Officials accepting comments on bike lane network
Those with strong feelings about bike lanes have until July 6 to submit formal comments on Montgomery County’s draft “Bike Montco” plan, which calls for the creation of a network of 783 miles of bikes lanes by 2040.
If built, such a network would account for 17 percent of the county’s road system, a vast increase over the 1 percent that exists now.
Some of that 1 percent is newly minted in Pottstown, where eight miles of bike lanes are being completed.
Currently, only 19 out of 4,511 miles of roadway in Montgomery County have some kind of bike lane or marking, according to the plan draft.
The draft plan, now available for public comment, “imagines a Montgomery County where every citizen has the freedom to choose bicycling without fear of danger or difficulty and where bicycling is equal to any other transportation choice.”
The introduction notes, “Bike Montco is a bicycling plan and not a trail plan, so while it recognizes the critical role of the county’s trails, it emphasizes upgrades to the on-road bicycle system.”
Since the last county bike plan was created in 1998, the popularity if biking has increased in cities in the U.S. by 51 percent, according to Census figures.
Biking improves fitness, reduces traffic congestion and pollution from vehicles, promotes economic development and enhances tourism as well as enabling mobility for those without cars, according to the plan.
The bike plan seeks to further the goals of the county’s comprehensive plan, “Montco 2040 A Shared Vision,” by promoting “connected communities” as well safety, health and environmental sustainability and a vibrant economy.
One rationale the plan offers for the need to increase options for bicycle riders it “equity.”
“The development of a viable bicycle network promotes equity in many ways, from providing a relatively inexpensive form of transportation for vulnerable populations to creating recreational opportunities that can be used by people of all ages and making direct public and private investments in under-served communities,” according to the plan.
However, despite this observation, the draft Bike Montco plan calls for focusing its initial efforts in four areas of the county — Souderton and Telford boroughs, where the median household income is between $62,500 and $66,000; Upper Merion Township, where the median household income is $85,600; Ambler Borough, where the median household income is $57,200 and Whitpain Township, where the median household income is $121,280.
“By studying these focus areas in depth, the Bike Montco plan intends to demonstrate practical and achievable solutions for the county’s bicycle network that local governments and others can pursue,” according to the plan.
These focus areas are all in the eastern half of the county, despite the fact that results of a survey of more than 200 municipal managers showed the strongest “municipal support for onroad bike lanes” is in the western portion of Montgomery County.
But despite this and the fact that one of the plan’s goals is to “expand bicycling infrastructure in under-served communities,” there are no demonstration projects listed specifically for Pottstown (median household income $45,000) or Norristown (median family income $41,000).
It should be noted that Pottstown recently received a $130,000 Montco 2040 grant to help pay for improving the connection between the Schuylkill River Trail and the borough’s new Walk/Bike network of bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.
The county bike plan is also based, in part, on responses from a survey the county undertook and to which 2,200 people responded.
The survey showed that those responding were 84.5 percent white, 92 percent had a post high school education, were middle aged and 86 percent already had access to a bicycle.
And only one in 13 of those responding viewed Montgomery County’s biking environment positively.
The survey also identified the “greater Norristown area,” Lansdale, Plymouth Meeting and Abington as being among the most difficult places to ride a bike in Montgomery County.
The overwhelming factor discouraging biking was listed as too much traffic on busy roads, and the overwhelming solution favored by those responding to the survey was “designated bicycle lanes on the roads.”
It also highlighted that the single most popular place to ride a bike in Montgomery County is Valley Forge Park and the most popular trail is the Schuylkill River Trail.