Bicycle Advocates for Annapolis & Anne Arundel County (BikeAAA) started in 2013 as a project of the Leadership Anne Arundel Flagship program. A team of six volunteers set out to determine what efforts were already underway to promote biking in Anne Arundel County. After contacts with city, county and state officials as well as clubs, schools, bike shops and others, we found that the county lacked a bicycle advocacy group. Similar groups exist in other communities across the country and the city, county and state level. Here in Maryland, we have BikeMD at the state level, WABA for the greater DC area, and others in Montgomery, Howard, Baltimore and Frederick. However, here in Anne Arundel county and Annapolis, there was no such standing group.
An April, 2019 Capital Gazette feature was part of a monthly series celebrating 25 years of Leadership Anne Arundel. It describes how LAA provided the launch and supported the growth and success of BikeAAA. Click LAA and BikeAAA.
A community meeting of 30 attendees was held in March, 2013. This included representatives from the city, county and state level. A launch team brought BikeAAA to life in May, 2013 as an independent non-profit and later that year became a 501c3. In 2018 we achieved our original goal of reaching Bronze Bike-friendly Community status from the League of American Bicyclists. Our first safety program on Bike Commuter Safety was held at Chesapeake Bay Foundation in May, 2013. In June, 2013 we submitted input on the Anne Arundel County Bike/Pedestrian Master Plan Update. During the summer of 2013 we began accepting memberships and reached over 100 Facebook followers! In September, 2013 we were approved as a 501c3 non-profit. In early 2014 we formed a partnership with Anne Arundel County Police and Recreation & Parks Department to announce the Lifeline 100 Anne Arundel Century Ride and Making Health Happen health fair with the Healthy Anne Arundel coalition. In 2015 we launched a bike safety program which had over 5,000 public school children in bike safety rodeos and 750 free helmets distributed. The Anne Arundel County Bicycle Advisory Commission launched in November with BikeAAA president, Jon Korin, as chair. The commission includes both citizen members and representative of county, City of Annapolis and SHA and is focused on building out a safe, interconnected network of trails and on-road bike lanes. In 2017, the county hired its first full time bike/pedestrian planner and in 2018 introduced and passed the Multimodal Transportation Bill. In 2018 we reached a record-level of trail-building and road markings in construction, design and planning and more events and bike safety programs. In late 2018, Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis, with the support of BikeAAA, were designated a Bronze Bike-friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
For more on BikeAAA accomplishments and goals, see our BikeAAA 2021 Annual Report.
For more background and previous Annual Reports please visit ABOUT.