Baltimore Co Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee Seeks Community Input

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.