Bicyclists Unite! Call to Action in Columbia, Across America

Almost 80 people showed up at at the Wilde Lake Village Center on Wednesday to hear about a healthy, green and relatively inexpensive mode of transportation in Howard County.

It wasn't hybrid or electric vehicles that they discussed, or even a new ergonomic bus. They learned about biking in Columbia.

Jennifer Toole, an expert bicycle and pedestrian planner, spoke to the crowd, which included aficionados from veteran bikers to the occasional spin cyclist, on Columbia's needs as bike usage nationwide grows.

"It's wonderful for us to have this kind of expertise in our community," said Jane Dembner, organizer of the Columbia Association's Community Building Speakers' Series. "[Toole] is helping us make our pathway standards."

The event was especially timely because Columbia received $155,000 last month from the state to improve bike trails, curbs and signs.

According to the National Household Travel Survey, biking as a mode of transportation increased 24 percent between 2001 and 2009. Data also shows the average miles driven by Americans has leveled off for the first time in 40 years.

"People can't afford to drive their car for every single trip," Toole said. "Young people often can't afford a car."

According to data from the Federal Highway Administration in 2011, automobile usage peaked in 2004 at about 10,000 miles a year per person, and has decreased every year since. Until 2004, this number had increased steadily since the FHA began collecting the data in the 1970s.

Toole says this is not an accident or coincidence, but shows a real trend toward alternative modes of transportation across the country. She says local bikers and pedestrians should make sure to discuss the 94 miles of pathways in Columbia with legislators, to ensure biking is safe around town.

"We really learned the best stuff from Europe. They're really way ahead of us in terms of bicycle infrastructure," Toole said.

She showed New York City, Portland, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as some of the trailblazing cities in the United States in terms of biking innovations and cycle-minded municipalities. She said the most successful cities have a cooperative dialogue with their lawmakers.

Washington, D.C., is a close inspiration for bikers, Toole said, for its active bike share program -- 50 miles of on-street bike lanes, 64 miles of neighborhood bike routes and 56 miles of "stress-free" pathways. The city has also installed 1,600 bike racks to encourage even the casual biker.

"If we're going to make a change in the way the county government perceives cycling, we have to get more of the cycling community involved in making these changes," said Jack Guareri, an Ellicott City resident and president of Bicycling Advocates of Howard County.

Guareri and members of the group meet monthly with legislators in the county to ensure a dialogue mindful of bikers is kept during budget and safety discussions.

Toole mentioned these features of bike-friendly towns in the United States: 

• Bike lanes
• Bike-friendly road shoulders
• Highway overpasses and underpasses
• Green or highlighted paint on bike lanes
• Buffers on bike lanes in high speed areas
• Bikes trails near other transit spots like bus stops
• Speed hump crosswalks
• Bike path signs

A resident of Columbia, Toole established her own planning firm–Toole Design Group–which now has offices in Silver Spring, Boston, Seattle and Madison, WI. She has also worked with the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Federal Highway Administration and led the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

Toole is also involved locally as lead consultant for the Connecting Columbia project, an effort by CA to improve the pedestrian and bicycle routes throughout Columbia for health, recreational and transportation purposes.

Chris Tsien, of Columbia, says he sees Columbia moving toward making more bike-friendly pathways and coordinating trails with other modes of public transportation. He lived in Baltimore more than 20 years ago, and he says the differences between the big city grid system and the sprawled  highway roads around Columbia present different hurdles for creating a bike-friendly environment.

Tsien, who estimates he rides 3,600 miles a year, says commuters don't need to bike all the way to their destinations, but could be greatly served by easier sequential commuting. That means a commuter rides a bike a couple miles to a bus stop and then takes the bus the rest of the way.

"It's a different sort of thinking–it may take more time, but sometimes not," Tsien said, noting the backup traffic that sometimes snarls Route 32 and Route 29.

For interested residents, the Biking Advocates of Howard County will be having a Road Biking 101 training class at the Howard County Health Department on Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The course is free and is intended for novice bike riders.