Annapolis Transportation Committee Meeting - March 11, 2026
Annapolis Transportation Committee Meeting - March 11, 2026
On March 11, 2026, the Annapolis Transportation Committee met at 4:01 PM in City Council Chambers. The meeting was called to order by Alderwoman Allsup-Johnson, with Aldermen Schandelmeier and Savidge present. The agenda and minutes from the February 11, 2026 meeting were approved by voice vote.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the regular meeting agenda.
- Approval of the TC 2.11.26 Regular Meeting Minutes.
Discussion Items
Pedestrian & Cycling Safety Coordinator Update Bike, Pedestrian, and Micro-Mobility Coordinator William Rowel presented updates on the bicycle master plan, safe routes to school, and a planned bike share program. Alderman Schandelmeier requested a list of local-level regulatory changes for cyclists and specifics on state-level requirements. Alderman Savidge requested the coordinator's formal goals, a presentation of the Mobility Plan (being developed by Chief of Comprehensive Planning Leshinsky), and quarterly progress updates on cycling projects. The coordinator noted that a new RFP for safe routes to school was underway and that coordination with the county on bike share was being explored, including potential involvement of the Resilience Authority.
Potential Bus Route Serving Annapolis High School Director of Transportation Marcus Moore reported that Anne Arundel County added a stop at the swim club on their route 207 (yellow route), bringing students closer to the school but not addressing the Forest Drive corridor. The school has not permitted city buses on its property. Alderman Schandelmeier requested a study of options to serve Forest Drive, including possible fixed-route adjustments. Director Moore agreed to develop a timeline and present it at the next committee meeting on April 8, 2026.
Transportation Department Update Director Moore provided an update on the automatic vehicle locator (AVL) system (RFP underway), the magenta shuttle (expanded loop), and the electric Gem cart pilot program (resuming late March). He also detailed employee parking programs: $110/month Monday–Thursday at Hillman Garage, $5 per shift at Gott's Court, $3 at Night and Garage, and $3 at Park Place (all requiring out by 6 AM).
Premium Parking Market President Jason Prola presented: one EV charger remains out of service (part on order); elevator braille buttons being replaced; DMV integration for mobile LPR is stalled due to MVA policy; the new Gold Pass for seniors (62+) launched with 39 completed registrations after 48 hours. Occupancy and validation data were shared, including a February mystery shop score of 97.8%.
Metropolis Senior Operations Manager Jason Kinney and Operations Manager Brianna Denton presented garage occupancy data for January and February 2026, showing typical two-to-four hour stays. Citations totaled 1,722 for the period, with 218 adjusted for first-time infractions. Validation usage: 206 residential QR codes (412 hours), 12 automated residential validations, and 3,458 business validations (parkshop/dine, employee, etc.).
Transportation Board Update Transportation Board Chair Tara Ashmore introduced Zoe Johnson, Community Planning Liaison Officer for the U.S. Naval Academy. Johnson highlighted ongoing coordination on special events, pedestrian/bicycle safety (Route 450 King George Street project at 30% design, with construction likely 1–2 years out), traffic signal upgrades (military installation resilience review), road race coordination (e.g., Annapolis Running Festival on March 21, 2026), and construction projects (Hanover/Wagner wall, flood wall on Lower Prince George Street, utility bridge replacement). The committee requested that Johnson provide information on streets blocked during the Navy's commencement.
Key Outcomes
- Votes: The agenda and February 11, 2026 minutes were approved by voice vote. No other votes were taken.
- Directives:
- Coordinator Rowel to provide recommendations on local/state cycling process improvements, his position goals, and quarterly updates.
- Chief Leshinsky to present the Mobility Plan to the committee.
- Director Moore to provide a map of the electric jitney routes and a timeline for addressing the Annapolis High School bus route by the next meeting.
- Committee to receive copies of the parking contractor presentations and the Naval Academy's list of blocked areas for commencement.
- Next Steps: The next Transportation Committee meeting is scheduled for April 8, 2026, at 4:00 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 5:54 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Our recreation and parks department to be able to do some at Pit Moyer and some of the other places. And last year I did uh a demo at the senior center in the Bates complex that was really successful, and everyone was really excited about it. So I I appreciate y'all, you know, I appreciate you all's time. And if there's any questions I can answer, I'm happy to do so. Are there any questions for my colleagues? Go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um Srell, thank you so much for joining us in this wonderful presentation. Um my two questions are one do we have a timeline on the West East Expressway yet? Uh we do we have a timeline, but it's it's constantly moving. Um and part of it is because we have uh we are lawyer who helped us acquire and and work with land some of the landowners to get you know uh ease proper easements and all the legality done with that. What ended up happening is some of them were kind of absent, some of the the landowners, so it took a while to get to to reach them. Um I would say for we installed the sign and we had uh the symbolic groundbreaking. I don't know if you remember that. That was but um it's supposed to happen any any day now when we first start breaking ground. Um you know we're still working out some contractual things, um, but all of the framework is already established for that. So the short, I feel like this is a Senate hearing where they're where they don't answer the question. But um in short, it should be in the next, it should be sometime this year. Uh my second question, and um if you don't know the answer off the top of your head, that's fine, but I would love to get something written out. These infrastructure projects take a frustratingly long time for all of us. Yes. Some of that's financing, some of that's negotiating with private property owners, is what it is, federal law financing, yeah, property rights. I get that. Some of that is our own city process, and some of that city processes code. What could we do in the code to streamline these projects? Okay. Well, I will tell you in the bicycle master plan. Um part of that is being able to for lack of a better word, advocate for that level of change in order for it to happen. We attempted to do it in the last administration, but a lot of it, as you all know, uh happened like rapidly, and we were kind of building the plane as we were flying it. So um, in short, I would say I can provide a series of recommendations. Um I can uh draw them from the bicycle master plan, but I also have a little bit of framework that I can grab from some other areas, some of my um you know, colleagues uh in similar positions, for instance, the county, uh, to find out uh their process. But but you're absolutely right. I mean, it is it, you know, it is time consuming because with everything there has to be a study related to it, and that's usually what takes a good deal of time. Um but but Alderman Chandelmeyer to to answer a part of your question, we do have a an RFP that we we've already um I was on the review committee that we've already gone through, which is um pushing forward our safe routes to school programs and some other things and drawing down money for that. So, you know, so I think that will kind of expedite a little bit of that process because we'll have our own um like relative framework locally as opposed to drawing off of Ana Rondo County or the state of Maryland. Excellent. Okay, but but I'll um I will provide some recommendations. Thank you. And just anything that we can change locally that we control on this level, uh, I definitely want specifics on anything that's required by the state. I'd like specifics on because we can go and at least ask, hey, can you help us streamline this? We might not get it, but yeah, it never hurts to ask. And then the feds uh that the feds, we might as well just yell into the wind, nothing we could do about them. Yeah. I will say um one uh really good uh resource um that we have is Eric Leshinski because he's he's done so in other municipalities, but he's also uh he's actively trying to navigate um ways in which you know we could cut some of the red tape um in terms of getting some of the and you probably already know that, but but he's um you know he's you know I work with him and he's he's quite adept at you know figuring that out. Thank you, sir. Okay. Aldman Savage. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you so much, Mr. Rao, for joining us today. Um and can I say about bike to work day?
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