The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT) Draft Mass. Bicycle Transportation Plan is now available for public comment. Members of the public may review the plan and provide feedback online at https://www.mass.gov/service-details/bicycle-plan
MassDOT is focused on making the Commonwealth’s transportation system more sustainable – to make it safe for people to choose to walk, bike, and take transit for more of their daily trips.
The Plan is important because residents, members of the business community and visitors choose to use a bicycle for daily trips, choosing bike to work, to school, to run errands, for recreation or to reach transit locations.
The Draft Plan defines a vision for Massachusetts in which all people have a safe and comfortable cycling option for short trips. The goal is to have a plan which presents an action-oriented strategy which will lead to increased use of trails for short trips made by bicycling. Travel on designated bike and pedestrian thoroughfares will also lead to safer conditions, helping to prevent injuries and fatalities. The draft plan goes into further detail about the state of biking today.
In addition to the Plan, a companion document was created, called the Municipal Resource Guide for Bikeability, in recognition of the important role local cities and towns play. The purpose of the guide is to support cities and towns in their efforts to improve bikeability as the vast majority of roadways and shared use paths statewide are under local ownership. A draft guide was released in November of 2018 and an updated version will be published with the final Bicycle Plan early next year.
The Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board served as the steering committee for the plan. Over the last two years, the Bicycle Plan and Municipal Resource Guide for Bikeability were informed by public feedback and data analysis.
For more information on the Bicycle Plan and to provide feedback: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/bicycle-plan.
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