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The Future Of Biking In My Hood
By spokesman | March 25, 2010
The County Council of Montgomery County Maryland has approved a new development plan for the White Flint area. I am writing about this because I live in the area but it brings up many issues for bicyclists. One objective of the plan is transform the suburban car-centric development that has evolved over the years into a community that is “more urban, more walkable, more transit-oriented, and less automobile dependent” according to Montgomery Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson .
While I like the idea, I have several concerns. I have written previous posts about development in Montgomery County that has been done without bicyclists and pedestrians in mind. If the current policies continue, I don’t see the area evolving as envisioned in the plan. Examples of previous posts discussing the bad implications for bicyclists of the current Montgomery Count approach to development are listed below.
One post entitled “An Absurd Ending To The ICC Bike Path” explains how a major highway through Montgomery County received approval to be built but the parallel bicycle path was killed due to environmental reasons.
Another post entitled “Bicycle Issues For D.C Metro” discussed how many Metro Stations are very inaccessible to bicyclists and pedestrians. The Grosvenor metro station near my house is in the White Flint area and was the inspiration for the blog post. The plan envisions the two Metro stations in the area and a new commuter rail station to be used by a significant number of people that walk to the stations. The stations and nearby roads will need a major redesign to meet that objective.
In both of those cases, bicyclists and pedestrians were secondary. In the redevelopment of the White Flint area, several major real estate developers who own large parcels of land will have significant influence in how the area evolves. Strong advocacy by pedestrians and bicyclists will be required to ensure that the area doesn’t evolve into an area of isolated office parks, shopping centers and apartments. The picture included in this post is from the Washington Post and shows a new building envisioned for the White Flint area. It doesn’t look like a very walkable area to me.
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Topics: Bikes and Politics, Bike Commuting, Washington DC |