Montgomery COUNTY

ICC Update

8/22/08

The Montgomery County Planning Board is weighing proposals for the final routing of the ICC hiker-biker trail, and we have good news and bad news about the campaign to make sure the route lives up to what was promised.

First the bad news: The Planning Board staff drafted a proposal put forward last month that called for permanently erasing the sections of the ICC trail that were slated to run through Upper Paint Branch, Northwest Branch, and Rock Creek Parks. The staff said the path would put too much asphalt in sensitive park land, even though the state is building a six-lane highway along the same route!

Now for the good news: After WABA and Montgomery Bicycle Advocates (MoBike) organized opposition to the staff's plan at a public hearing last month, the members of the Planning Board ordered the staff to study ways to put at least a part of the trail through the parks instead of routing it along busy surface streets as the staff had wanted to do. The Board told the staff to look specifically at ways to run the bike path through Upper Paint Branch Park.

You can help by sending an e-mail to (1) thank the members of the Planning Board for pushing its staff to study ways to route the paved bike path through Upper Paint Branch Park and (2) urge them to reject any proposal that calls for permanently canceling plans to build segments of the trail in Northwest Branch and Rock Creek parks.

You should point out that a hard surface trail suitable for cycling can be built without significant environmental damage by using boardwalk or other materials and construction that allow for natural drainage. Most importantly, even if the Planning Board decides to use detour options as an interim solution, it should preserve the option of building the trail across the parks in the future as funding and new technology become available to minimize the bike path's environmental effects. Otherwise, we will never get the complete, connected trail we were promised.

This is a fight we can win, because the members of the Planning Board have made it clear that they want to help cyclists get a path that will not force them onto high-traffic roads with dozens of driveways and intersections to cross. We need to make sure they understand that cyclists want a path that respects the environment without destroying the promise of an 18-mile trail that would make cross-county bike trips safe for bikers of all kinds.

Montgomery Planning Board>>

Staff Recommendation to Planning Board>>

Planning Department's Trail Study Page>>

Study results>>

WABA Calls for Dialog Over New

Trail Speed Limits

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), has called for a public discussion over the recent decision to erect new speed limit signs on the popular Capital Crescent Trail in Montgomery County. While the speed limit signs are just one part of a broader plan to help address concerns over trail safety, they have proven to be the most contentious. WABA, which was not consulted on the changes, urges all local cyclists that enjoy the trail to contact Mary Bradford, Director of Parks for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission to express your displeasure and to urge her to open up a dialog among all trail user groups to better address safety.

Trail safety is the responsibilty of all people who use the trail, whether they are cyclists, runners, skaters or people walking their dogs. However, with the new safety plan cyclists bear the brunt and MNCPPC's press release on the suject makes no mention of any efforts to educate all trail users on proper etiquette. WABA's other concerns about the safety plan are:

A 15 mph speed limit implies that 15 mph is always a safe speed, though in more heavily congested sections of the trail 15 mph may be too fast.
The behavior of other trail users such as runners, walkers and those with dogs is unaddressed. T
he safety plan includes no educational efforts to help address problems of trail etiquette.
Widening the trail in order to separate user types was not considered.

Only strong support from the cycling community will help us develop a safety plan that balances the needs of all users. Please click the "take action" link below for additional information and an email form you can use to send your comments.

>>WABA's Letter to MNCPPC
>>Speed Limit Press Release

>>Take action

ADVOCACY PRIORITIES

A Complete Streets policy for the County
Tracking of Bike Plan implementation
Met Branch Trail in Silver Spring
Better ICC Trail connections
A Bike Station at the Silver Spring Transit Center

LOCAL ADVOCACY INFORMATION

Montgomery Bicycle Advocates (MoBike)

webgeko@earthlink.net

http://www.internetigloo.com/mobike/

MoBike Listserv: Send an email to MontgomeryBike-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Bike Advisory Group Information

Montgomery County Bicycle Advisory Committee
Meetgs the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe Street, Rockville, Maryland, 10th floor conference room.

Montgomery County Bike Coordinator

Gail Tait-Nouri

(240) 777-7244

bike@montgomerycountymd.gov

MD State Bike Coordinator
Michael Jackson

mjackson3@mdot.state.md.us

Report a Problem

Roads: (240) 777-7632

Trails: mnc-community@mncppc-mc.org

Montgomery County Bikes Budget
posted 2/22/08

See below for detailed comments on the Montgomery County budget prepared by WABA, MoBike and the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail.

WABA's Budget Comments

Fund and Track Bikeways Master Plan Implementation
The award-winning Countywide Bikeways Functional Master Plan recommends a threefold expansion of the current bikeway system in the next 20 to 25 years. We urge the county to fund bikeway projects at the higher levels necessary to achieve the plan’s goals. To ensure steady progress, we ask you to set specific annual targets and establish a process for measuring and reporting against these targets.

Increase the Bikeway Program budget to $1,000,000 a year and Increase Staffing Devoted to Bikeways
We strongly urge expansion of the DPWT Bikeway Program to $1,000,000 to make better progress towards creating a bike-friendly county. We've already identified several new cost-effective projects suitable for this program. Moreover, DPWT only has one full time bikeway specialist but two are required to handle the work load. The situation is just as difficult at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) where one planner spends only 4 to 8 hours per week on bike issues, leaving important tasks unfinished. Please support M-NCPPC’s recent request for additional bike planning staff.
Fund Bikeway Maintenance In the FY06 DPWT Operating Budget, the County Council provided an additional $50,000 for routine bikeway maintenance, including sweeping of key routes several times a year. But it appears that no additional sweeping was performed, nor were expenses tracked adequately to determine if funds were spent on bikeways. Please direct DPWT to improve tracking and establish a bikeway sweeping schedule. Also investigate the purchase of a dedicated trail sweeping machine as the City of Rockville owns. Ensure that trail maintenance includes snow removal,, especially on the Capital Crescent Trail.

Fund Selected Alternative for the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Silver Spring
Our organizations supported the creation of a bike and pedestrian bridge over Georgia Avenue and a tunnel beneath East-West Highway for the Met Branch Trail in Silver Spring. This recommendation has since been adopted by the county as their preferred alternative. However, since the plan was selected in 2006 all work has ground to a halt. We urge the county to begin phase II of the project using existing facility planning dollars, and to begin to identify additional funding for the construction of the trail.
Fund Bike Safety and Education Programs for Children and Adults ($80,000)
Even if the engineering efforts to design and construct on-road bike facilities and multi-use paths are successful, efforts should be made to educate County residents on how to take advantage of such facilities in a safe and enjoyable manner. Throughout the Washington region, in-school bike and pedestrian safety education programs, and confident city cycling classes for adults, encourage the use of bicycles for transportation and recreation. New federal transportation dollars, both in 402 safety funds and through the new Safe Routes to School program, can be tapped.
Construct the US 29 Commuter Bikeway
The US 29 Commuter Bikeway is an opportunity to make bicycling a viable choice in an important transportation corridor. Maryland SHA has built key sections of the bikeway as part of its US 29 interchange improvements, but it's up to the County to join these sections into a contiguous facility. The County needs to begin funding completion of the missing segments.

Fund More Facility Planning Studies
The county must fund bike-related Facility Planning studies at a quicker pace if we’re to make any progress against the Bikeways Master Plan. Lack of studies has limited the county's ability to select good projects for implementation when the time comes. This year MoBike and WABA performed an analysis of key bike corridors and relevant gaps in Montgomery County. We especially looked for long and useful routes across the county. This exercise enabled us to identify important yet feasible projects and prioritize these projects. In light of that, we recommend that you begin study of improvements to the following ten key corridors and routes:

US 29/Colesville Road Corridor – In addition to the mostly unfinished US 29 Commuter Bikeway, this corridor is plagued by gaps at Northwest Branch and various Silver Spring locations.
Shady Grove Road – This linchpin of the planned upcounty bike route network has bike lanes east of I-370 but is all but unbikeable elsewhere; the bike lanes must be extended to MD 28
Woodmont Avenue – This street's one-way configuration is anathema to cyclists. No good alternate routes are available. Yet Woodmont sits between two CBD centers and two premier bike trails.
Connecticut Ave./Georgia Ave. corridors – Several small gaps in these corridors make north-south travel difficult for cyclists; these can be addressed by building linking paths in key locations.
MD 355 corridor – Required fixes include finishing the Bethesda Trolley Trail, making Woodmont Ave. a two-way street, addressing gaps like the one at Twinbrook Metro, and building path segments where planned all the way to Clarksburg.
Seven Locks Road – The section north Montrose Road must be improved for road cyclists; Seven Locks Road is the primary north-south route for cyclists west of Rock Creek.
Jones Mill Road – This busy bike route must be made safer for cyclists between Beach Drive to Jones Bridge Lane
Olney/Cloverly connections –Improve the main east-west route (Bonifant Rd., Good Hope Rd.) by adding continuous bikeable shoulders per the master plan. Improve access to Olney by adding on-road space on Doctor Bird Rd. and Norwood Rd.
Montgomery Village connections – Montgomery Village remains one of the most bike-unfriendly areas of the county. At a minimum, select two or three arterials for improvement to provide a tolerable grid of bike routes (e.g. Goshen Road, Centerway Drive, Watkins Mill Road, etc.).
Twinbrook Parkway/Parklawn Drive connections – These roads are obstacles to both north-south and east-west travel by cyclists. A better crossing of the railroad tracks is badly needed, for pedestrians living in new housing as well as for cyclists.