Sussex County Council Includes Lewes-to-Georgetown In Its List of Transportation Priorities
Meeting yesterday, the Sussex County Council discussed its 2012 – 2018 Capital Transportation Program Request to DelDOT. Among the County’s identified transportation priorities is the 17 mile Lewes-to-Georgetown bike route, a long discussed and long overdue project.
Last week, the 6 mile Wilmington-to-New Castle Industrial Track, in New Castle County, became the first project in the state to benefit from the state bike route money voted by the General Assembly in June. The WILMAPCO Council voted to amend its Transportation Improvement Program, with $120,000 from state bike route funds to be matched by $480,000 in federal transportation (CMAQ) matching funds. By including Lewes-to-Georgetown in its list of transportation priorities to DelDOT, the Sussex County Council has made certain that Sussex County will be the next beneficiary of the General Assembly’s commitment to a Walkable, Bikeable Delaware.
Progress on the Industrial Track and the Lewes-to-Georgetown route (plus the C&D Canal Trail) already marks 2011 as the most remarkable year for bicycling that Delaware has ever seen. So we’re done, right? I mean all we hear about from Washington is how we’re broke, American can’t afford anything and we should all learn how to speak Chinese. Well, to quote a wise man (and Bike Delaware Board member): “Nuh-uh.” We are not done. Not even close.
2 Responses
Is there anything that cyclists in the southern portion of Delaware can do to aid in this funding? I know that there are many events around the nation set up to raise funding for a variety of causes. One such event is the Tour De Cure for the American Diabetes Association. The amount of funding these events raise is quite substantial, however the work involved with bringing such an event to realization is quite a lot, especially in the first few years of the event. The capitol raised by an event like a bike a thon is best realized when the event is made an annual happening.
Absolutely.
The bike route between Georgetown and Lewes (and Cape Henlopen!) will cost $13 million to finish:
http://www.bikede.org/WBD/Georgetown-Lewes_2011_08_22.pdf
$12,900,000 can’t practically be funded by bike rides (anymore than a road can be funded with car races). It’s a state transportation project that has to be funded with state revenue. So the critical thing that a cyclist in outhern Delaware can do is: find out who your state Representative and Senator is! Then check back on the Bike Delaware web site soon. We will be announcing an event in Dover in the spring that will be an opportunity for cyclists all over the state to meet, in person and face-to-face, their elected representatives and explain to them the critical importance of funding for bicycling projects.
See a complete list of projects in the First State Trails and Pathways Plan here:
http://www.bikede.org/2011/11/14/first-state-in-trails-yes/