As scores of cyclists took to the streets of Baltimore yesterday for Bike to Work Day, city officials said they plan to create within a year a 12-mile bike route connecting North Baltimore's major neighborhoods and institutions.
Officials hope to turn around the city's image as one that is inhospitable to cyclists. They plan to carve bike lanes out of major roads such as Roland Avenue, University Parkway and 36th Street in Hampden.
"There is a tremendous amount of pent-up demand for bicycling in Baltimore. People are looking for bike routes, and they don't know where they can go safely," said Beth Strommen, a city planner. "There are some obvious routes out there that make connections to existing institutions."
The city has not updated its bike plan since 1978. Mayor Martin O'Malley revived the bicycle advisory board in 2000, and officials are working on a new bicycle master plan that should be ready by the end of next year. But even before the plan is finished, the city wanted to get a demonstration bike route started.
The route is to connect the Johns Hopkins University and Loyola College with popular biking attractions such as Lake Montebello and the Jones Falls Trail, which begins in Druid Hill Park.
Officials must hold community meetings to determine which roads would get bike lanes and which would get signs marking them as part of the route. Less-traveled residential streets are more likely to get only the signs.
Cyclists hailed the news as a major step forward for the city, which has almost no roads with designated bike lanes. The city also plans to add 38 bike racks around town with a $5,000 grant from the Baltimore Bicycle Club.
"That's great," said Greg Cantori, who has been commuting to work by bike for 20 years, usually sharing the road with cars and other traffic. "But that's just way too intimidating for someone who's just getting started. Signage and lanes is a great way to start."
Cantori, 43, rides his bike from his home in Pasadena to his office in Hampden most days. The 22-mile one-way trip takes him about an hour and 15 minutes. Recently, he said, a beautification program on Fort Smallwood Road near his home took away the shoulder he had used and added another lane for cars.
Six miles of the 5,100-mile state road network have designated bike lanes, far less than in other states, advocates say. They say that is part of the reason that only one-fifth of 1 percent of Marylanders ride bikes to work, according to the latest U.S. Census, while 74 percent drive alone in cars.
