harder to reach.
For example, Bender mentioned people living in the 400 block of West Franklin Street, just south of Burhans Boulevard toward High Street. He said residents there are about a quarter-mile from the nearest public parking lot and about a half-mile from the closest parking garage.
The state’s suggestion that people could simply park on the other side of Route 40 also raised concerns.
Officials said about eight or nine accessible parking spaces are reserved along these streets. These spots were created for residents with disabilities who followed the city’s process to get dedicated parking near their homes.
Moving those spaces would not be easy if parking is removed from one side of the street.
Pedestrian safety improvements receive support
Despite their concerns, city officials agreed that pedestrian facility improvements on Route 40 are needed.
Bender said some parts of the plan could address real safety problems, especially farther west on Franklin Street.
He said he has seen people walking toward Walmart without a sidewalk, forcing them to use the road shoulder. Pedestrians also have to cross areas near the Interstate 81 ramps, which leads to conflicts with vehicles entering or leaving the highway.
As he said, creating a dedicated pedestrian route in that area would help. Also, the same general plan would apply to the downtown and residential areas of Franklin and Washington streets, since the conditions and parking requirements there are different.
According to the State Highway Administration, its Pedestrian Safety Action Plan focuses on those corridors in which improvements to pedestrian and bicycle safety are required; the U.S. 40 project is also connected with the state’s Complete Streets Policy and Maryland’s Vision Zero objective of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries on state roads by the year 2030.
Council questions effects on traffic and neighborhoods
Council members also asked how the proposed design would affect traffic flow, street maintenance and nearby neighborhoods.
Officials considered the possibility that removing parking might cause vehicles to drive faster and make roads feel narrower, especially in residential areas.
One council member said conditions on the west side of Hagerstown differ greatly from the east side and downtown. The discussion also covered intersections where limited sight distance already makes it hard for pedestrians to cross.
Council members said they want to consider neighborhood differences instead of using the same approach along the corridor.
Bike lanes raise maintenance questions
There were also questions about the proposed bicycle facilities and who would maintain them.
During the discussion, city staff members mentioned an agreement with the state from around the 1950s. Under this agreement, the city is responsible for some maintenance on Franklin and Washington streets, like street sweeping and snow removal. The state maintains traffic signals over certain sections of the corridor, and the city looks after them as part of an agreement under which the state pays Hagerstown a fee.
Council members wanted to know how adding bicycle lanes and physical barriers would affect these responsibilities.
Physically separating vehicle lanes from bicycle lanes in some areas, as discussed in the meeting, raises practical questions about whether snowplows and street sweepers can reach those spaces.
Officials said several questions still need answers.
City wants state to hear concerns directly
Council members were frustrated that many of their questions had not been answered in earlier talks with state transportation officials.
These topics included how many metered parking spaces might be lost, the effect on parking revenue, and who would handle maintenance.
City officials also made it clear that the state started the project, and they do not want people to think Hagerstown suggested removing the parking.
Bender said Linda Poffenberger, the district engineer with the State Highway Administration, knew about the city’s concerns, but she had not given a formal response by the time of the work session.
City staff members also contacted downtown businesses to let them know about the upcoming public meeting and encourage them to take part.
Public workshop set for Sept. 15
Since the council’s discussion on Sept. 8, the State Highway Administration has shared more details about its second public workshop on the project.
The workshop will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Eastern Elementary School, 1320 Yale Drive.
There will be no formal presentation. Residents can come at any time during the two-hour session to view project displays, talk to project team members, ask questions and share feedback. The state held its first information session about the U.S. 40 project in January 2025 and says it considered public comments from that session when preparing the latest concept.
At the council meeting, city officials stressed that the project is not yet in its final design. They said this stage is especially important for residents and business owners who want to raise concerns about parking or other proposed changes.
The State Highway Administration also said the Sept. 15 workshop is meant to gather more community input as it works on ways to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users.
The challenge for Hagerstown officials will be to balance safety goals with the everyday needs of neighborhoods and businesses along one of the city’s main east-west roads. The council did not take it up during the work session.
