By Roland Oehme
Last month, Bike Maryland hosted its 15th Annual Maryland State Bicycle Symposium.
The symposium gathered bike enthusiasts, public policy makers, and
various organizations together to evaluate the state’s “bikeability,”
and where better bicycle policies are needed.
Here Carol Silldorff, executive director of Bike Maryland, answers some questions about the future of bicycling in Maryland and the United States.
1) Explain the Maryland State Bicycle Symposium and its purpose. Has the symposium met its goals?
The state symposium is an opportunity to
bring together decision makers, business leaders, legislators,
off-road, and on-road bicyclists to learn more about bicycle initiatives
and opportunities in Maryland.
It’s been hugely successful! This year
about 150 people attended. It’s an educational opportunity for all of
them. And the more people know about the environment or green homes or
alternative transportation or bicycling, the more opportunities will
exist for those things to be enhanced.
2) Tell me about your organization, Bike Maryland.
Bike Maryland is a nonprofit
organization and our goal is to increase the number of cyclists, to
enhance infrastructure, to support a pro bike agenda on the state and
county level (meaning advocating for pro-bike legislation), and to be a
voice for all bicyclists in Maryland.
We have a number of different programs.
One is our Bike Friendly Maryland program. The other one is our Bike
Minded program where we host free youth workshops and adult commuter
classes to make sure that those who are on the road are cycling safely.
And, we have lots of initiatives throughout a variety of counties to
promote and advocate for bikeability.
Our annual fundraiser is Baltimore’s
premier bike event and it is called Tour du Port. And, that is going to
be held on September 30. 2,000 cyclists get the opportunity to tour the
waterfront areas, historic neighborhoods, and parks.
3) How would you compare bicycling conditions between Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City?
New York has taken off substantially in its bikeability and bike friendliness, and DC is moving ahead quickly. They have Capital Bikeshare, the largest bike share program in the country. So, tourists can rent bikes to get around town for hardly anything.
Baltimore is moving up the ladder. I think Baltimore might have been rated 11th in the country, and Maryland was rated 10th in the country out of all of the states.
When you talk about green homes, just
having an environment that is bikeable is important. The best places to
bike are the best places to live, meaning the best places to live are
the best places to bike. It just enhances the quality of life.
4) What are the major challenges facing bicycling in Maryland and nationally?
There needs to be more awareness
campaigns, both for the cyclist and the motorist. There is not as much
as you would like to see taking place by the Department of Motor
Vehicles, the Maryland Department of Transportation, and some of these
other groups that really regulate drivers.
We would like there to be more education, more signage, more of an
awareness campaign. While I think we are doing great legislatively, we
just don’t have enough enforcement or education programs that are really
taking place in Maryland. So, there are a lot of pluses, but there are
definitely areas where improvements can be made.
5) What progress has been made in Maryland and nationally?
There has been a tremendous amount of
progress in just the last 3 years or so. There have been six bills that
have passed on the state level to really enhance bikeability. There have
also been a lot of things happening throughout the state on the county
level.
Baltimore City has fines now, so if a
car is blocking the bike lane, there is a $75 fine. We are seeing these
things pop up in other areas of the state, too. Baltimore City now has
bike racks on all of its buses. Bike Maryland was the organization that
made that happen, and now other cities are following suit with that.
Universities and businesses want to
learn how to be more bike-friendly, and now there is a program through
Bike Maryland where we can teach them to do that.
There are more bike lanes, a lot more bike facilities, more pro-bike laws, and more educational campaigns for the bicyclists.
6) What do you want to see happen in the future with bicycling?
Well, I would like to see organizations like Bike Maryland really get a lot of support and increased membership. ...
To read the entire article on SCGH's website, click here:
No comments:
Post a Comment