VIEW: See PDF of Bike, Pedestrian Trail Proposal
Adminstrator Jeff Degitz said the Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks will look to the state for help in connecting the Eldersburg and Sykesville communities.
The Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks will submit its proposed map of bike and pedestrian trails between Eldersburg and Sykesville to the state, bringing the communities one step closer in a yearlong movement to connect, Administrator Jeff Degitz said.
The proposed map contains two new bridges and access from Raincliffe Road as north as MacBeth Way, which would also have a new trail connection where the road is now separated by a creek.
View the conceptual map as a PDF on the right.
Springfield Hospital Center was the obvious choice, with its hundreds of acres of public land, officials said before the community meeting in Eldersburg Wednesday.
The meeting followed two public hearings in the fall and winter, when residents discussed how to adapt the original "Freedom Trail" project started by Ross Dangel, which the county eventually shut down.
The Carroll County Commissioners voted, 4-0, on Thursday to proceed with submitting the grant application to the Maryland Bikeways program, Degitz said.
Latest recipients of the funding won route connections, signage and bike racks, with 20 selected in the initial round of grants, according to the state's website.
"Many are small-scale projects that will be implemented very quickly to improve Maryland’s cycling environment," the website states.
Degitz said he hopes to learn of the application's status sometime in July.
Larry Staudmeister
9:08 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Please address safe access to the trails by residents who live west of Rt 32. It appears that pedestrians, walkers, runners and bikers would need to cross the highway. Are overhead "trails" out of the question?
Diana Soliwon
10:59 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
That's a good point Larry -- I'm checking to see if that's being considered.
Diana Soliwon
12:14 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012
Good news: Degitz said the rec department has thought about this.
"Fortunately, the Town of Sykesville had the foresight to construct a tunnel under Route 32 during some road improvements a few years back that allows for safe passage on their existing trails from the town to the Warfield Complex area of Springfield," he wrote in an e-mail yesterday.
The feasibility study could also recommend pedestrian improvements at the intersection of Route 32 and Macbeth Way/Piney Ridge Parkway, but he said it's unlikely overhead crossings will be in the picture.