Every great bicycle network improvement project, no matter how big or how small, started out life as a line on a map
Where does your community need improvements to its bicycle network? Even if you missed all the Delaware Bicycle Plan public workshops, we are still interested in your idea:
The “neighborhood connector” that recently linked the Jefferson Farms subdivision to the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway started out as a line – in fact, this line right here – on a map.
Every great bicycle network improvement project started its life as just a line on a map. Whether its a huge and ambitious project like the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway or the Lewes-Georgetown Trail or a little “neighborhood connector” that connected a community into a larger network someone – someone like you – first drew a line on a map!
If you have an idea – large or small – for a “low stress” bicycle network improvement that will enable more people in your community to access a nearby trail, or bike to school, to the store, to a restaurant, to the park, to a library or to work, we want to know! Let us know in the form below!
If you can, please also consider attending one of the remaining public workshops on the Delaware Bicycle Plan, which is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to get the bicycle improvements your community needs in an official plan. (If you miss this opportunity, your next opportunity may not come around again until 2027!) And let your neighbors know about these meetings. One person demanding a bicycle connection is a crank. But five people demanding a bicycle connection are irresistible!
Remember: the last Delaware Bicycle Plan was in 2005. You probably don’t want to wait another decade for the next one.
Upcoming Delaware Bicycle Plan meetings in Georgetown, Middletown, Dover and Wilmington:
Wed., February 22, 2017, 4-7pm Sussex County Council Chambers 2 The Circle, GeorgetownpastMon., February 27, 2017, 4-7pm Middletown High School 120 Silver Lake Rd, MiddletownpastTues., February 28, 2017, 4:30-7:30pm Dover Public Library 35 East Loockerman St, DoverpastWed., March 1, 2017, 4-7pm Wilmington Public Library 10 East 10th St, Wilmingtonpast
8 Responses
Thank you for this opportunity! I have an idea for a bike trail from my community to the Wilm-New Castle Greenway, because the sidewalk along Rt 13 is not ideal.
Gina Fleming Wessells, we want to hear all about it (click on link below)! Also, if you can, there is one (and *only* one) public meeting in northern New Castle County on Wednesday, March 1 (stop by anytime between 4 and 7PM) where you can talk to the state government planners putting the Delaware Bicycle Plan together *directly*. Social media is great. Emails are great. Phone calls are great. But in terms of advocacy, talking to folks face to face is a thousand times powerful. http://www.bikede.org/2017/02/16/delaware-bicycle-plan/
Who pays for these trails?
Beth Anne Poe-Houseman, these trail projects have mostly been funded over the past 5 years or so using something called the “Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality” program: http://www.bikede.org/2016/09/23/delawares-biggest-bike-project/
Just wondered such DE is in debt and school funding is going to take a hit? Thanks for the link. I’ll read it more later.
Beth Anne Poe-Houseman, it’s a good (and common) question. Nobody wants to build a trail (not even us) if it means a school, a hospital or a library can’t be built (or fixed). But the money used for these trails is totally separated, and segregated, from the funds used for schools, hospitals and libraries.So if a trail wasn’t built, that money could NOT be re-purposed for a school. (It could, however, be re-purposed to build a few hundred yards of a new road somewhere.)
Frankie Timmons Jr.
Please give us a more safe way to cycle here in western Sussex. You have spent a ton of money on safety at the beach so could you please focus on the rest of us who work here and pay taxes here? We like to exercise and have fun too once in a while.