Record $20.7 million for cycling and walking approved by Delaware General Assembly in early morning vote
Funding for construction of the final phase of the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway was included in the state budget passed Friday morning.
The Delaware General Assembly voted early Friday morning to approve a capital budget for the state of Delaware that includes a record $20.7 million for cycling and walking improvements.
In each year since the passage of Walkable Bikeable Delaware in 2011 the state of Delaware has made substantial financial commitments to improving cycling and walking infrastructure in the state. The previous record was set in 2012 when the Delaware General Assembly approved an unprecedented investment authorization of $13 million. This morning’s vote, however, blows past that previous record.
The increased support for cycling and walking in the final budget passed this morning is all the more remarkable in that the legislature’s budget writers had less revenue to work with than they thought they would when Governor Markell made his initial budget proposal back in January and they reduced a number of budget lines in the capital budget as a result. But whereas Governor Markell’s initial budget proposed spending $19 million on cycling and waking, the final budget passed this morning actually increased that number by another million dollars.
One of the most ambitious projects that will now be completed with this authorized funding is the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway, a safe, direct, paved, flat and nearly uninterrupted non-motorized six-mile travel route between the Wilmington Riverfront and downtown New Castle. Another project that will gain additional momentum is the Lewes-Georgetown Trail, a 10 foot wide paved trail that will extend a total of 17 miles all the way from Lewes to Georgetown, creating the longest trail in Delaware.
We are especially grateful for the leadership of State Senator Dave Sokola, the co-chair of the committee that wrote the capital budget, and Governor Jack Markell. It’s not a coincidence that Senator Sokola biked to work yesterday (about 60 miles) and Governor Markell biked to work today (also about 60 miles).
RELATED:
• Walkable Bikeable Delaware (Strategic investment in cycling and walking)
• News Journal: “State agencies draw up a dream trail for cyclists”
• Lewes-Georgetown Trail Launches!
Delaware General Assembly First State Trails and Pathways Plan Georgetown to Lewes Trail Wilmington-New Castle Greenway
75 Responses
Yeah! How much is in Sussex County?
Donald Ray Smith, the largest amount will go for the construction of the final phase of the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway. But there is money in the authorization to make progress on the Lewes-Georgetown Trail as well!
Bike Delaware Awesome news! Love riding the trails, and rode Cape Henlopen State Park Trail loop this morning with friend from out-of-town. His 1st time to ride the complete loop 👍🏻🚵
It’s the best trail on the east coast between 2 beach towns. Hope NCC residents think about where they vacation too. The inland bays are a state wide resource and they are in embarrassing condition due to the lack of protection on the state level
Bike Delaware that is good news on the Lewes-Georgetown trail. How much progress do you expect?
Rode the Gordon’s Pond Trail this morning from Lewes to Rehoboth and returned on the Junction and Breakwater Trail. Love the loop!
Bill Trefzger We hope that Phase II – extending the trail west past Route 1 and under the Nassau Bridge – will now move move to design.
Bike Delaware thanks. That’ll run right past me! Excellent. Phase I isn’t even done and it already makes the ride into town nicer.
If you take a left when you come to the parking lot for the Gordon Pond trail at Herring Point, the trail goes to the marsh and you can go through Cape that way and see the giant walking dunes at the trail by the campground
Ryan Ryan Bradley
This wouldn’t have happened without the leadership and tenacity of Bike Delaware. Great job! Thanks for all that you do!
Randy Freed, thank you! We want to acknowledge our non-profit Walkable Bikeable Delaware coalition partners Nemours, Delaware Greenways and American Heart Association – Delaware who have been working closely with us on this for the last 6 years!
Rode the Junction Breakwater trail yesterday and it was as full as I have ever seen it.
Change the transportation engine!
Any idea when this bridge project is supposed to break ground?
Bill Trautmann, we’re going to write about this early next week. The construction contract should be re-advertised very soon (like within days).
Thank you, Bike Delaware.
Thank you, Bike Delaware.
How about some sidewalks!?
How about some sidewalks!?
I’m happy for the project but unhappy about where some of the funds came from.
I’m happy for the project but unhappy about where some of the funds came from.
Awesome!
And those with disabilities now pay ten bucks for a round trip bus ride. Something wrong with this picture
Irma Seabury, Beth Anne Poe-Houseman, Bike Delaware’s other major legislative initiative this season was a transit-oriented development bill to make it easier and more practical for people to be able to “age in place” – to stay where they are even when they can’t drive. It was endorsed by AARP Delaware: http://www.bikede.org/2016/04/14/bikes-and-transit-bill-advances/
Unfortunately Pandoras box was opened a long time ago with sprawl. NCC Councilman John Cartier tried to get a handle on it up there about 10 years ago. The leadership of my Union at the time (Amalgamated Transit Union Local 842) was working with him some what Unfortunately we have different leadership
Andy Longacre, While the Complete Communities bill passed by the General Assembly in May doesn’t directly prevent more sprawl, it does level the playing field so that the state supports walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly development instead of just more single-use subdivisions, shopping malls and office parks (where every independent adult requires a car to meet their mobility needs even if it’s only for a quart of milk or a child getting to school). http://www.bikede.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Bikes-and-Transit.pdf
How about some mountain bike trails closer to Middletown? 🙂
Ha ha good one
Gotta build a mountain first
Larry Trybus Don’t need a mountain for XC trails..
semantics
You say potato and I say vodka!
😉
At least we will see our tax dollars go to a productive project that so many can benefit from. Kudos!
And no monies for open space? I cannot use bike/walking trails
Bummer
Eydie Foster Beth Anne Poe-Houseman Really important point: Most of the money authorized this morning comes from federal ***transportation*** programs, which cannot be used for the purchase of land or easements. So this authorization wasn’t in competition with – and didn’t take any money away from – the Open Space program.
Thank you to our forward thinking legislature, Governor Markell and Senator Sokola.
I don’t quite see it like that. They have collectively done more damage to education in a negative way than anything they could do for bicycle enthusiasts in a positive way.
Add pavement to the shoulder of North Star Road! Near Paper Mill
how about giving it to schools to hire teachers and to give existing teachers raises, ride your bikes in parks and developements
It’s been shown that money spent like this brings many returns that frees up more money for more projects.
Where?
Rick Eller, these are capital budget funds. In other words they are not available for operating needs (like payroll). Also, while many people enjoy cycling for recreation, Bike Delaware’s mission is cycling for transportation.
The canal levies have nothing to do with ground transportation
I do enjoy biking around Delaware. With the dedicated trails and most roads have a significant shoulder.
I was also wandering if at any time it could be part of the budget to run a street sweeper around some of these large shoulders due to the amount of debris that collects there?
As a rider and a driver I notice that the bikes have to get close to the road to avoid the gravel, car parts, lumber, and other objects that occupy this space.
[…] Delaware, the state’s General Assembly just approved a record $20.7 million for bicycling and walking improvements, and the state has a very pro-biking, pro-East Coast Greenway governor (who took the time to meet […]
I personally have nothing against this but it frustrates me that the General Assembly especially certain members of the Leadership have no problem with this appropriation for something that is no more than a hobby for the affluent. These same Leaders also allow the basic transportation costs to go up significantly for those on fixed incomes and some are at the point they just can’t afford it. A 10 dollar round trip fare on the State’s Para Transit service is a Sin
Many people who are not rich use a bike to get back and forth to work. These places provide safe commuting options for those people to get to new job markets and earn more money.
Commuting on the Canal?????????
Bill Trautmann and Amy Roe, Bike Delaware’s other major legislative initiative this session was a Complete Communities bill, endorsed by AARP Delaware. The goal of this bill was to increase investment in multimodal transportation options – including transit. AARP Delaware strongly endorsed the bill because we need to make it easier for people in Delaware to “age in place” when they can no longer drive. http://www.bikede.org/2016/04/14/bikes-and-transit-bill-advances/
This is great. Thanks!
25 mil spent on bike and walk path and only one mil for police – Be safe!
Irma Seabury: 80% of these dollars are federal transportation funds. They cannot be spent on police (or schools or libraries or hospitals or anything else not related to transportation).
Yes, I can see the problem there
Irma Seabury In case you are interested, here is the federal law that sets federal policy and funding levels for transportation. Delaware receives between $200 and $250 million in federal transportation money each year from this law, which extends through 2020. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/fastact/
Kudos to Bike Delaware and their team to make this happen !
Thank you Chuck Hall!
We need a bike lane on munchie branch road and wolfneck road.
They lead from the highway to the bike trail.
Bout time. Been sick of hearing the bologna of how “bike friendly” and safe Delaware is…especially Sussex County, the land of almost N O bike lanes….
I’ve been kind of sick of hearing all the bologna about how our students are not “college and career ready” under the false assumption that state assessments are worthy of being a barometer of student achievement while our schools are massively underfunded but we get pork like this in our budget. Not that I’m complaining…
https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/delaware-approves-20-7-million-so-markell-sokola-can-have-safe-bike-rides-but-ignore-special-education-funding-bill/
I am not stating cycling enthusiasts should go without these things, but in the current state of our state economy, these are things that should go forward if we have a state surplus at a massive margin. But do feel free to disagree!
Kevin Ohlandt 80% of this money comes from the federal government for transportation system (capital) investments. The federal government does not permit this money to be spent on schools (or anything not related to transportation). It’s deeply unfair to criticize Governor Markell and Senator Sokola for failing to spend these federal transportation dollars on schools. Neither Governor Markell or Senator Sokola have any authority to re-program this money this way. (They can spend it on walking and cycling projects rather than new roads but they can’t spend it on schools or libraries or hospitals or anything not related to transportation.)
Be that as it may, it is just more pork. Even more distressing this comes at a federal level when IDEA Special Education funding at a federal level is at 37.5% of what it should be when the law was reauthorized in 2004. While that has absolutely nothing to do with Bike Delaware, it is symptomatic of a disease in our country where those who already have so much more than others get more while those who don’t have those luxuries lose out. I’m pretty sure an argument could be made somewhere that Delaware’s transportation grants from the Feds could be used to get rid of the Neighborhood Schools Act which has further segregated our schools, especially in Wilmington. Funding is twisted all the time in our state, this should not be an exception. Once again, though, I do want to reiterate this is not a slam against those who enjoy biking, but rather what I consider to be a misuse of funds during a time when others desperately need funding for more apparent reasons. With your permission, may I update my article with your comment?
Kevin Ohlandt , Please do. To repeat, it’s not within either Governor Markell’s or Senator Sokola’s discretion to spend these federal transportation dollars on anything other than transportation projects. All they have done is take about ~5% of those FY17 dollars and dedicated them for improving the state for people walking and cycling. And, given that Delaware is the deadliest state in America for pedestrians, it’s not out-of-line for the state to be making improvements that make it safer for people to walk and bicycle. Not to mention, that 2/3rds of Delawareans are overweight or obese and making it safe for people to be more physically active is a critical public health priority. And, if you are an environmentalist, every bike trip that replaces a car trip means less air pollution….These are urgent public policy priorities that have absolutely nothing to do with anybody’s “hobby.”
Thank you Bike Delaware for this information. I did update the article with this information and further comments of my own in regards to some of your last comments.
Kevin Ohlandt We appreciate the opportunity to comment. While we know nothing about the world of education policy and funding, we have been deeply immersed in the world of transportation policy and funding since 2010. In that transportation policy space we know what we are talking about.
Bike Delaware And I appreciate that. But Markell and Sokola have been deeply immersed in both. I would recommend doing a bit of research into what they have wrought with education and see how when something like this announcement is made it can make your organization look bad in light of recent legislation that did not pass in the Delaware budget. The average person is not going to know about how these funds are allocated, which I didn’t until you informed me. Which was also why I felt it was important to notate that in an update on the article. But I stick by my assertions that these are more pet projects than high need. Thank you again for the conversation.
A little expensive maybe 😬😳
[…] is the heart of what is wrong with Delaware. In an article by Bike Delaware, the group brags about how the General Assembly approved $20.7 million for bike trail improvements […]
Then fix this stretch between Hwy One and State Road in Rehoboth Beach please. Deadman’s Curve.
how about a train from Middletown to the Delaware beaches, get a lot of traffic off road
Rick Eller, that’s the future we’d like to see and are working towards. http://www.bikede.org/2016/04/14/bikes-and-transit-bill-advances/
Robert Chambers Justin Sieminski Cory Doppler Showalter
Poor old tire and chip roads will never be up graded, tourist don’t have to ride on them, that’s why. And there is not a school close by. Tired of paying taxes for everything else that doesn’t mount to a hill of beans to me, we need the old wash board, frost weakened roads black topped. Nock the alignment out on our vehicles.
I hope some will come to Sussex County! There is certainly a need!
This article was very similar to the one written last spring advertising funds for the last part of this trail? What happened?
Will it actually get build THIS year? Hoping so…