Robert McCartney: Welcome to Think Regionally, a monthly podcast about issues of importance to the Washington Metropolitan Area. It's sponsored by the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments or COG. I'm your host, Robert McCartney. Let's start by looking at some of bicycling's many advantages. I talked to Michael Farrell, a Senior Transportation Planner at COG. Why don't we start by having you talk a little bit about why it's important to support and promote bicycling in the region? What are the benefits?

 

Michael Farrell: Well, I think it serves a lot of different goals. I mean, we're trying to improve and accommodate our land use, which is to say we have a lot of traffic congestion. We have a lot of stresses on our systems, and I think bicycling can help fill a gap. I mean, it helps accommodate people who want to travel one or two or three or four miles. It's much easier to park a bicycle than it is to park a car. Bicycling can also help support community and neighborhood retail. I mean, bicyclists, they relate to the city differently. It's much easier to stop and pick something up or buy something or have a meal or whatever it is you want to do on a bicycle than in a car. I think in a car, people tend to whiz right past. And I think there is a tendency to underestimate just how much bicyclists can contribute to the local retail economy. Because for one thing, bicyclists seldom come into a store and complain that, well, they couldn't find parking.

Robert McCartney: Bicycling is also a plus for individuals' pocketbooks.

Michael Farrell: Bicyclists save money. Riding a bicycle is much cheaper than maintaining a car. I mean, the cost is really a small fraction when you consider gasoline, parking, maintenance, all those sorts of things. It saves space. It's greener. I mean, bicycling is the most energy-efficient form of transportation in existence. It is more efficient than walking in terms of energy expended, and of course it's totally non-polluting.

Robert McCartney: For all these reasons, biking's popularity has grown dramatically in recent decades. The percentage of people who bicycle in our region more than tripled from 2008 to 2018, according to a survey conducted by the Transportation Planning Board at COG. To both accommodate and encourage the trend, the region's leaders of undertaken and ambitious program to build what's called the National Capital Trail Network. It's to be a network of more than 1500 miles of interconnected mixed use trails. Ultimately, they will allow bikers to travel all over the metro area without ever having to worry about dodging an automobile. It's about half complete and expanding at a rate of about 27 miles a year, with efforts underway to accelerate construction. 27 miles a year. That's being added to the National Capital Trails Network. What are those? Are those bike trails? Are those bike lanes? What exactly are we talking about?

Michael Farrell: Those are overwhelmingly bike trails, which is to say what we call shared use paths, meaning they're meant to be used both by pedestrians and by bicyclists. And typically under current standards, that means 10 foot of asphalt. That means some kind of separation from the road, even if it's just a curb or something that's difficult for traffic to mount. It doesn't include on-street bike lanes, which are striped. It also doesn't include sidewalks, which are less than eight feet wide.

Robert McCartney: Although the construction process is slow, there are reasons for hope for progress. One is the substantial increase in federal transportation funding enacted under the Biden Administration. Another is something called the Complete Streets Policy. It says that unless there's an exemption, a new roadway is obliged to have facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

Michael Farrell: It used to be that if the state highway department wanted to put in, if an engineer wanted to put in a sidewalk or put in a bike trail as part of a highway project, he, it's usually a he, would have to put in a piece of paper requesting a specific exemption in order to be able to do that. Complete Streets is more like the opposite. What it means is every time you build a transportation facility, whether it's a road, whether it's a rail line, transit, whatever it is, you have to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists.

Robert McCartney: Frederick, Maryland has used bike and pedestrian paths to promote economic development in several neighborhoods. Mayor O'Connor described the one along Carroll Creek in the city's historic core.

Michael O'Connor: That is a really vibrant connection point from the east side of the city, about 1.3 miles through the heart of downtown. But it is active amongst pedestrians. It is active amongst bicyclists. It's a no-vehicle corridor, so it really is an opportunity for people to get through the town from one side to the other, right through the heart of the city, in an area that we've seen a lot of economic development and economic activity over the last 20 plus years.

Robert McCartney: Communities often build bike paths along the lines that railroads once traveled. Frederick is doing so in its East Street corridor.

Michael O'Connor: We'll have a 10 to 12 foot wide path that potentially runs several miles out of downtown Frederick out into communities on the north side. Giving people really accessible and convenient options for biking and walking into town or out of town depending on what it is that they're looking for. And there's a lot of opportunity for economic development in that corridor because it's an area that's been identified for redevelopment as the eastern side of the city sees a bit of a transformation from its pre-World War I, World War II industrial activities to more modern living, new apartment complexes, new people moving into Frederick. People who are looking for these kinds of connections when they're picking a place to live.

Robert McCartney: Improved facilities for bikers and pedestrians can ease burdens and increase opportunities for lower income and other disadvantaged communities. What do you see as the role of bike trails in promoting equity in the region?

Michael O'Connor: I think it's critical, particularly when you look at where inflation has taken some things over the last few years. So cars are never going to become less expensive, and as we move towards a greater electric vehicle fleet, there's a price point that is probably going to continue to remain out of reach to certain portions of our community. For them, a connected transportation system, whether it's access to mass transit or access to robust bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, is critical.

Robert McCartney: Let's talk a little bit about the politics of this. How do public officials such as yourself navigate the competing interests of road users and bicycle users? I mean, there's a lot of issues here in terms of giving up lanes for bikers or funding for bike lanes and trails. How do you navigate all that?

Michael O'Connor: Difficultly. It's challenging. It has to start with establishing the vision, and so I think where it works for us is that we're not just making it up out of whole cloth. It's in the documents that define the vision that we have for Frederick. It's in our strategic plan. It's in our comp plan. We've adopted a Complete Streets Policy. We've adopted Vision Zero. So we've done all of the work politically to say that it's important for us to be a multimodal, fully integrated community with all of these pieces working on behalf of our residents.

Robert McCartney: Even with popular support, it costs money to build new paths for bikers and pedestrians. COG and the TPB support jurisdictions like Frederick through special grants to jump start these projects, but it's clear that more funding is needed. O'Connor ended our talk by emphasizing that changes are needed in setting budget priorities.

Michael O'Connor: A lot of having conversations about advancing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure does require a rethinking of the funding models that we've traditionally used in terms of where we put our transportation dollars. We have been, I think, in the state of Maryland, uniquely focused on highway infrastructure and, to a degree, mass transit in the Baltimore and Washington Metropolitan Areas. We've not dedicated the same level of resources to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure at a more regional and statewide level. Bicycles are not going to pay for their infrastructure quite in the same way that you can tax gasoline or create a vehicle registration system on a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment. I don't think you could get away with that on registering bicycles and make enough money in order to pay for the system.

Robert McCartney: The whole point of building a network of cycling trails is to help people feel safer while pedaling. I spoke to Kalli Krumpos, a top organizer for both the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Capital Trails Coalition.

Kalli Krumpos: I think there are a very small percentage of people who say they're confidence cyclists, they would bike anywhere. But then there's a large group of people who say they're interested, they would consider biking if they did feel safe. Problem is that we don't currently have as many of those safe places or that those safe routes don't connect exactly to where people want to go.

Robert McCartney: As a result, a key to building a cycling network is ensuring that all the different trails are connected to one another. That may seem obvious, but it can be difficult to achieve. That's especially true in built-up areas where needs of bicyclists were ignored in the past, and there's little space today to insert a pathway. Gradually, however, connections are being made. Can you give me some examples of recent projects in the region that did a lot to improve connectivity? Some recent success stories, if you will?

Kalli Krumpos: Definitely. I think we have a long list of things that we're really excited about here. We'll start in Maryland. An example that I am also very excited about. This is a trail connection, the extension of the Trolley Trail, right along Rhode Island Avenue. This trail extension was just about half a mile from Hyattsville that connects the broader Anacostia River Trail Network. Where before there was just a gap, but now that this just half-mile extension of trail has been built, it gives trail users access to more than 30 miles of a trail network.

Robert McCartney: Another important connection in the works is a bicycle and pedestrian path to be included on the planned new Long Bridge connecting the district and Arlington.

Kalli Krumpos: This will be one of the only crossings that we have that is just for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the river. I think that will be huge. It is a much less stressful, much more pleasant way for people who are not in a personal vehicle to connect from DC and Virginia.

Robert McCartney: While bike trails fully separated from auto traffic are the safest option, there are many places where bike lanes adjacent to roadways are the only available alternative. In those cases, advocates urge what's called a road diet. This typically converts lanes used by autos to those to be used by bikes. It can also include other changes such as adding traffic circles or street islands to slow traffic and increased security of bikers and pedestrians.

Kalli Krumpos: So a road diet is a project that will reduce the number of lanes on a roadway. So often this means that by decreasing those lanes, we have a protected space for other road users. I just looked it up. The Federal Highway Administration cites that studies of road diet projects found that reducing the number of lanes dedicated to cars has reduced crashes by 19% to 52% in the projects that they looked at.

Robert McCartney: Needless to say, many drivers are less than enthusiastic about losing a lane on their commute or giving up parking space. Advocate's strategy is to emphasize safety.

Kalli Krumpos: As we look at road diets, often a very visible piece of that can be a bike lane. And that can become a lightning rod for pushback. But as we look at some of those roads, some of the places where there is pushback, there are safety concerns. So we're trying to reframe, this is really a project for all road users. It's not just about the people on bikes. So I think that's often a long conversation. It doesn't mean that people won't be concerned about losing on-street parking. But I think recognizing that safety is a high need that we really need to improve that.

Robert McCartney: Now I'll share some personal thoughts. The growth in bicycling in recent years is the product of both bottom-up activism and top-down strategizing. That is bicyclists have formed active lobbying organizations, such as those represented by our guest, Kalli Krumpos, that have pushed for more trails and bike lanes and for better safety regulations. Elected officials and transportation planners have responded to this grassroots pressure, but they've also supported bicycling because they see economic and environmental benefits for the entire region. The planned trails network of more than 1500 miles is only half-built, and at the current rate of expansion, will need about 30 years to complete. COG's Transportation Planning Board has urged the area's jurisdictions to speed up the process, and they should do so. The cost of bike trails and lanes is a fraction of the price of new roads and the benefits are numerous. The region has embraced this latest boom in cycling, but it can do more to ensure that it continues and even accelerates. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We welcome your feedback. Please email comments to thinkregionally, one word, @mwcog.org. This podcast is produced by Lindsey Martin, Steve Kania, and Amanda Lau. This is your host, Robert McCartney, urging everyone as always to Think Regionally.