Group encourages more safe biking

A new map helps riders get away from the busy highways

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007

Members of a College Park-based bicyclists advocacy group created and distributed a map of safe bike routes in 2006, hoping to encourage biking as a viable transportation option.

The Mid-Maryland Bike Map, compiled and distributed by the College Park Area Bicyclists Coalition (CPABC), highlights bike trails and other routes from south Hyattsville to the northern edge of Laurel, covering about 240-square miles. The map includes part of the District and an eastern portion of Montgomery County, including Silver Spring.

It also includes routes highlighted in green, indicating a safe way of travel, while other routes are marked by yellow — stressing caution — or red, reserved for dangerous paths near busy, high-speed roads with narrow shoulders and little room for bicyclists, such as Route 1 in College Park.

Route 198 in Laurel and Route 212 in Beltsville is also highlighted red on the map, while roads such as Rhode Island Avenue in Beltsville are colored green.

Prince George’s lead the Washington, D.C., suburbs in biker and pedestrian deaths from 1994-2003, averaging 28 fatalities per year. The District averaged 18 deaths, with Montgomery County close behind at 16. Fairfax County averaged 13, according to statistics from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The CPABC has given out 23,000 maps at more than 100 locations throughout Prince George’s County, said CPABC President Bill Kelly, who recently moved from College Park to Howard County.

Kelly, whose group printed the maps with the help of a $7,000 grant from the State Highway Administration (SHA), plans to have a new map out this summer after receiving a $15,000 grant from SHA.

After consulting weekend bicyclists in Prince George’s and Montgomery and avid bikers who depend on their two-wheelers for local transportation, Kelly and other CPABC members said the map could encourage anyone hesitant to ride to work or school.

‘‘We understand that when you’re out there [on the road], you feel vulnerable, you feel unprotected,” Kelly said. ‘‘It’s a whole different world. ... When you’re stopped at a stop light with cars on either side of you, that can be very scary for people.”

Capt. John Brandt, commander of the University of Maryland police bike patrol unit and head of bike safety for CPABC, said the Mid-Maryland bike map could serve as a valuable tool for bikers who have sought alternate routes to work.

‘‘One of the things [the map] prevents people from doing is competing against traffic,” said Brandt, a university police officer for 27 years. ‘‘It takes a very experienced cyclist to navigate a road like Route 1, especially during rush hour.”

Many trails that avoid busy highways, Brandt said, are also flat riding surfaces, providing bicyclists with areas void of the steep hills that can take a toll on the avid cyclists.

‘‘You always want flat surfaces rather than hills,” he said. ‘‘You want a route that won’t exhaust you, since you don’t want to get to work wiped out and soaking in sweat.”

Jim Hudnall, CPABC Web master and member of the Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club, said advocates for alternate modes of transportation — which include many CPABC members — hope the map will open the eyes of people who live within a few miles of their workplaces.

‘‘We always encourage people to get out of the car and get onto the bike,” said Hudnall, an Oxon Hill resident. ‘‘A lot of trips are only a few miles, so there is no reason for a car.”

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.