Baltimore County unveils new bicycle and pedestrian master plan

I may have been the only person to ride a bike to the public hearing on the new Baltimore County Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan.

I rode down Allegheny Avenue, which is a major Towson artery, then turned right on Washington Avenue, which runs adjacent to the old courthouse, before arriving at 105 West Chesapeake Avenue, where the hearing was to be held.

I was a little early, so I killed time at the Towson library and at a coffee shop on West Chesapeake. The whole way there—a modest distance of about a mile, but on at least two major Towson roadways—I saw no bike lanes. I locked my bike on Chesapeake at one of the two designated bike stands that I saw that exist for that purpose. I saw one other cyclist.

On my way to the library, a young man on an e-bike sped north on York Road, riding on the sidewalk, which, while certainly safer—York Road was characteristically heavy with traffic—may or may not actually be legal.

The hearing was to discuss the county’s first-ever bicycle and pedestrian master plan, released in early November as a 90-page (plus appendices) document with maps detailing what exists and what’s proposed and text detailing what may happen. The plan dovetails with previous Eastern and Western Baltimore County bike and pedestrian plans and will exist as an amendment to an overarching Baltimore County master plan.

It calls for 119 miles of shared-use paths (paved or unpaved, shared by bicyclists and pedestrians), 70 miles of on-road bikeways (the kind with graphics on the road to indicate where bikes go), 33 miles of Complete Streets (with safe and clearly delineated spaces for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, mass transit, and other amenities), and 256 miles of what are called “long term projects.”

“We are committed to sustainable and active transportation planning in Baltimore County, which will ensure our infrastructure meets the diverse needs of our residents and create more vibrant and accessible communities,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said in a press release announcing the plan.

People Want to Feel Safe

“A significant amount of residents do not feel safe walking and biking in Baltimore County,” the plan states, underscoring a major reason for its existence. “Fear of injury by motor vehicle, lack of sidewalk, bike, or trail infrastructure, and far distances were some of the barriers identified that prevent users from walking or biking.”

Crash data included in the plan find that even though bicyclists and pedestrians make up only a small percentage of total crashes, the risk of a crash being fatal is greater. Pedestrians, for example, are involved in just 2 percent of all crashes, but 32 percent of crashes that result in a fatality. Bicyclists account for 0.5 percent of all crashes, but 5 percent of all fatal crashes.

Exercise and relaxation were identified as the main reason why people walk and bike in the county, though Jessie Bialek, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner for Baltimore County, expects that to change as the plan is implemented and more people “who might be the casual biker will turn into the biker that uses their bike as one of their primary modes of transportation.”

Public involvement was key to developing the plan. Public opinions were sought via pop-up events, virtual meetings, an interactive website, and an online survey.

Towson, the county seat of Baltimore County, currently ranks 1,127 of 1,733 cities, or in the 35^th percentile, in the People for Bikes index of cities that are the best places to bike. (Towson, with a population just under 60,000, is the only city in Baltimore County that People for Bikes rates.) Towson is considered a medium-sized city, a category in which Davis, California, was rated number one. Implementation of the plan figures to boost the bike-friendliness of Towson and other parts of Baltimore County.

A Comprehensive Plan and a Limited Budget

This is a comprehensive plan, covering new trails, on-road bikeways, Complete Streets, and other improvements across three priority tiers. But implementation of the recommendations, as the plan states, will depend on available funds.

The county currently spends about $700,000 a year on bike and pedestrian projects. A table in the plan indicates that implementation of just the highest priority recommendations would take at least 22 years to complete at current funding levels, and possibly as many as 38 years, while addressing just 13 miles’ worth of the recommendations.

A more optimistic six-year funding window calls for minimum spending of nearly $2.6 million a year, or almost four times the current annual level, to fund the top recommendations. Bialek says she has about $2.3 million to spend on bicycle and pedestrian projects in the current fiscal year, and is optimistic about implementing the highest priority needs. “That’s not a huge lift for us,” she says. “So that’s very doable.”

Baltimore County is joining other jurisdictions in the region with comprehensive bicycle plans. Baltimore City released its own plan in 2015, and has built dozens of miles of bike lanes — some of which have drawn the ire of motorists and neighborhood residents. Media reports indicate that the city has nonetheless been falling short on what it promised.

Bialek says her office now has a quarterly meeting with the Baltimore County Police Department to discuss enforcement and related issues. “This is something that the county has just started up to see how we can be on the same page with these issues,” she says.

The planning board will vote on whether to adopt the Baltimore County Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan at its January 2024 meeting. If the planning board adopts the plan, it will then go to the Baltimore County Council for final approval.