Baltimore Throws Down the Gauntlet

Baltimore plans to create a bicycle network that combines designated lanes and shared roadways to create more than 400 miles of bike routes. Work could begin within a year, pending approval by the city's planning commission.

Baltimore might as well say "it's on like King Kong" when they throw out stats like this:

City planners presented census statistics showing that less than one-half of 1 percent of Baltimore residents commute to work on bikes, compared with more than 1 percent in Washington.

Building a "bicycle friendly city" is no easy task. Painting a bunch of bike lanes, (which are of debatable value) and throwing up signs isn't nearly enough. It requires well paved and designed roads, free of potholes and sewer grates. It requires education and traffic calming. It requires parking and shower facilities.  And it requires integrating bikes into all local transportation.

"It's about infrastructure - making sure you have connections to the light rail system and buses and MARC," Macdonald said. "I would love to be able to bike to the MARC station and go wherever I need to go."

It would be great if you could take your bike on MARC, or Metro during rush hour(MTA lets riders bring bikes during rush hour and many cities have bicycle racks inside their light rail trains[pictured above]). But at least there's bikes on buses.

Comments

[Mike Plakus]

At least the article mentioned the key component to making things work--Education.