You gotta draw the line....

Ike Leggett presented his proposed FY09 Operating Budget today. His recommended Bikeways Maintenance Budget reminds me of a college friend many years ago who spent big bucks for a high end car. I asked him why he bought the leather seats and air conditioning, but did not have any exterior rear view mirrors. He said "You gotta draw the line someplace."

The proposed transportation Operating Budget increases funds for maintenance for roads from 18.7M$ for FY08 to 20.2M$ for FY09. The funding for maintenance for the 100+ miles of bikeways throughout Montgomery County that DPWT maintains was 100K$ in FY08, or about 1/2 of 1% of the roadway maintenance budget. It is proposed to go to 0$ in FY09. Yes, 0 as in zero.

The Georgetown Branch Trail (a.k.a. Interim CCT) between Bethesda and Silver Spring, pictured at right near the Rock Creek Trestle, is among the bikeways and sidepaths DPWT maintains that will have no dedicated funding for resurfacing, tree removal, erosion damage repair, mowing grass, etc. We can only hope bikeway surfaces stop deteriorating, trees stop falling across bikeways, bikeway shoulders stop eroding, and grass stops growing during FY09.

You gotta draw the line someplace.