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| A map of existing and proposed bike facilities. |
By Liz Cornish, Executive Director, Bikemore
Baltimore is one of 10 cities selected for the PeopleforBikes Big Jump Project, which aims to double or triple bike ridership in specific neighborhoods over three years. Baltimore City’s application looks to “jump” Remington, Reservoir Hill, Old Goucher, and Harwood forward as places that are safe for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to get around by bicycle.
Baltimore will receive $200,000 a year in technical support from PeopleforBikes. The other cities selected were New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Memphis, Austin, Providence, New Orleans, Fort Collins, and Tuscon .
Baltimore’s project will receive additional match dollars from the West Baltimore Innovation Village, Seawall Development, Hekemian Development, Pennrose Properties, and Healthy Neighborhoods. In total, more than $1 million in in-kind and cash investments will be made in our neighborhoods to promote improvements for biking.
“Communities are not looking at bikes as a catalyst for change on their own, but rather as an important part of the momentum happening to change cities for the better,” says PeopleForBikes Director of Local Innovation Kyle Wagenschutz. “Bikes are an inexpensive way to improve communities.”
Baltimore's project will focus on a safe connection for people to walk and bike between Remington and Reservoir Hill on the 28th Street bridge, as well as implementing the bike infrastructure outlined in the 2015 Bike Master Plan. The latter includes safe bicycle accommodation on Sisson Street, Huntingdon Ave., Remington Ave., 27th Street, and 25th Street.
"For decades, road design has prioritized car commuting through the 7th district over residents' ability to access the assets and opportunities that exist both within and outside our district by foot, bicycle, or public transit," said Leon Pinkett, City Councilman for the 7th District, which includes Reservoir Hill and Druid Hill Park. He describes the project as “an opportunity to refocus our priorities on improving quality of life for people living in and around Reservoir Hill, making jobs to the east and our world-class Druid Hill Park to the north safely accessible to residents who choose to walk, bike, or take transit."
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke and then-Councilman Carl Stokes joined then-incoming Councilman Pinkett in supporting the project.
Community input on the design of these improvements will be a focus of the grant. PeopleforBikes will bring national experts and extra funding for community organizing around safer streets to Remington and the surrounding neighborhoods.
More information can be found at www.peopleforbikes.com and www.bikemore.net.
