By next fall, office park employees in Owen Brown should be able to safely cross Broken Land Parkway for lunch, and residents could hop on their bikes for a ride through Columbia.
A planned pathway along Broken Land Parkway from Cradlerock Way to Snowden River Parkway would make this possible.
“We think this is the right project and the right place at the right time. There is a lot of support for cycling improvements and pedestrian improvements,” said Brian Muldoon, a planning specialist at Howard?s Department of Planning and Zoning.
Howard officials plan to start building the 4,000-foot pathway late next summer, connecting office parks, retail, restaurants, Lake Elkhorn and neighborhoods. The pathway also will include bus shelters and crosswalks.
“There are a lot of good applications here,” Muldoon said.
The inspiration for the project came from a resident who has a physical disability and traveled to work by bus. She told county officials she couldn?t cross Broken Land Parkway to get to work, prompting the county to investigate and plan the project, Muldoon said.
The county received a State Highway Administration grant through a federally funded program for transportation enhancement projects, Muldoon said.
About half of the total $770,000 project is funded by the grant, he said.
The pathway also would connect to the county?s Spinal Pathway, which links a “network of trails through Columbia,”said John Byrd, chief of parks and program services in the Department of Recreation and Parks.
The Spinal Pathway, which is more than 18 miles long, has been a work in progress for more than 20 years, Byrd said. The county continues to add to the pathway, which runs to Savage Park along the Patuxent Branch trail.
Pedestrian access is a “huge issue for the communities” of Columbia, said Councilwoman Jen Terrasa, whose district includes the villages of Owen Brown and Kings Contrivance.
“I am excited about anything that enhances that,” she said.
IF YOU GO
What: Department of Planning and Zoning public meeting on proposed pathway project
When: 6:45 p.m. Oct. 2
Where: Owen Brown Community Center, Hopewell Room, 6800 Cradlerock Way, Columbia
