Ask Maryland to Fully Fund Bikeways and Complete Streets

Our community letter comments on the state’s draft six-year capital spending plan, the FY25-FY30 Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP), released last month by the Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT). You can take a deep dive on MDOT’s Capital Programming Web page.

The gist is that the state’s transportation-funding picture is dire, and MDOT was forced to propose spending drastically reduced from last year’s levels, including funding for critical safety programs. But we’re not done. The House of Delegates and Senate will consider the budget – both spending and Transportation Trust Fund revenue – during the 2025 legislative session, which runs January 8 to April 7. The General Assembly may adjust transportation capital spending in light of their own priorities and a revised revenue outlook, and it’s very likely that they will bring online new revenue sources via a Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA).

Our advocacy letter calls on Governor Wes Moore and the General Assembly to fully fund the Kim Lamphier Bikeways Program and Complete Streets Program, should current revenues allow that, and to prioritize those programs as new revenue sources are brought online.

See the full text below and sign-on to the letter:

Dear Governor Moore, President Ferguson, and Speaker Jones,

As a Maryland bicycling and road-safety advocate, I’m grateful for innovative Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) programs including the Complete Streets Program and the Kim Lamphier Bikeways Network Program, and for MDOT spending to build new bicycling infrastructure statewide, to boost transit, cycling, and walking, and to improve transportation safety for all road users. And I recognize the difficult choices that Maryland’s transportation-funding shortfall has imposed on you and MDOT under Secretary Paul Wiedefeld.

I support bringing new transportation funding online, in order to fully fund transit and active transportation projects and programs. As new revenue comes online, in particular, please prioritize two important programs whose funding was reduced in MDOT’s draft FY 25 – FY 30 Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP):

Reinstate and increase the funding for the Kim Lamphier Bikeways Network Program (CTP page TSO-3).

Per the CTP, “The program helps implement MDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan by filling priority missing links in the statewide bicycling network, and improving connections to transit, work, schools, shopping, and other destinations. By creating a more integrated and safe network of bicycle facilities, the program also helps advance the Maryland Transportation Plan’s goals of economic development and environmental stewardship, while strengthening the health and quality of life for local communities.”

However MDOT’s draft FY25-FY30 CTP allocates only $15,953,631 to the program, a $6.5 million six-year reduction to already modest funding. MDOT’s recommended amount averages less than $2.7 million per year, statewide. Yet the demand for capital grants for local bike infrastructure is huge. Compare that Maryland jurisdictions won approximately $40 million in federal Safe Streets for All program grants, many with bicycling components, in the program’s first two years. There is high demand.

We recommend that Maryland increase annual Lamphier Program funding to $6.5 million. That amount is just over $1 per year for each Maryland resident, a modest investment that will, again, advance “goals of economic development and environmental stewardship, while strengthening the health and quality of life for local communities.”

Restore funding for the Complete Streets Program (CTP page SHA-SW-6).

The draft CTP states, “Safety is a primary criterion in all of the projects and grants MDOT pursues, including implementation of the new Complete Streets Policy, the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, and the Strategic Highway Safety Plan.” In the draft CTP, this commitment takes the form of a Complete Streets Program that “will invest in prioritized corridors to reduce deaths and serious injuries for vulnerable users while also supporting the statewide safety, equity, and mode-shift goals.” Yet MDOT has decreased funding by $10.5 million from the FY24-FY29 CTP figure, to $86.5 million, an 11% reduction.

As a Maryland resident, I am proud to add my voice calling for investment in safe streets and safe biking including a robust, safe, connected Maryland bicycling network.

More about Maryland Legislation

WABA develops and advocates for state legislation to make bicycling in Maryland safer and more accessible and for state funding to expand Maryland’s bicycle network, working directly with legislators and Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) leadership and as part of the Bike Maryland coalition. We also work on broader road-safety, transit, and environmental legislation and funding, typically as part of larger statewide coalitions. The annual Maryland legislative session runs from January to April, but our work developing legislation starts the preceding summer.

We’re thrilled that several bills we worked on or supported were enacted in 2024, directing an MDOT Vision Zero Coordinator and public review process; the Better Bus Service Act, allowing bus-lane enforcement cameras (with bikes allowed); authorizing stop-sign cameras near schools in Prince George's County; and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act, addressing penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane.

Our 2024 advocacy included unsuccessful efforts that we will likely pursue in future years. (It often takes years to pass a bill. ) These include a Great Maryland Trails Act, an E-bike Rebate and Voucher Program bill, and a bill addressing maintenance responsibility for sidewalks and bike paths along state roads. Another topic on our list for 2025 is contributory negligence, a prejudicial statute that says that if a crash victim is even only 1% at fault, then they are liable and may not recover (full) costs and damages from the party largely at fault.

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.