SILVER SPRING, MD – What would it take to get more people to trade their car commute for a bicycle in the Washington, D.C., region? More bike parking? A place to shower and change clothes? More bike lanes and paths?
Participants in this week’s ReThink Montgomery presentation at the Montgomery County Planning Board will learn what 10,000 federal government employees think about bicycling – both those who regularly pedal around Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, and those who drive past them. Casey Anderson, a Washington Area Bicyclist Association board member, will share findings from a research poll delving into attitudes toward bicycling.
Those opinions, characteristics and experiences regarding area bicycling present implications for land use and transportation planning in Montgomery County, where planners have drafted many bike- and pedestrian-friendly community plans. Half a dozen recent plan drafts from Gaithersburg West to Takoma-Langley Crossroads feature well-thought-out bike connections to public transportation, jobs and other services.
Anderson will be joined by Richard Layman, a bike and pedestrian planner in the Baltimore area who has focused on urban revitalization for the last decade. He has worked on Washington, D.C.’s H Street and Brookland Main Street programs and hosts a nationally respected blog, “Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space,” that covers a variety of urban revitalization issues, with a special focus on transportation.
Layman says transportation-related investments are among the most significant factors in urban revitalization of neighborhoods. His presentation will consider strategies to encourage sustainable transportation in a suburban context. In particular, promoting suburban cycling requires approaches that help drivers make the switch to bicycling because, compared to urban areas, suburban conditions — the road network, traffic speeds, limited rights of way, and the distances between home and major destinations — tend to be challenging.
Anderson and Layman make up the second panel in the 2010 Planning Department speaker series, ReThink Montgomery. With presentations scheduled every week through the spring, the series provides an opportunity for the board, planners and the general public to hear from experts how nine elements of sustainability weave together and pose opportunities for planning great communities. Thursday’s session focuses on infrastructure.
Continuing education credits are pending for AIA members.
Who:
Casey Anderson, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Richard Layman, urban revitalization expert and transportation planner
What:
ReThink Montgomery Speaker Series
When:
7:30 p.m. April 15
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
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