December 2009 Maryland BPAC Meeting Minutes

DC AREA BIKE HIGHLIGHTS (Full minutes here)

Education and Awareness Subcommittee - The MBPAC is working on updating and improving it's website. The Maryland State Police wants to provide on-line training materials regarding bicycle traffic law for law enforcement officers. It was suggested that pocket guides could help law enforcement officers as well.

Legislative and Government Affairs Subcommittee - the subcommittee intends to schedule a meeting during the following week to review and provide recommendations to the full Committee on proposed 2010 bicycle and pedestrian related legislative items per the request of One Less Car.

Tourism and Product Development Subcommittee - MBPAC member Dick Cushwa reported attending a recent Trail Towns meeting in Williamsport, Washington County. He passed out examples of the promotional brochures aimed at Great Allegheny Passage trail users in Pennsylvania. Dick said electronic visitor information kiosks have already been installed along the GAP in Cumberland and Frostburg. MBPAC member Greg Hinchliffe noted progress in constructing a trail link between Robert E. Lee Park in Baltimore County and the Falls Road MTA Light Rail Station. Jim Titus received confirmation that the WB&A trail bridge connection construction project over the Patuxent River is delayed indefinitely because Anne Arundel County lacks its share of funding for this project. Fred Shaffer responded to Jim Titus’s concern over the lack of signing to Maryland destinations for eastbound Woodrow Wilson Bridge bicycle path traffic by stating that the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is working on this matter.

Commuting and Transportation Subcommittee - The MBPAC voted to recommend that MDOT Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley send a letter of congratulations to Washington Area Bicyclist Association Executive Director Eric Gilliland on his ten-year anniversary with WABA. (about that..) Fred Shaffer discussed M-NCPPC’s difficulties with preservation of trail easements in Prince George’s County, particularly along the Potomac Heritage trail and said this was the largest issue faced during the creation of the county’s Master Plan of Transportation.

The Department of Health an Mental Hygiene has applied for an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to encourage bicycling and walking due to the physical fitness benefits. One of the grant applications is very competitive and the other grant is almost assured of being funded. Funding would be used in part to conduct follow up sessions to MDOT’s Maryland School Administrators Study of biking and walking policies by local school districts and to create a student’s guide to bicycling and walking to school.

Fred Shaffer mentioned the need to complete trail missing links along the W&BA Trail and the Prince George’s Connector Trail and described difficulties in accommodating a variety of user groups in the redevelopment of the Belcrest Center in Hyattsville, including providing improved pedestrian and bicycle access.

Comments

[Purple Eagle]

Very disappointing about the WB&A trail bridge. Is there anyone we can contact to "lobby" for this project?

[washcycle]

I am too. I don't know who to lobby for it, but it sounds like Anne Arundel County. You can contact the East Coast Greenway people - this bridge makes up part of their route and they probably already have contacts identified.

[Froggie]

Lack of signage for Maryland destinations isn't the problem on the WWB trail. Lack of decent connections from the Maryland end of the bridge is the problem.

[twk]

I am very disappointed about the WB&A bridge. I live nearby and often look longingly across the river waiting for the connection. This is the bike equivalent to not having a bridge across the bay. There are no real viable alternatives without 15-20 mile (or more) detours.

Not only is it supposed to be part of the East Coast Green-way, but also the American Discovery Trail.

The fundamental problem is how these things get funded when you cross boundaries. So PG Co. has money now and AA Co. does not. Just watch, later AA Co. will have money and PG Co. will have spent its funds elsewhere.

Should inter-county bike connection be a state concern?

I know this is on WABA's list of unfunded projects. I have not seen WABA start a campaign to muster the troops to help make it happen.

[washcycle]

I've not heard WABA talk about it much. It's a little far from Washington frankly. I'd write WABA, One Less Car and Friends of AA Trails and ask them to start an advocacy campaign for this. It really is a critical missing piece in the area bike network.

[twk]

I agree it is a little outside WABA's area of focus. Usually there is very little focus on PG Co. in general. However the WB&A bridge was listed in a recent WABA mailing asking for money. I had not thought of asking writing OLC.