WEST OCEAN CITY — Local legislators and bicycle advocates hosted a group of state officials earlier this week to discuss ways to make West Ocean City a safer and more usable place for bikers and pedestrians.
Worcester County Commissioner Bud Church called the effort one of his top priorities from a safety perspective for one of the most rapidly growing portions of the region: West Ocean City.
“We do have some issues particularly with some of our pedestrians and bikers from foreign countries”, said Church. “During the day, it’s easy to see them, but at night, there isn’t much lighting and they are walking or biking home from restaurants where they work and it’s very hard to see them on the sides of these heavily travelled roads. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Church pointed at well traversed roadways on both sides of Route 50 including Golf Course Road, Keyser Point Road, Center Drive, Route 611, and the area surrounding the Sunset Marina during a 30-minute bus tour.
“There are virtually no shoulders on any of these roads,” said Church, “so you either have to walk or bike on the grass or on the road itself, and in some spots, you could be walking in a drainage ditch.”
Yet, even though state officials were impressed with the ideas and saw merits of doing a project from a safety perspective, there are more than a few hurdles to conquer before anyone will see walking/biking paths, road upgrades or sidewalks in West Ocean City.
First off, West Ocean City is not technically a municipality, which could prove to be problematic for funding such a project.
This is a fact that Michael Maykrantz, president of the West Ocean City Association, knows too well.
“Finding funding sources will be our biggest challenge,” said Maykrantz, “but our idea was to install an inside loop along Center Drive near Ocean City Elementary School and Golf Course Road and that would tie into the shopping center area, which would also tie into the county park and ride. We just want to find a way to make the community safer for everyone.”
State officials pointed to certain grants that could help fund a project, including a Safe Route to School Grant for the area near OCES, but admitted the difficulty in West Ocean City getting certain grants because it isn’t a municipality.
On the other side of Route 50, Maykrantz envisions added improvements to the area around Sunset Marina and Route 611 for bikers and pedestrians as well.
“To me, Route 611 is a blank slate for what could be a nicer scenic corridor [for bikers and pedestrians] from Route 50 to Assateague Island,” said Maykrantz. “The road does have a nice shoulder to it, and with some upgrades, it has a lot of potential.”
But money isn’t the only problem, it’s also access to the portions of the roadways that would need to be widened or altered especially on the more residential side of Route 50 near the elementary school.
“All of these improvements, even if we had the money to build them, would be difficult because we don’t have the right of way,” said Ed Tudor, Worcester County Director of Development, Review and Permitting, “and getting the right of way to do projects like this can be very difficult.”
In addition, the old age of these neighborhoods, the way they were constructed, and obvious environmental conditions in the area will be additional hurdles to overcome.
The roads are narrow, and you can’t just widen them because there are drainage ditches and right of ways that we have to deal with,” said Church. “It will be a challenge.”
The solution, however, might be found in the state’s Transportation Alternatives Program which Governor Larry Hogan pumped $14.9 million into in September 2015.
The program is specifically focused on helping communities enact biking and pedestrian safety initiatives and to build new trails and improve existing ones. State Highway Administration officials hinted that West Ocean City might find more luck with the Transportation Alternatives program because federal money can be used for county roads and it doesn’t have to be tied to a municipality.
Delegate Mary Beth Carrozza, who was credited by Church as the driving force behind getting everyone in one room together this week, said a tiered approach might be the most effective.
“With that lack of right of way in mind and that being one of the challenges, I think it would make sense to start the effort on Center Drive because of Ocean City Elementary School and build support for the project from there,” she said.
Church stressed he feels from a pedestrian safety perspective Center Drive may have more traffic, but fewer pedestrians at night.
“Center Drive would not be my first choice on that side of the highway to start this project, but it might make the most sense to start there,” said Church. “Once residents see the aesthetic benefits of having a sidewalk on the edge of the roadway and their property, I think we’ll see support spread.”