Last Updated on June 18, 2012 3:49 pm
A group of 13 municipalities from across the state are slated to receive assistance with bicycle and pedestrian planning, thanks to $390,000 in grants awarded this month by the N.C. Department of Transportation. Now in its ninth year, the grant program helps North Carolina cities and towns develop a comprehensive overall strategy for expanding bicycle and pedestrian opportunities within a given community.
The municipalities are scattered across the western, central and eastern regions of the state. Recipients were selected from a pool of 20 applications by an awards committee composed of transportation planners from across the state, including representatives of both rural and municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations and councils of government.
Recipients this year include:
Duck (pedestrian plan – $24,800)
Trent Woods (pedestrian plan – $24,800)
Farmville (pedestrian plan – $20,000)
Clinton (bicycle plan – $22,000)
Southport (pedestrian plan – $24,800)
Wrightsville Beach (pedestrian plan – $24,800)
Fuquay-Varina (pedestrian plan – $31,500)
Angier (pedestrian plan – $20,000)
Chapel Hill (bicycle plan – $57,000)
Siler City (pedestrian plan – $24,800)
Boone (bicycle plan – $45,000)
Gastonia (pedestrian plan – $39,000)
Mount Holly (pedestrian plan – $31,500)
These municipalities are expected to initiate the planning process this fall.
About the Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Grant Initiative
The planning grant initiative is jointly sponsored by the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation and NCDOT’s Transportation Planning Branch. Funds for the initiative came from a special allocation approved by the General Assembly in 2003, as well as federal funds earmarked specifically for bicycle and pedestrian planning.
Since 2004, $3.6 million has been awarded to 135 communities through the planning grant program.
To learn more, contact Helen Chaney at (919) 707-2608.
*Below is the original article from WataugaRoads.com on February 26, 2012*
NCDOT has announced that a portion of 421 in Boone will get bike lanes, after revisting the idea. The section from Hardin Street to Old East King Street will get dedicated four and five foot wide lanes that will be marked on both sides of the highway, according to the Watauga Democrat .
Only a small portion in front of the Penny Wise gas station will not be wide enough for bike lanes.
Until this month, the plans for the widening project did not include bike lanes, instead opting for wider outside lanes to be shared by cyclists and motorists. A draft copy of pavement marking plans for the project indicates the plans were revised Feb. 6 to include bike lanes the paper reports. The revised plans have not received final approval.
The marking of bike lanes will take place when the contractor pours the final layer of pavement this spring.
