Best of Bike Delaware 2013: CORRECTION: This Could Actually Happen…If We Demand It

Staff December 28, 2013 Most Popular 0

2013 Look Back: This post was originally published on September 25, 2013. It was the 4th most viewed Bike Delaware article of 2013.

Bring your kids. Bring your siblings or folks. Bring your friends and neighbors. You can drop by for 10 or 15 minutes and then leave. But, whatever you do, just show up.

What used to be a crazy, pie-in-the-sky scheme (a bicycle highway connecting the downtowns of Delaware’s largest and third-largest cities) is poised to become a real project with an official DelDOT Public Workshop TODAY!

But note the critical word: “poised“.

Big transportation projects get killed all the time when DelDOT workshops reveal public opposition to a project. Conversely, strong public support at these workshops can give projects a huge shot in the arm. Decision makers at DelDOT and among our elected officials are human. And they always have more projects that could be funded than they have funds. With a choice between two plausible projects to fund – one with a lot of visible and vocal public support and one with little or no visible support – which one do you think they are likely to choose to move forward on?

Do you live west of Wilmington? Do you want to be able to commute to your job in Wilmington by bike, or bicycle down to the Wilmington Riverfront and see a Blue Rocks game with your kids? Or to hop on an Amtrak train without having to pay for parking? Do you live east of Newark and work or go to school in Newark? Would you like to be able to bicycle easily in and out of Newark (i.e. not on Kirkwood Highway!)? Or do you just live in Wilmington and Newark and want your cities to be vibrant, thriving bike-accessible destinations?

This DelDOT “Public Workshop” is TODAY. Show your support – in person – for this project.

You could send a thousand emails over the next 12 months about this project and those emails might have less of an impact than just showing up and “voting”, in person, today in Newark for a few minutes. And if you show up with your whole family or six of your best friends in tow, that’s even better!

A lot of people – including Governor Markell – have worked hard to get us to this point. Now it’s our turn to move the ball.

Public Workshop
Newark-to-Wilmington Trail Study
Wilmington Area Planning Council
850 Library Avenue, Suite 100
Newark
Tuesday
October 1, 2013
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM