NORTH BETHESDA, Md. — Congested and derided, the Rockville Pike thoroughfare, which connects Bethesda and Rockville, troubled local residents, officials and developers for years.

“I’ve lived in this area most of my life, and people would ask where I was from,” said Amy Ginsburg, executive director of Friends of White Flint. “I wasn’t really from Rockville, and I wasn’t really from Bethesda. There was no sense of place, just shopping centers and horrible traffic up and down the pike.”

Her organization, a nonprofit funded by residents, businesses and property owners, promotes so-called smart-growth development. The movement generally advocates a mix of land uses, higher building density and walkable neighborhoods close to public transit to create stronger communities.

Aiming to bring better-planned growth to the area, Montgomery County adopted the White Flint Sector Plan six years ago. The plan, which took its name from the nearby White Flint Metro rail stop, called for smarter growth and the building of pedestrian-minded urban nodes along a 1.7-mile stretch of Rockville Pike.