Revitalization of Inner Beltway

In a letter to the editor Prince George’s county citizen, Bradley E. Heard, expresses his hopes of the further development for the County.

The county already has 15 Metrorail stations inside or adjacent to the Capital Beltway. Most of these stations still have hundreds of acres of developable land in their immediate vicinity. Transforming the existing urban roadways around these stations into “complete streets” by adding sidewalks, streetlights and bike paths, and increasing housing and commercial density and supply in the vicinity of these stations through quality infill development would be dramatically easier, cheaper and more environmentally responsible than building new roads and Metro stations where they do not currently exist.

This November, Prince Georgians will elect a new county executive and a new County Council. For the sake of the county’s future, voters should ensure that the candidates they elect are fully committed, in word and deed, to redeveloping and revitalizing the underutilized transit station areas in the inner Beltway communities, making them safe, vibrant, compact and walkable or bikeable places that will be the envy and the gem of the metro area — much like the Roslyn-Ballston Corridor in Arlington County, [Va.], or Bethesda and Silver Spring in Montgomery County are today. Until that is fully accomplished, Prince George’s County should place suburban expansion projects like Westphalia on the shelf.