Downtown Towson is on the cusp of an unprecedented building boom. Over the next five years, the downtown core will fill up new restaurants, home
s, and offices that will bring new vitality to this area, but if we do not plan thoughtfully, this growth may also bring crippling levels of congestion.
We have a short window of opportunity to develop a transportation strategy for Downtown Towson. There is little room to build new roads without destroying businesses or established neighborhoods, so a lot of the emphasis must be on bicycling and transit.
Over the past year, Baltimore County secured funding from the Maryland Department of Transportation to develop bike lanes throughout Greater Towson. I would like to thank the members of the Fifth District Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, especially Stu Sirota and Allysha Lorber, for developing this proposal. I would also like to thank the Kamenetz administration for supporting the original request and an application for new funding this year.
The next step is to make the commercial core more inviting to bicyclists, which is why I have introduced legislation that requires bike facilities at new construction in Downtown Towson. I am also introducing a resolution that asks the county to look at a bike share program.
We also need a transit service in Downtown Towson. Right now, there are university buses and vehicles operated by the Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle Service. Residents should also have the option of using a shuttle service to visit destinations throughout the downtown area.
The notion of exploring this concept has bipartisan support. In 2005, Delegates Aumann and Frank requested that the Maryland Transit Administration look at the feasibility of a Towson Shuttle. I believe that conditions are more ripe for a transit service today, which is why Delegate Lafferty and I have written to the state seeking a feasibility study, and I have had discussions with Senator Brochin about institutional support for such a project.
It is time to move forward with these improvements, and quickly, so we are prepared for new growth in Downtown Towson.