By ZO\u00cb READ, Capital Gazette<\/p>\n
The State Highway Administration is spending $1.3 million to add bike lanes to Route 170 in Linthicum, connecting neighborhoods along the busy roadway with the BWI Trail and the North Linthicum light rail station.<\/p>\n
The 1.6-mile stretch will be the first SHA project in Anne Arundel County dedicated exclusively to improving bike access on a state road.<\/p>\n
Linthicum residents, however, say they have been caught off guard by the project, and worry about traffic and whether anyone will use the lanes.
\n…<\/p>\n
David Buck, an SHA spokesman, said a contractor will remove traffic lanes and shoulders to make room for the bike lanes on Route 170, also known as Camp Meade Road, between Andover Road and Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard. Completion of the project is expected next spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always looking for opportunities (to) slim down the number of road lanes and still have positive effects to other modes of transportation,\u201d Buck said.
\n…<\/p>\n
The lanes will connect to the BWI Trail, which loops around BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, at the intersection of Camp Meade and Andover roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to encourage the people that live in and near the Linthicum-Shipley community to bike to and from the BWI Trail,\u201d Buck said.
\n…<\/p>\n