Inclusive Mobility Engagement Series 

2025 MOVE Roundtable Overview

In 2025, The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Secretary’s Office (TSO), in collaboration with Mpact Mobility and Maryland AARP, hosted a series of four roundtable discussions in September and October 2025 focused on transportation connectivity and safety in State Highway Administration’s (SHA) Context Driven suburban, rural and traditional town center contexts. The 2025 MOVE Roundtable engaged local, regional and state partners to discuss communities of the Town of Mt. Airy and Town of La Plata guided by MPACT's MOVE framework to explore the question:

“What are the transportation connectivity and safety challenges, particularly for aging Marylanders and their caretakers; and how can the mobility needs of residents be improved with current resources?”

Support for Aging Rural Populations

MDOT supports local jurisdictions statewide in implementing safety improvement and increasing multimodal connectivity through efforts led by the modal administrations and Secretary’s Office. Rural communities present unique characteristics including scattered development, long trip distances and higher speed roads, which creates a higher risk of fatalities and serious injuries to the most vulnerable road users (VRU). Rural communities are often personal vehicle-centric, which limits opportunities to connect VRUs to nearby development, even in instances where short trip opportunity areas are identified.

The limited travel options to connect VRUs in rural communities to nearby development will increasingly pose challenges. Nationally, rural communities are home to more people over the age of 65 than urban communities, which will continue to increase as the population ages. In Maryland, over 20% of the population in four predominately rural counties, Talbot, Worchester, Kent and Garrett is aged 65 to 84 years.

Roundtable Overview

The roundtable series convened 13 organizations across four workshops. In each workshop, participants were asked to think critically about their communities and the various challenges and opportunities they face when it comes to mobility. The roundtable took a collaborative approach by asking participants about the key destinations and trips facilitated in both Mt. Airy and La Plata, and how those trips vary whether you walk, bike, drive or ride transit. Aerial tours were conducted of both towns, which allowed for a granular-level depiction of the current context.

Simultaneously, participants were educated on emerging trends of Complete Streets policies nationally, including Maryland’s Context Driven publications and Complete Streets Implementation Guide. By educating participants on current initiatives, facilitators helped empower stakeholders to use their collective voice and think strategically on how they can leverage existing resources to create meaningful mobility opportunities in their communities.

Key Findings & Resources

Mpact Mobility produced a Lab Report that highlights the key findings from the roundtable. Click here to access the MOVE Roundtable Lab Report.

This page will be updated with additional inclusive mobility resources as they become available.

For reflections on the MOVE Roundtable and what comes next, please see the Director’s blog post here.