Imagine being able to hop on a ten-speeder in Bristol and work your way around Bensalem, up to Newtown, through Doylestown, detouring into Warminster and eventually ending up in Quakertown, all while traveling on either shared roadways or bike trails.
This vision of an interconnected network of bike trails that weaves a web all around Bucks County gained the unanimous approval of the Bucks County Commissioners Wednesday morning.
"This would be a great asset for Bucks," said Rob Loughery, who was re-appointed chairman of the commissioners on Monday.
With the plan approved, it's now time to implement it throughout the county's 54 municipalities. That's where a Bucks County Task Force hopes to step in.
Formed in 2008, the 10 members of the Bucks County Bicycle Task Force formulated a comprehensive plan for a county-wide network of bike paths and facilities that would make bike travel around Bucks easier and more attractive.
According to the 200+ page master plan, the county came up with the blueprint, but it's up to individual townships or boroughs to put the pieces together at their own reasonable speed.
"To be able to achieve this long range vision," the plan says, "the foundation for the overall bicycle network will need to be developed by the local municipalities through defining and implementing their own municipal or multi-municipal bicycle master plan."
The members of the task force developed a toolkit, or guidelines and resources for the municipalities and their planning commissions to use while formulating development plans. Wider shoulders, more shared use signs and smoother paths are just a few of the recommendations that city planners are advised to keep in mind.
The trail plan created 12 major spines, or paths, that would serve as the backbone for the network, with smaller subdivisions, or spokes, sprinkled along the way. Of those 12, the task force identified three that they feel are high-priority projects:
- A Doylestown/New Hope Connector that will provide a link between the end of the new Route 202 Parkway and New Hope, creating a cross country bike route in Central Bucks.
- A Levittown/Woodbourne Connector that would link the Levittown and Woodbourne SEPTA stations, providing a critical bicycle route for Lower Bucks County.
- Quakertown Trail which would connect to Lehigh County through the Saucon Rail Trail.
The task force also plans to forge partnerships with organizations that can help educate the public and generate excitement and interest in the bike trail network.
The study cites several bike groups that already exist in and around the county, including the Central Bucks Bicycle Club and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. The economic, environmental and physical advantages of the activity has helped create more interest in recreational bicycling, the study says.
"If bicycling is to become widespread throughout Bucks County," the study says, "a move must be made to make the County a more bicycle friendly environment, including improved and additional facilities, additional bicycle amenities and increased education and safety opportunities."
Thanks
And to you Mike my apologies not all of us are idiots but the few that are speak volumes for the rest of us (the douch bags know who thay are) Thay are the same ones that run the hammer lane 5 under and wont yield even though you flash your lights. Come on dude I know thay piss you off your human a? I do pedal in the woods as well as the road that makes me a bad person? Thing is I dont during deer season just not a safe or smart thing to do even though I have every legal right to be there. When I ride for exercise or pleasure and I dont ride to work as I doubt in reality many of us do I try to pick rides that are safe and challenging and there are lots of them in bucks that dont invite risk. My family deserves no less of me As for the paved trail VS the bike lane time will tell. I say the first fatality given the same visual profile will be the cyclists in the bike lane not the woman pushing the baby stroller in the crosswalk. Thay call them blind spots for a reason. Oh by the way Jole I think I read your book wasnt it called YO LOOK AT ME--->>> no over here
I thought this was taught in cycling 101. Gues I'm wrong again.
If I have to share a roadway with you you should pay for its upkeep and be prepared to pay for any violation or accident you cause
We all pay for the upkeep of roads and other infrastructure via taxes. If you're getting charged a fee every time you hop on 611, 202, 309 or other local roads, you're the only one. Maybe you are as dumb as this comment makes you seem...
So If only around 1 -2% of the Pa residents ride a bike as their means of transportation, they are basically getting a free ride because they do not purchase gasoline licenses, registration, insurance inspection tolls etc.. Basically cyclist receive more than they put in. Hence my earlier posts referring to the 1%cyclists and the 99% everyone else.
An uncited assertion that 1-2% of PA residents bike without using an automobile, ever, seems astounding. I don't buy that by a long shot. Live up to your "name", and prove it. And if 1-2% do, PLEASE MORE! They're doing us a favor. Putting less crummy emissions in the air, requiring less highway upkeep (don't even try to tell me that a bike damages a roadway as much as a car, that's a joke of a thought!), increasing their overall health, etc. Hey, let's reduce the need to keep building bigger and bigger parking garages, how much did that ugly behemoth cost?
driving 10 years with out buying gas or having a drivers license or having your car inspected or paying road tolls or insurance? or, are you just correcting my grammer ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lol
google the following bucks county bicycle plan map 21 bill tea grants the truth is there but it will require some work other than pedaling you brains out.