Jennifer Toole of the Silver Spring-based Toole Design Group will discuss how suburban areas can be more bike-friendly with the right planning for intersections and separation from vehicles
SILVER SPRING, MD –The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is hosting the second event in its 2016 Winter Speaker Series with a presentation by Jennifer Toole, president of the Silver Spring-based Toole Design Group. Free and open to the public, the event will be held on Tuesday, February 16 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD).
Toole will discuss the need to provide high-quality bikeways, now evident in cities, for suburban areas where the demand for safe bicycle conditions is growing. “Due to higher speeds on suburban roads, there is a great need for separation between bicyclists and adjacent motor vehicle traffic,” says Toole. “There is also a greater need to address issues at intersections, driveways and property entrances in the suburbs.”
Drawing on her experience in developing hundreds of bicycle master plans, Toole will discuss projects in the Netherlands and other locations to demonstrate the potential of bike travel in the suburbs. “Some designers throw up their hands when it comes to making suburban roads more bike-friendly, but it can be done successfully as shown in other countries,” she notes.
Toole says suburban bike planning must be undertaken to improve routes and facilities so residents feel comfortable riding for transportation and recreation throughout their communities. The Toole Design Group is currently assisting the Montgomery County Planning Department as it updates its Bicycle Master Plan.
About Speaker Jennifer Toole
President of the Toole Design Group in Silver Spring, Jennifer Toole leads a national firm of more than 100 planners, engineers and landscape architects who specialize in bicycle and pedestrian planning and design. The Toole Design Group has completed more than 200 bicycle master plans and designed hundreds of miles of bikeways throughout the United States. Among these projects is the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide, issued in 2015.
About the 2016 Winter Speaker Series
The three-part Winter Speaker Series focuses on new approaches to transportation. Smart Moves: New Ideas about Bikes, Cars and Transit addresses cycling, transit, trails and other alternatives to cars. The ideas generated from the series will help inform the Department’s current plans and policies, including the Bicycle Master Plan and Subdivision Staging Policy update.
The Winter Speakers Series is free and open to the public. The presentations, which include question-and-answer discussions, will be held at the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:
Session 2 – Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Jennifer Toole, President, Toole Design Group, Silver Spring, MD
Topic: Recent approaches to suburban bicycle planning
Session 3 – Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Jeffrey Tumlin, Principal and Director of Strategy, Nelson/Nygaard, San Francisco, CA
Topic: Smart development in transitional suburban locations.
Learn more: www.montgomeryplanning.org/smartmoves