Cockeysville meeting to focus on hiker, biker trails
From Towson Times
The Baltimore County Office of Planning is hosting a series of citizen workshops this month to seek input for a plan to construct pedestrian and bicycle features in the urban sections of western Baltimore County.
The local workshop on the Western County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan is being held Wednesday, April 21, from 7 to 9 p.m., at *censored*eysville Middle School, 10401 Greenside Drive, Cockeysville.
The workshops will give county residents a chance to discuss their experiences walking and bicycling in the county and to suggest ways to improve sidewalks and crossings, on-street bicycle facilities and off-road trails.
Attendees will be asked to identify priorities for the five most important upgrades in their council district.
"The goal is to help make Baltimore County a better and safer place for walking and bicycling," County Executive Jim Smith said in a release on the workshops.
"As many as 50 percent of household trips are 3 miles or less, and most of them are made by car," Smith said.
In the Towson area, the Northern Central Railroad-Jones Falls Connector is being eyed as a potential commuting route for bicyclists between Hunt Valley and Towson. Options for extending the NCR Trail to the Warren Road light rail station are under study.
Also, plans for the Robert E. Lee Park, located in the county but owned by Baltimore City, include hiker-biker trails.
In addition to the April 21 meeting, officials conducting the study will hold a walk-around road audit at Cockeysville Middle School on April 24, with parents who are interested in improving the walking environment to the school and the recreation center there.
The Western County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan is the second phase of a countywide project to develop a comprehensive network of pedestrian and bicycle features.
The first phase included the eastern side of the county, and the county adopted that plan in 2006. The third and final phase of the plan will target the county's rural areas.
In addition to the Cockeysville workshop, meetings were held earlier this month in Randallstown and Pikesville, and another will be held April 28 in Catonsville.
Those who can't attend a workshop can provide comments by completing the online survey on the Web site <a href="http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/westbikeped">http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/westbikeped</a>;. For more details, call Richard Layman, project manager, at 410-887-3521.
<a href="http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/105614/cockeysville-meeting-focus-hiker-biker-trails/">http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/105614/cockeysville-meeting-focus-hiker-biker-trails/</a>;
And a comment from the site which bears repeating:
I'm going to try to make it, but if I can't... an issue that needs to be raised is the old problem of bicycles on Cromwell Bridge road, which is narrow, and dangerous due to the almost unenforcable speed limit, and lack of shoulders. The problem has a simple solution with the on Maryland and Pennsylvania Track bed right on the hillside above the road, and it's crazy that it's never been turned into a bike path, but BGE uses it for a maintennance road regularly.