Route 1 Reporter (https://route1reporter.com/tag/transportation/)
Officials from Maryland’s State Highway Administration say construction on the “missing link” in the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail could be underway by next year, if all goes according to plan.
In March, the state agency made speed reductions, narrowed lanes to induce slower car speeds, and implemented safer pedestrian crossings. Lowering speed limits is a mix of engineering and enforcement, but in practice mostly the latter. Without a design change, you need something to change driver behavior; and that’s a cop or camera.
VeoRide isn’t the only scooter game in College Park, it seems. Dockless escooter titan Bird has recently been seen in College Park hawking its “micro mobility” devices to newly-arrived students here for the fall semester.
Last week, an eagle-eyed reader spotted Bird representatives showcasing their scooters at an event in the parking lot of Vigilante Coffee on Baltimore Avenue. According to city officials, Bird scooters is not planning to launch a dockless scooter system in College Park. Rather, they are marketing their monthly scooter rental plans. Unlike a dockless system, subscribers are issued their own personal Bird-branded escooter for about $25 per month. Bird did not respond to media inquiries for this story. In August, College Park launched a new semi-dockless bike and scooter-share program with Chicago-based VeoRide.
The Maryland State Highway Administration is currently in the process of re-designing the surface of Queens Chapel Road in Prince George’s County. The bad news: it doesn’t go far enough to enhance pedestrian or cyclist safety.
College Park wants to launch its new dockless bike, e-bike and electric scooter program before the fall semester gets underway in August. There may be a hitch in the plan.
Scooters and e-bikes are on the horizon for College Park.
A 14-year–old Bowie honors student, killed by a motorist June 15, is the 150th pedestrian to be killed by a motorist in Prince George’s County since 2010, according to a Route 1 Reporter database.
Maryland’s Board of Public Works voted two-to-one to advance a proposal to widen I-270 and I-495 with toll lanes. Now, state officials can begin to solicit bids to build the project. However, transit advocates and environmentalists won some concessions that will dramatically re-order the three-phase proposed project.
You can now bike from downtown Washington, D.C., to Beltsville, Maryland, almost entirely on paved trails, courtesy of an effectively-complete, not officially-opened, extension of the Little Paint Branch Trail along Cherry Hill Road.
On the narrow question of does this project achieve it’s stated goals — shortening highway commute times — Maryland may have a success. But on the greater question of proactive, responsible planning according to objective public policy, this plan is highly suspect.