TheWashCycle

Anne Arundel County establishes Bicycle Advisory Commission

Last week, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh signed an executive order establishing a Bicycling Advisory Commission for the County.

The commission will be chaired by Jon Korin, president of Bicycle Advocates for Annapolis & Anne Arundel County (BikeAAA), a nonprofit that promotes bike safety.

He called the group a stepping-stone to building an interconnected network of routes and signs that will include both trails and on-the-road bike networks. It centers on the 13-mile B&A Trail, which runs from Jonas Green State Park on the Severn River to Glen Burnie and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The county budgeted more than $400,000 to begin studying the feasibility of a bridge over Ritchie Highway at Anne Arundel Community College.

The B&A Trail is just across the highway from AACC.

There is also $3 million in the budget to invest in bike trails and road improvements that benefit cyclists.

Efforts to extend bike lanes stretch back to 2003, when then-County Executive Janet Owens released a plan to add 215 miles of bike lanes in 15 years.

The issue was addressed again in 2013 with a new set of recommendations, such as hiring a coordinator to facilitate new paths and trails. That position was never funded. 

Anne Arundel County Executive proposes 40 miles of additional trail, bridge over Ritchie Highway

Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh has proposed, a $13.1 million initiative to build 40 miles of bike trails connecting major population and commercial centers, but previous efforts have lacked for follow-through. 

The most visible project is a $3.3 million pedestrian bridge over busy Ritchie Highway near the [Anne Arundel Community College] — the only connection of its kind over the highway.

Efforts to extend bike lanes stretch back to 2003, when County Executive Janet Owens' administration released a plan to add 215 miles of bike lanes in 15 years. But the county did very little to follow through on those plans, said Owen McEvoy, Schuh's spokesman.

The issue was addressed again in 2013, with a new set of recommendations, such as hiring a coordinator to facilitate new paths and trails. That position was never funded.

"Ritchie Highway is very dangerous and we want to make sure cyclists can get across it without getting hit by a car," McEvoy said.

Profiles in courage...

Councilman John Grasso said he's waiting to hear back from constituents before he supports or rejects the proposed bridge project.

The Glen Burnie Republican questioned the prudence of the bond plan.

"They're all capital projects and we just don't have the money right now to do those things," Grasso said "In my opinion, it's something that can wait down the road."