Bike and pedestrian planning in the suburbs
By Richard Layman
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The same thing has come up in the context of the citizen workshops that we have been holding for the Western Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan that I am the project manager for, in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Now I know that the next two meetings are likely to have far more bicycling advocates in attendance, because those meetings are in places where there are some significant bicycle facilities present (the North Central Railroad Trail in northern Baltimore County in District 3, and in District 1 the various trails of the Catonsville Rails to Trails group and in the Patapsco Valley State Park, not to mention nearby trails BWI and the Baltimore & Annapolis).
Still, I am constantly taking in and interpreting and synthesizing and reformulating the information, the interactions I encounter during the process.
What I think we will end up proposing is (1) responding to people's desires for sidewalk improvements; (2) but at the same time prioritizing the development of 1-2 off-road multi-user trails in each district; (3) as well as the development of a focused set (critical mass) of bicycle facilities improvements. Together (2) and (3) can be grown outward and can connect to other districts across the county and other jurisdictions in the region, and lay the path for the development of a more complete bicycle facilities infrastructure in Baltimore County.
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Part of the reason that the polls don't favor bicycle facilities improvements is that the typical resident--suburban or urban--isn't familiar with bicycling anymore and doesn't know many people who do it. So of course they aren't going to prioritize biking improvements as a matter of course.
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