October 2011 Maryland BPAC Meeting Minutes

Available here. Local highlights:

• The Department of Natural Resources plans to have a series of regional roundtables on trail issues instead of having one, central trail summit like the one previously held. The Governor’s Office has made the development of a uniform GIS base map for trail maps that various State agencies could use a priority.
• There was discussion on the status of the Patuxent River crossing planned for the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A) Trail. Due to political opposition to the trail’s original planned alignment following the old WB&A Railroad right-of-way in Anne Arundel County an alternative river crossing is being proposed. But because of concerns regarding the alternative river crossing design, Prince George’s County wants to pursue the originally planned crossing alignment. It was noted that the trail connection would help ameliorate the traffic impacts of the BRAC development at Fort Meade. The committee decided to try and determine by next meeting what commitments and encouragement the State has provided for this detour alignment and the information on which it is based.
• The State Highway Administration is considering asking the National Park Service to provide a shared use path as part of a segment of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway slated for widening.

Comments

[Greenbelt]

Seems sort of weird that the State Highway Administration were "guests" at the meeting. Aren't they part of MDOT? Shouldn't they be regular members of this committee, since their operations can affect bikeability (sometimes adversly) so profoundly?

[Michael H.]

A B-W Parkway trail would be a nice addition to the Maryland bike trail network. Maybe one day it could extend all the way from one end of the parkway to the other.