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Bikemore Announces Interim Executive Director, Greg Hinchliffe

Bikemore is naming Greg Hinchliffe the Interim Executive Director of Bikemore. Greg is a Baltimore City resident, recently retired Captain at American Airlines, and has been a lifetime advocate for bicycle infrastructure improvement in Baltimore City.

He is a member of the Maryland Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, is the State Chair of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, a member of the Gwynns Falls Trail Council, the former Chair of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, and he helped organize Tour Dem Parks for the past 12 years.

"Having worked with Greg for many years on bike issues both large and small, I'm encouraged with the direction Bikemore is taking. Greg not only has a solid vision for what a truly bikeable Baltimore can be, but knows how to make it a reality. I look forward to working with him in his new role at Bikemore."  - Nate Evans, Bike Maryland

Greg will continue Bikemore’s daily advocacy work while we launch a national search for a new permanent Executive Director.

If you know of anyone passionate about bicycles with a demonstrated track record of advocacy and fundraising success, please let us know. Bikemore will publish a formal announcement and job description for that position soon.
 

Thank You to Chris Merriam

From initially sparking the idea of a Baltimore-focused bicycle advocacy organization at evening meetings with a small group of dedicated volunteers, Chris Merriam grew Bikemore into a professional advocacy organization that--while still in its infancy--has moved the needle significantly on projects in Baltimore City, and recently expanded into Baltimore County with progress on the I-70 trail connections and the opening of Towson bicycle facilities.

While Chris is stepping down as Executive Director, we look forward to his continued involvement in the organizational mission, vision, and strategy as a founding member.
 

Baltimore gets Federal Grant to plan for Bike Infrastructure in South Baltimore!

We here at Bikemore want to congratulate Baltimore City, The Department of Planning, The Department of Transportation, and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on the successful grant application for a U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) TIGER Grant to improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure along the Hanover Street Bridge and throughout the Middle Branch/ Westport / Brooklyn areas of South Baltimore. Bikemore signed a letter of support for the City’s application to the federal government for this highly competitive transportation funding program. We are thrilled that the US DOT selected Baltimore’s application and we look forward to working with all partners to help implement the grant. This is a prime opportunity for Baltimore’s biking and non-biking residents to advocate for stronger non-motorized connections between south Baltimore and the downtown core,

The 2014 round of TIGER grant funding targets projects that support reliable, safe, and affordable transportation options that improve connections for both urban and rural communities, making it easier for residents to reach work, school, and other ladders of opportunity.  According to ASLA, “US DOT prioritized capital projects that would create better connectivity for people to jobs, offer training opportunities, promote neighborhood redevelopment, and link neighborhoods separated by physical barriers such as highways and railroads.”

The neighborhoods of South Baltimore lack safe and equitable non-motorized access to the downtown urban core.  The US DOT describes their awarding of the grant as follows : “This TIGER Grant funding of $1.1 million will support a study to result in a corridor plan for the area designed to encourage development and private investment in the Middle Branch Waterfront and surrounding area. It will identify multimodal, bridge, and roadway typical sections that can best meet the needs of residents, businesses, and commuters. Transforming the existing Hanover Street Bridge over Middle Branch into a multimodal connection to the City center will open up new opportunities to the disadvantaged populations south of the city. The proposed solutions will aim to attract future development and private investment and prepare the corridor to become a gateway area of revitalization with improved connection to existing trails, parks, and other transit opportunities.” At Bikemore, we support the full inclusion of safe biking facilities as part of this plan, as do other key stakeholders.

This is exciting news for Baltimore as these types of projects support the City’s comprehensive planning goals of realizing the economic vitality, social equity, and improved quality of life that are the result of strong intermodal, non-motorized transportation projects.

Sources:

http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/TIGER14_Project_FactSheets.pdf

http://www.asla.org/land/LandArticle.aspx?id=44831

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BCDOT's Response To Bikemore's FY2014 Priorities

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Earlier this year, Bikemore sent a letter to Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) leadership, outlining a number of policy changes and infrastructure projects that we would like to see completed by the end of Fiscal Year 2014 (next July 1). We are pleased to report that BCDOT Director William Johnson has agreed to many of our requests, including:

  • Dedicating over $3 million in federal funds to designing and constructing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure improvements (all by Spring 2014), including:

    • Traffic Separated Bicycle lanes on:

      • Mount Royal Avenue between Guilford Avenue and McMechen Street;

      • Maryland Avenue, Cathedral Street, Liberty Street, and Hopkins Place between 29th Street and Pratt Street;

    • Standard bicycle lanes on:

      • Dolphin Street between Fremont Street and Biddle Street;

      • Preston Street between Howard Street and Washington Street;

      • Biddle Street between Park Avenue and Washington Street;

      • Monument Street between Fallsway and Washington Street;

      • Madison Street between Paca Street and Washington Street;

      • Centre Street between Paca Street and Fallsway;

      • Walther Avenue between Moravia Road and Glenmore Avenue;

  • Launching the city’s Bikeshare system (Spring 2014);

  • Finishing the Jones Falls Trail, including installation of new bollards along the Pratt Street section, additional signs, and completion of traffic signalization at the intersections of Gay Street and Fallsway, and Preston Street and Guilford Avenue (Spring 2014);

  • Implementing the Citywide Bicycle Parking Improvements program, which will place 500 high-quality bicycle racks citywide (Fall 2013);

  • Launching an interactive website and social media platform, which will include BCDOT’s planning studies, projects under design and construction with alerts and updates (Fall 2013);

  • Making available on the city’s Open Data site BCDOT’s street resurfacing list;

  • Developing a Complete Streets policy and design guidelines (by end of 2013).

We thank BCDOT, especially Deputy Director Billy Hwang and Bicycle & Pedestrian Planner Nate Evans, for their commitment to making Baltimore a world-class bicycling city. We look forward to seeing this great list become reality!

Slate Ranks Baltimore Drivers 5th Worst in the USA

In a fairly unscientific meta-analysis, Slate this week ranks Baltimore drivers as the 5th worst in the United States. Take a gander:

No. 5: Baltimore. Baltimoreans just can’t keep from running into each other. They were outside the top 10 in fatalities, DWI deaths, and pedestrian strikes, but their rate of collision couldn’t keep them out of the top five overall.

Read the analysis over on Slate.

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