WABA on the Montgomery County Bicycle Program Funding.

Earlier this year, Montgomery County announced plans to balance their budget in part by eliminating certain bike program funding. WABA's comments on this are below.

While we are well aware of the difficult financial situation facing the County, funding for bicycle projects in he capital and operating budgets continue to bear more than their fair share of cost-saving measures. It is clear to us that bicycling and walking, which we feel contribute greatly to the mobility and health of County residents, continues to be a low priority for transportation dollars. During difficult economic times, the County should focus on transportation projects that provide lower cost and healthier mobility options for residents while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use associated with driving.

Yet the proposed FY 11-16 capital budget, last year's amendments to the FY 2010 capital budget and the FY 2010 savings plan have sharply reduced bicycle and pedestrian spending. Bicycle projects must not bear a disproportional share of budget cuts. Bicycling and walking projects are being eliminated or postponed in favor of other transportation modes, but the overall transportation budget appears to have been cut back by a much smaller percentage. In FY 2011 there is a total of approximately $4.9 million set aside for bike and pedestrian projects. This is a decrease of over $2 million from the original FY 2010 budget. In addition, funding of projects identified as bike projects (including shared use paths that double as pedestrian facilities) will make up approximately just 2.8% of the overall transportation budget, but according to the Council of Governments’ 2008 Household Travel Survey, biking and walking make up 9.6% of daily trips. From the standpoint of individual bike projects, there are many of us who wonder if these important facilities will ever be built at all. Here is a list of key bikeway projects and programs and the impact the proposed FY 11-16 budget will have:

• The MacArthur Boulevard Bikeway project began in 2008, but is still in the planning phase. The FY 2010 budget amendment pushed the start of construction back from to FY 2010 to FY 2011 and the FY 11-16 CIP budget pushes it even further off to FY 2013.
• In the FY 2009 budget, the Silver Spring Green Trail was supposed to receive $5 million in funding starting in FY11. In the FY 11-16 budget, funding for that trail has been put off to FY 2013.
• The Falls Road Bike Path, once scheduled for FY 2011, has been postponed to FY 2015.
• The Annual Bikeways Program, an efficient program that funds multiple small projects each year, was cut by 20% in the FY 2010 savings plan. Because of this cut, DOT has delayed smallprojects and for now suspended the effective Montgomery Bicycle Advisory Group, an organization made up of citizens which assists the County by providing valuable public input on biking issues. 
• Facilities planning studies of bikeways continue to be under-funded. In the FY 2010 savings plan, $200,000 was removed from this program. Without completed studies on future bikeways, the county will continue to miss funding opportunities created by the federal government such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• In the FY 2010 savings plan, $100,000 in dedicated funding of bikeway maintenance was eliminated. While safety problems will still be addressed, it's clear that maintenance efforts will be reduced.
• Finally, the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT), arguably the most important trail project in the region let alone the County, continues to languish for lack of funds. This critical multiuse facility will eventually connect the new Capital Crescent Trail, which will soon be constructed with the Purple Line, through the Silver Spring Transit Center, to a section of trail near Montgomery College. It has been over six years after facility planning for the MBT began, and if the budget is approved, work will not resume on the trail until 2014. By that time it is likely that other segments of the trail will be underway or completed and a gap between the transit center and Montgomery College will remain unfilled.

Overall, the cumulative effect of a historic lack of funding on bikeway programs in Montgomery County is the starting to bear out in statistics. Maryland currently ranks 45 out of 50 states in per capita funding for the bicycle and pedestrian projects and 40 in the percentage of transportation funding for such projects. And while jurisdictions such as Washington, DC and Arlington, VA are making great strides in promoting bicycling through aggressive infrastructure construction and bicycling safety and encouragement programs, Montgomery County is rapidly being left behind. In DC nearly 50% of all trips are made without the use of a car. In Arlington that number is 30%. In Montgomery, just 17% of trips are made by walking, biking or transit.

No other transportation alternative offers the same benefits in terms of lower infrastructure costs, improved health, reduced pollution, and enhanced quality of life that bicycling can offer. In addition to the much publicized health benefits related to physical activity, promoting bicycling for transportation helps expand access to transit, and bridges the gap between short trips made by foot and long trips made by car. We strongly urge you to reconsider the severe cuts in the bikeways programs and restore funding for these critical projects by balancing cost savings measures across modes in the transportation budget.

Comments

[Wayne Phyillaier]

A very good letter - on target.

I have lived in Mont. Co. for over 40 years. I had long believed Mont. Co. was a leader in the area for supporting bicycling.
But in recent years I've come to understand that Mont. Co. is all talk and little action. We have great plans in place, but the bikeways and pedestrian programs are always the first to take the brunt of transportation budget cuts. It is time for us to call out our politicians and tell them it is past time for them to put their money where their mouth is.