The FY23 Federal Budget passed by congress and signed by the president in the closing days of 2022 includes support for several important bike and pedestrian access initiatives in Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis. We are fortunate to have such strong support for active transportation at the city, county, state and federal levels. All of these projects are part of or along the envisioned Anne Arundel Trail Network. Projects funded include:
Project Title: Trail Spurs and Connectors
Recipient Name: Anne Arundel County via MDOT
Project Purpose: This funding will be used to accelerate the design, right-of-way acquisition, and construction of spurs and connectors to the major trails traversing the Anne Arundel County. The new trails will help connect local trails with national trails including the East Coast Greenway and the American Discovery Trail.
Project Location: Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Amount Funded: $1,500,000
Project Title: West East Express (WEE) and College Creek Connector Trails Project
Recipient Name: City of Annapolis via MDOT
Project Purpose: The West East Express (WEE) and the College Creek Connector Trails are two connected and high priority trail projects underway in Annapolis that will dramatically expand the City’s trail network. This request would be used to build a significant portion of the West East Express and complete the design work on the College Creek Connector. The proposed trail alignments are long deferred visions that after many years of discussion and recent feasibility studies have succeeded in gaining significant local community support.
Project Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Amount Funded: $2,750,000
Additional projects include $4M for transit-oriented development of the Odenton MARC station including enhanced bike/pedestrian access and $3M to support a multi-modal transportation center in Parole at the Westfield Annapolis Mall. The facility will serve existing local and regional bus service, but will also be designed as an intermodal hub with possible future connectivity to modes such as bikeshare, carshare, and ride hailing services. To learn more about all of the local projects supported, read the Capital Gazette article.