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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Regional Biking Initiatives Picking Up Momentum With OC, Berlin, Salisbury Putting More Focus On ‘Red-Headed Step Child Of Transportation’

OCEAN CITY – The quest to connect many of the region’s neighborhoods and communities with safe bike lanes may still be slow, but advocates believe both support and progress is picking up speed and momentum.

The term “walkable/bikeable” has become not just a community buzz word in places like Berlin and Salisbury, but it’s also become a statewide initiative, with Governor Larry Hogan recently announcing a $14.9 million grant program focused on bicycle, pedestrian and multi-use trails across the state that would create a “more balanced transportation network.”

The Maryland Bikeways Program, which is administered by the Maryland Department of Transportation, offers grant assistance to local jurisdictions and other key agencies to help expedite the development of bicycle infrastructure where transportation efficiencies, multimodal travel, economic development and safety benefits are expected.

Essentially, that means municipalities now have financial incentive and, perhaps more importantly, a way to get that money, in order to improve communities to cater not only to the people who ride bicycles as a form of recreation, but also create safe routes for a growing number of its residents who are biking as a form of transportation.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

IF i have to pay to be on the road with a car to maintain roads so should bikes.

Anonymous said...

This is all about teaching people to be poor. Globalization is a race to the bottom for wages. Environmentalism is the excuse to tax whatever you have left.

In the future, you live, work, and play in a self-contained ghetto. You go home to your tiny apartment. If you can somehow scrape up enough money to travel you get government permission to leave the ghetto and you rent yourself a self-driving Uber car. You are no longer allowed to be free or self sufficient.

Anonymous said...

Freak!!

Anonymous said...

2:33 PM I agree with you and our States Attorney Matt Maciarello went to the City Council and demanded that they don't work out a deal with his own County by trading that forest for the skate park. The deal also involved the County paying for the land and there was not donation by the city. Matt Maciarello is a turn coat for Wicomico County and should be defeated during the next election.

Anonymous said...

Money spent on bikeway projects -- Too much money would be spent to serve very few. While they may be projects that are accessible to all, a small minority actually bikes. They can fund their own trails.