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City aims to make bike travel easier, safer
By Kevin
Robillard
Capital Newspaper Staff Writer
7/23/08
Recommendations
include bicycle policy coordinator, infrastructure improvements
The philosophy
behind an effort to make Annapolis more bicycle-friendly is
best summed up by a favorite saying of Jim Urban, a city resident
and planner. "Annapolis has one of the best bicycle transportation
systems in the world," Mr. Urban says. "There are just too many
cars on it." Mr. Urban is serving on a committee studying how
to make Annapolis more bicycle-friendly.
As residents
switch from four wheels to two in reaction to traffic congestion
and high gas prices, the use of bicycles is more important than
ever, committee members said. The committee is expected to recommend
hiring or designating a single individual to focus on the city's
bike policies and making changes to the city's infrastructure
by adding bike lanes, improving shoulders, and removing grates
that catch bike tires. "It's all part of an overall strategy
to decrease automobile dependency," said Steve Carr, a city
transportation consultant who serves as chair of the committee.
"Most of this stuff doesn't cost a lot. It just takes common
sense."
The committee
was commissioned last year by Mayor Ellen O. Moyer and consists
of Mr. Urban, local bike shop owners, bike-riding residents,
the president of the Annapolis Bicycle Club, a city consultant
and a frequent critic of the city's transportation policy. It
will issue a final report in the fall, Mr. Carr said. The committee
examined data about where bicycle crashes happened in the city,
solicited advice and input from experts and members of the Annapolis
Bicycle Club, and also took several bike rides in important
areas in the city. An example of Mr. Urban's philosophy at work
is asking the city's Department of Public Works to fix an "incredibly
dangerous" dip between the road and the curb on Bay Ridge Road,
which they are scheduled to do some work on, Mr. Carr said.
The committee
also looking to make sure major roadways like Forest Drive,
Route 2, and Spa Road are bike-friendly. However, Paul Foer,
a former marketing specialist with the Annapolis Department
of Transportation who has become a vocal critic of the city's
transportation policies, said hiring or designating someone
to deal with bicycle issues for the city is the most important
change the city could make. "We have hundreds and hundreds of
city employees and not a single one is dedicated to walking
or bicycling," Mr. Foer said. "Nothing will happen without a
warm body."
While Annapolis
has several employees in various departments who work on bicycle
issues part-time, extremely bike-friendly cities like Davis,
Calif. or Portland, Ore., have city employees dedicated to biking,
who spend their time planning, applying for grants, and educating
the public, Mr. Foer said. But some solutions aren't so simple.
National guidelines and standards determine the widths of bike
and car lanes on the roads, which can make adding bike lanes
difficult, Mr. Urban said. A compromise to add more lanes may
involve painting stripes on the road, but designating them as
"road share" lanes for both cars and bikes. And not all improvements
can be made by the city. West Street, for example, could be
more bike-friendly, but is owned by the state. Forest Drive
is owned by the county. Some roads even switch between city
and state-ownership. "It makes for a very, very difficult management
mix," Mr. Carr said.
Mr. Urban
also noted that improving conditions for bicyclists will make
things safer for people using mopeds, Segways, or other non-automobile
forms of transportation to get around. But not all the improvements
need to be physical additions to the roads. Education - of both
drivers and bicyclists - also is crucial, committee members
said. As more people dust off their bike and head to the roads,
Mr. Urban said, they need to understand how to remain safe.
First, they should wear a helmet. Second, bicyclists should
act the same way cars do when on the roads. Anne Arundel has
a high rate of bicycle crashes involve bicyclists illegally
going against traffic - 35 percent, according to Barry Childress,
the advocacy chair of the Baltimore Bicycle Club.
Anne Arundel's
percentage of bicycle injury crashes is higher than the state
average, according to State Highway Administration data. "The
education of drivers is very important," said Burnell Vincent,
who regularly rides his bike throughout Annapolis and served
on the committee. "You can be comfortable sharing the road,
you just have to be used to each other." Mr. Vincent said the
behavior of divers can vary widely, from being excessively deferential
to excessively aggressive. Annapolis has a goal of earning a
bronze-level designation as a bicycle-friendly city from the
League of American Bicyclists by 2011. No city in Maryland currently
has the designation, although Washington, D.C. does. The committee
also wants Annapolis to earn a silver-level award by 2016. The
League awards the designations based on five criteria: what
has been built to promote cycling in the community, the availability
of cycling education, the amount a community encourages residents
to cycle, how well laws protecting cyclists are enforced, and
how well a community evaluates and makes plans about bicycle
usage. Mr. Vincent said the report will do more than gather
dust. "The people that were involved are active enough to make
sure this doesn't sit on a shelf," he said.
Published
July 23, 2008, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2008
The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
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