Maryland transportation engineers are proposing safety changes, including bike lanes, along U.S. Route 40 through downtown Hagerstown. City leaders are questioning a design that could affect approximately 350 parking spaces, including about 100 metered spaces, and say the effects on businesses and access to civic buildings should be weighed alongside safety improvements.
The Maryland State Highway Administration, known as MDOT SHA, is scheduled to hold a public open house Tuesday, September 15, 2026, from 5 to 7 p.m. to present its proposed U.S. Route 40 safety concepts and gather community feedback, according to LocalNews1.org. The project, part of MDOT SHA's U.S. Route 40 Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, spans a corridor from Garland Groh Boulevard on Hagerstown's west side to All Star Court on the east side. As DC News Now reports, approximately 100 of the roughly 350 spaces at issue are metered; the available reporting does not establish that all of those spaces are on Franklin Street.
The parking losses would hit some of downtown's most sensitive blocks. The state's design proposes removing on-street parking from the north side of Franklin Street near the downtown U.S. Post Office and from the south side of Washington Street near the Washington County Courthouse, per the same LocalNews1.org report.
City Staff Flag Parking as Their Top Concern
Assistant City Engineer Jim Bender told the Hagerstown City Council that improved crosswalks and signage would be beneficial, but that parking loss remained the city's primary reservation, according to LocalNews1.org. Matt Mullenax said officials are weighing bicyclist safety against possible effects on businesses, downtown post office traffic and places of worship, DC News Now reports.
Hagerstown Mayor Bill McIntire has raised his own concerns, saying the bicycle-lane plan would eliminate new pedestrian-safety walkways planned along Route 40, DC News Now reports. Hagerstown collects revenue from its metered parking spaces, adding a fiscal dimension to the council's hesitation over the design.
A Corridor Already Flagged for Safety Fixes
The current proposal fits within a longer-running effort to address Route 40 traffic operations, safety and access. It is also being considered in the context of Maryland's statewide Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, Complete Streets Policy and Vision Zero target of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries on state highways by 2030.
Earlier Route 40 planning
A 2015 Maryland State Highway Administration corridor-plan update, citing Hagerstown's 2008 comprehensive plan, said the city, county and state should continue addressing Route 40 traffic operations, safety and access, according to the Maryland Historic National Road Corridor Partnership Plan Update. That earlier planning record establishes a continuing need for corridor improvements but does not specify which elements were carried into, or changed for, the current bike-lane proposal; the present debate centers more specifically on how new safety features would affect parking and access.
The stretch of U.S. Route 40 running through downtown Hagerstown carries between 15,000 and 18,000 vehicles daily, according to MDOT SHA. The corridor's role as a commuter artery sits at the heart of the tension between vehicle throughput and non-motorized safety that state planners are trying to resolve.
What Residents Told Planners
Local input has already shaped the state's thinking. In a June 2025 survey conducted for Hagerstown's Safety Action Plan, residents submitted 2,120 map markers pointing to safety hazards, near-misses, and potential improvements, with a heavy concentration along downtown U.S. Route 40, according to the Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization. That same survey found that roughly 17% of surveyed local residents bicycle.
The HEPMPO conducts tri-county long-range transportation planning across Washington County, Maryland, and Berkeley and Jefferson counties in West Virginia, updating its 25-year regional plan every five years, according to a 2021 report from ObserverWV. That intergovernmental structure is part of why federal funding eligibility for projects like the Route 40 redesign hinges on regional planning priorities rather than city preference alone.
The proposal remains open to public input, DC News Now notes. That leaves unresolved whether MDOT SHA will revise the design to preserve key parking blocks. The September 15, 2026, open house is expected to give downtown business owners, commuters and residents an opportunity to comment.
