B' Spokes: This is a bit off topic but since our Senator Barbara Mikulski is involved I thought I would at least give a link to a summary of issues. I should note my main issue with GMO is just label it and let the market place decide. And if there is no market advantage (a benefit to the general population) why are we giving so many protections to Monsanto?

More info: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/mpa.asp

[B' Spokes: There are some good points in this article. I know people that will drive a good distance to a cheaper grocery story, spend $3 in gas and save maybe $3 in groceries. This is in part the justification of "needing a car" and why support for bicycling is low, simply because people mistakenly think you need to bike the same distance you drive when really you can manage quite nicely without all that mileage. My second point is many do not use mass transit in Baltimore because of the crummy bus routes and all the transfers needed to get to places, well add a bike to that and you can bike to a good bus line, get close to your destination and bike the rest of the way. Not a lot of miles on the bike but one long car trip has been replaced by one shorter bike trip.]
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by Tanya Snyder, Streets Blog

If Jane Doe rides her bike a mile to the post office and then back home, is it fair to assume she just avoided two miles of driving? And can we then assume that she prevented 2.2 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted?

That’s more or less the way most agencies calculate averted vehicle-miles traveled. One mile biked is one mile not driven.

That simple assumption masks enormous complexity,
...


But there are also reasons to think that the 1:1 ratio is actually undercounting vehicle miles averted, and therefore underestimating the power of mode shift.
...


Sometimes Destination Follows Mode Choice, Not the Other Way Around

Models assume that a person decides on their destination and then picks their mode of travel. But sometimes the mode choice influences the destination.

If I’m on foot, I’m often going to go to the organic grocery store four blocks away, but it’s expensive. If I have access to a car, I might decide to go to a supermarket that’s farther away, but cheaper, and stock up on essentials.
...


How the Experts Do It

Brian Gregor is a transportation analyst at Oregon DOT. He was instrumental in developing GreenSTEP, a tool that lets ODOT estimate and forecast the effects of various policies on the amount of vehicle travel, the types of vehicles and fuels used, energy consumption, and the resulting GHG emissions. GreenSTEP was used as a model for FHWA’s Energy and Emissions Reduction Policy Analysis Tool (EERPAT).
...
To measure carbon emissions averted, Gregor doesn’t just use fuel economy averages. He looks at schedules of average fleet MPG by model year, all the way out to the year Oregon’s greenhouse gas emission goals are aiming toward, accounting for the full variety of vehicle body type and power train. Also in the mix is each fuel, including electricity, with its particular carbon intensity.

His team also factors in, at the household level, the number of people of different ages, their incomes, the land use type (urban or rural), the density of neighborhood, whether it’s a mixed-use neighborhood, the existence of transit service, and other factors — and from there, they determine the household’s likelihood of owning a vehicle, how many vehicles, the likely ages of vehicles, and their likely VMT.

That’s how they estimate carbon emissions — first at the household level and then at the state level. Could they have just multiplied the number of cars registered in the state by average VMT by average fuel economy by pounds of CO2 per gallon? Sure. But they wouldn’t have gotten very good data.
...

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/03/29/how-much-driving-is-avoided-when-someone-rides-a-bike/

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White

Citizen Input Meeting

Towson, Md. (March 22, 2013) - County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced that Baltimore County's Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) is seeking community input as they begin to move forward on implementing a number projects identified in the recently adopted Eastern and Western Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plans. Members of the public are invited to voice their preferences on which projects to fund first at a Citizen Input Meeting.

Tuesday, April 16 at 5 p.m.
Jefferson Building Hearing Room (Room 104)
105 West Chesapeake Avenue, Towson, MD, 21204.

Prioritized Plans

The projects in the Eastern and Western Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plans have been prioritized based on a short, medium, and long-range scale. The PBAC plans to take a closer look to identify initial projects that will provide County citizens with the greatest benefit at the lowest cost, using state, federal, and private grants.

Criteria

While implementation is not guaranteed, identifying these initial projects is an important first step. The big challenge is to come up with projects that would meet these criteria:

• Relatively low in cost. Due to the many capital needs that have to be met throughout the County, the availability of County funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects is limited. Grant funding, however, can be sought to pay for projects such as bike route signage, bike lane striping, and feasibility studies for shared use path projects, as well as sidewalks, crosswalks and other small pedestrian improvement projects.
• Link to significant destinations. Improvements that provide many residents with safer pedestrian or bicycle access to schools, libraries, parks, shopping centers, employment areas or transit stations are especially desirable.
• Community support. Not all communities are ready to become walkable and bike-friendly. The PBAC wants to target the initial projects to neighborhoods that really want them, and will use them.

"Home buyers today want to live in communities that are sustainable with a strong quality of life," said Baltimore County Council Chair Tom Quirk. "Communities that create places where people can walk, bike, work, live and recreate are areas that will thrive and succeed. I appreciate the County Executive's efforts in working closely with the Council and community in moving forward in this very important direction." 

More Information

Pedestrian and bicycle planning information is available at www.baltimorecountymd.gov/bikeped. The interactive map showing details of the plan for bicycle facilities can be viewed through the My Neighborhood application. For more information, e-mail Kathy Schlabach in the Department of Planning, or call 410-887-3521.

2012-2015 Transportation Improvement Program Amendments

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) recently launched the Maryland Bikeshare Program, which provides grants to support the planning and establishment of local bikesharing programs in Maryland. The Bikeshare program is part of the bigger Cycle Maryland initiative to encourage more Marylanders to get out and ride, and to make bicycling a true transportation alternative.

>> Learn more about Cycle Maryland @ cycle.maryland.gov

In the Baltimore region, MDOT has selected the following projects to receive funding:

• Howard County – Feasibility study
• Baltimore City – Bikeshare implementation

The next step in the process is for these projects to be added to the Baltimore region’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) as a new project. The total cost is just under $1.3 million, including approximately $922,000 in federal funding.

What is Bikesharing?
Bikesharing is a system in which bicycles are available for shared use between established stations.

Bikesharing systems provide an affordable option for short-distance trips as an alternative to public transportation, driving in a car or walking. It can help solve the “last mile” problem, connecting public transportation riders to their final destinations. Bikesharing is not a substitute for private bike rental services, but rather it provides an option for short-distance trips.

How will the money be used?
Funding will be used to study the possibility of starting a Bikeshare program in Howard County. In Baltimore city, funds will be used to set up the Bikeshare program - including items such as the purchase of bicycles, docking stations, and related amenities (terminals, spare parts and supplies, etc.).

>> Download details about the project (pdf)

 

Public Review and Comment

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board welcomes your comments on adding the Maryland Bikeshare project to the regional Transportation Improvement Program for these two projects.

A public review period will be held from Tuesday, March 19 through Wednesday, April 17, 2013.

A public meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, April 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Carroll County Public Library - Finksburg Branch (2265 Old Westminster Pike, Finksburg, MD 21048). This library is accessible by transit through Carroll Area Transit Service. To schedule a ride, please contact CATS at 410-876-RIDE or 866-304-2287.

Comments are also welcome during the Public Comment Opportunity at the:

• BRTB Technical Committee meeting on April 2 at 9:30 a.m.; or
• BRTB meetings on April 23 at 9 a.m. (tentative vote).

>> BRTB Resolution 13-24 (pdf)

>> View a summary of April 2013 TIP amendments (pdf)

>> Download a flyer (pdf)

>> View public meeting presentation (pdf)

Share Your Thoughts

To share your thoughts and ideas, submit all comments in writing to:

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board
Offices @ McHenry Row
1500 Whetstone Way, Suite 300
Baltimore, MD 21230

Fax: 410-732-8248
E-mail: comments@baltometro.org

All mailed comments must be received no later than 3 days after the end of the comment period.

 

For more information:

Jason Biernat, jbiernat@baltometro.org, 410-732-0500 x1048

[B' Spokes: A few cyclists should attend just to remind hem we are out there using these roads.]

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For Immediate Release                                                           Contact: David Fidler

                                                                                                410 887-2171

Fifth Annual

Rural Roads Meeting

April 25

 

(Towson, April 2, 2013) The Department of Public Works will hold its fifth annual public meeting to discuss rural roads, bridges, repaving and traffic issues at the Oregon Ridge Park Conference Center (The Sequoia Room), 13401 Beaver Dam Road in Cockeysville (21030) on Thursday, April 25, between 6:30 and 8:30 PM. The meeting fulfills the County’s pledge to meet annually with residents interested in preserving the rural character of the County and to apprise them of infrastructure plans.

 

These annual public meetings, held at various sites, evolved from the Rural Roads Standards, a citizen-government agreement, approved by the County Council, which codified standards and policies for road and bridge maintenance in rural areas. This year’s meeting will review paving plans and bridge repair or replacement schedules during the next two years.

 

As in the past, residents and interested parties will be able to speak one-on-one with Public Works engineers on specific, local issues, following a short introduction from Ed Adams, Director of Public Works. The public will also be able to leave written comments. For more information, call the Director’s Office, Department of Public Works: 410 887-2171.

 

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By Jessica Anderson, Arthur Hirsch and Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun

...
Wrona described the scene as horrific.

"That's all I can say. Horrific," she said. "He was running and strayed into the right-hand lane. Maybe he tripped, maybe he was distracted. It's not clear."
...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/towson/bs-md-co-towson-pedestrian-struck-20130328,0,7369270.story

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CITIZEN INPUT MEETING FOR PROJECTS SCHEDULED
__________________________________________________

Here's what's been happening since the last edition of this newsletter:

--The Baltimore County Council adopted the Western Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan on November 19, 2012.

--Baltimore County is working to implement the four Maryland Bikeways grants awarded by the Maryland Department of Transportation to make bicycle improvements in Towson, Catonsville, and Arbutus/Halethorpe.

Now, in anticipation of new grant funding becoming available, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) is holding a Citizen Input Meeting to hear your suggestions for the next priority projects for implementation.

****************************************************************
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 16, at 5 p.m. in Room 104, Jefferson Building, 105 W. Chesapeake Avenue, Towson, 21204.

****************************************************************

While implementation is not guaranteed, identifying new initial projects is an important first step. The big challenge is to come up with projects that would meet these criteria:

--Relatively low in cost. Due to the many capital needs that have to be met throughout the County, the availability of County funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects is limited. Grant funding, however, can be sought to pay for projects such as bike route signage, bike lane striping, and feasibility studies for shared use path projects, as well as sidewalks, crosswalks and other small pedestrian improvement projects.

--Link to significant destinations. Improvements that provide many residents with safer pedestrian or bicycle access to schools, libraries, parks, shopping centers, employment areas or transit stations are especially desirable.

--Community support. Not all communities are ready to become walkable and bike-friendly. The PBAC wants to target the initial projects to neighborhoods that really want them, and will use them.

Please come to the meeting with your ideas, or submit them in writing to:

Kathy Schlabach
Department of Planning, Suite 101
105 W. Chesapeake Ave.
Towson, MD 21204

or kschlabach@baltimorecountymd.gov

The Eastern and Western Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plans are available at http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/bikeped#PBAC as PDF files.

The interactive map showing details of the plan for bicycle facilities can be viewed at http://myneighborhood.baltimorecountymd.gov/?current_theme=Bicycle+Facilities.

If you would like more information, please contact Kathy Schlabach at kschlabach@baltimorecountymd.gov or 410-887-3521.

____________________________________________________________
This e-mail is a periodic newsletter published by the Baltimore County Department of Planning. You may subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription information at http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/subscribe/bikeped

By Caron Whitaker, Bike League

Today 69 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to set a national goal to reduce bicyclist deaths. The bi-partisan letter, led by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Howard Coble (R-NC), was signed by one-third of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and represents members from 26 states and the District of Columbia.

During the National Bike Summit this month, advocates met with their representatives and staff, asking them to sign on to the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Secretary LaHood. Sixty-nine of those representatives said yes. Now that’s what I call a successful Summit Lobby Day! Thank you to everyone who participated in Hill meetings on March 6th — or tweeted or e-mailed from home. You clearly made a difference. (Click here for a list of all Reps who signed on.)

...

http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2013/03/summit-follow-up-69-congressional-leaders-call-for-bikeped-safety-goal/

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[B' Spokes: And note that Van Hollen was the only MD rep to sign on.]