Baltimore County Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Our Vision
The 2023 Baltimore County Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan aims to improve walking and biking by expanding the on-road and trail networks, updating policies, and implementing new programs.
Vision Statement
Baltimore County will consist of an active transportation network that is safe and accessible to improve the quality of life and health for users of all ages, abilities, and demographics.
Existing Conditions
An existing conditions analysis was performed to better understand trends and issues for people walking and biking. Results of these analyses informed the development of recommended improvements to enhance safety and connectivity in the recommended bicycle network.
Existing Bike & Pedestrian Network
Baltimore County's active transportation network includes a range of different facility types, which includes on-street bike facilities, trails for walking and biking, and sidewalks. This includes roads maintained by the State of Maryland as well as by Baltimore County. As a key destination and trip generator, Baltimore City's bikeway network provides opportunities to connect with the City's multimodal facilities.
Demand Analysis
The demand analysis will help the County identify areas of potential demand for active transportation. This type of demand is often expressed as where people live, work, play, shop, learn, take transit, and access community services. A composite demand score will summarize the geographic distribution of active transportation demand in Baltimore County.
The map shows that the areas with the highest demand concentrations are located in Towson, Cockeysville, Dundalk, Catonsville, Owing Mills, Woodlawn, and Rosedale.
Equity Analysis
While all communities offer a variety of ways to get around, not everyone has equal access to a wide range of convenient, safe, and affordable means of transportation. Uneven distribution of active transportation infrastructure can provide health, safety, mobility, and economic benefits for some subsegments of a population, while increasing hardships for others. Locating concentrations of disadvantaged populations can be the first step in identifying and prioritizing those needs.
The map shows areas of highest equity need are located around Sparrows Point and Owings Mills, with other high equity need areas being largely concentrated around the boundary of Baltimore City.
What Did We Hear?
Residents want a well-connected network
Please continue sidewalk on Stevenson from Autumn Dr. to Brooks Robinson. A sidewalk already exists south of here from Old Ct but stops for some reason at Autumn Dr. This will allow for much improved walkability in the area!
A significant amount of residents do not feel safe walking and biking in Baltimore County.
Joppa Road is very wide and cars go very fast. Narrowing the street and adding protected bike lanes would do wonders for safety.
While bicyclists and pedestrians make up a small percentage of total crashes, they are overrepresented in fatal crashes. Pedestrians are involved in just 2% of all crashes and 32% of fatal crashes. Bicyclists make up 0.5% of all crashes and 5% of all fatal crashes.
Network Recommendations
The final network recommendations were informed by the existing conditions assessment and public input. This will set a framework for a connected, comprehensive network of complete street enhancements, low-stress on-street bikeways, and trail facilities for people of all ages and abilities.
This plan focuses on recommendations for roadways that Baltimore County can influence directly, so MDOT SHA roadways are excluded from the recommended active transportation network. While trail recommendations connect and coordinate with park facilities wherever possible, specific trail network recommendations were not developed for Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) property to avoid conflicts with DNR trail planning efforts.
Bikeway & Trail Network Categories
Bikeway & Trail Network
The recommendations for Baltimore County include...
- about 119 miles of shared use paths
- about 70 miles of on-road bikeways
- about 33 miles of complete streets
- about 256 miles of long term projects
The network recommendations can be viewed in greater detail by using the interactive map to the right.
The goal of the recommended on-road bikeway network is to provide connected and accessible biking options for users of all ages and abilities. A connected network with appropriate bicycle facilities is a critical part of achieving the Plan's vision of a safe, low stress network. Roadway modifications should be implemented in a way that enhances safety for all modes.
The recommended trail network includes both existing trails that are in need of improvement and new trail projects. Trails are defined as off-street paths that are completely separated from the roadway and are typically shared by people walking and biking. These paths can be found in many different contexts: directly adjacent to a roadway, following creeks or railroads, or in parks or recreational areas.
The recommended Complete Streets network consists of safety, connectivity, and accessibility improvements for road users of all ages and abilities. Such improvements can include pedestrian, bicycle, transit, motor vehicle, and shared mobility facilities and amenities. The implementation of these improvements through small projects can add up to big long-term benefits for these corridors. Opportunities such as roadway resurfacing or enhancements for an individual development project can be the first step in a corridor's gradual transformation. Corridor studies can also help the County to set a vision and identify feasible alternatives.
Pedestrian Priority Areas
Sidewalks are a key feature of a walkable community. The pedestrian priority areas highlights opportunities for sidewalk and spot improvements in the county. Additional analysis, site planning, and policy revisions are needed to develop and prioritize project lists.
Pedestrian priority areas were determined using a hexagon grid, with each cell being assigned a pedestrian priority score according to the sum of five data inputs. The hexagons were grouped into three categories based on a percent rank of their total score: high, medium, and low.
Implementation
Implementation can progress through collaboration with regional and state agencies, the private sector, and non-profit organizations. The implementation of the projects and strategies in this document will need to be completed over time and will depend on available resources.
Priority Projects
The prioritization process highlights which recommendations are most critical to the network. This helps the County determine which projects to prioritize for funding, either through competitive grant programs or County funding. Projects were prioritized based on inputs related to connectivity, demand, equity, safety, and existing facilities.
Prioritized tier 2 and 3 projects
Key Actions & Next Steps
- Network Implementation: Continue to refine the active transportation network and priority projects and pursue funding for implementation. See the performance measures below for detailed goals.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with stakeholders to prioritize and implement key policy, program and general practice recommendations.
- Enhance Progress Reports: Baltimore County prepares an annual report for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee. Consider releasing an annual progress report to inform partners and the general public about accomplishments and challenges.
- Virtual Interactive Map: Develop and maintain an interactive on-line map that highlights the recommended active transportation network and communicates priorities and progress.
- Funding Sources: Explore creative funding sources for Plan implementation.
- Maintenance Costs: Incorporate long-term maintenance costs into the development of cost estimates for the active transportation network and determine sustainable maintenance responsibilities.
- Adopt a Pedestrian Priority Area Implementation Program: Use the Pedestrian Priority Areas to formally structure a sidewalk implementation program that ensures improvements are made in the areas that need them most.
- Vision Zero Action Plan: Conduct a systematic safety audit of bicycle and pedestrian crashes to understand trends and identify crash risks. This effort should be coordinated with the Baltimore County Strategic Highway Safety Plan and Zero Deaths Maryland.
Performance Targets
Building upon the vision and goals, the performance measures recommended for each goal utilize available data, identify existing baseline metrics, and set future targets. These performance measures provide measurable indicators to monitor the implementation progress.
Stay Involved
Stay up to date on future efforts, and look through in-progress and past projects on the County Website.
