Don’t look now but Baltimore’s bicycle infrastructure is starting to come together

As the lines were being painted between the curb and the parked cars on Maryland Avenue, Bikemore Executive Director Liz Cornish was out making sure everything was correct.

“We’re out there with tape measures making sure lines are going down in the right place,” Cornish said last month at the advocacy organizations’ offices at Co_Lab Baltimore, which are located right along the cycle track.
The two-way path that extends for 2.6 miles from Charles Village to Inner Harbor is known as the Maryland Avenue Cycle Track. It has been a long time coming. Fittingly, the project is set to be feted on Saturday with a two-wheeled parade from the Wyman Park Dell to Mt. Vernon Marketplace. It starts at 11 a.m. (Construction to repair the Mt. Vernon sinkhole has the full completion of the track somewhat delayed, but that isn’t going to stop the parade.)
But let’s zoom out for a bit: Baltimore’s bicycle infrastructure is starting to really come together.

The Maryland Avenue cycle track is making its way south and I'm ✨so happy!✨ #bikesafety pic.twitter.com/DVCoZDVoFV

— Jennifer Arévalo Ferretti (@citythatreads) October 7, 2016

For one, Baltimore’s bikeshare launched last week. The Cycle Track is also part of a larger plan known as the downtown bicycle network, which will have a total of 10 miles of bike infrastructure, six of which is fully protected. Construction is set to begin in the spring on a project called the West Baltimore Bike Boulevards, complete with speed humps and traffic circles made for bicycles. Another cycle track is also planned for Potomac Street in Canton.
“This is going to become the center of a much larger network that will encompass the entire city,” Cornish said.
The thinking is part of the advocacy group’s efforts to think holistically about not only bicycles, but transportation policy in general. Better options can provide more economic opportunity by making it easier for workers to commute, along with just making it easier to get around. In talking to technologists about they want from the city, transportation options are always near the top of the list.
Cornish is pushing for a stronger ordinance calling transportation projects to adopt Complete Streets, which include space for all modes of transportation, whether it’s cars, bikes, pedestrians or public transit. It would build on a 2010 bill passed through City Council, making it so that, “Anytime there’s a new road project, there has to be a much more comprehensive review for all modes of transportation,” Cornish said.
With the upcoming change in mayoral administration, Bikemore is also encouraging folks to identify transportation priorities using #DirectDOT.
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