Metro has identified more than 3,000 different projects it wants to undertake to help pedestrians and bicyclists, including adding 10 miles of sidewalk, improving 700 intersections and building bike racks at 400 sites.
The transit agency is looking at these projects as a way to help more people connect with its subway system and buses by foot and two wheels instead of by car.
"Bike and pedestrian access is a very cost-effective and convenient way for customers to connect to Metro stations," Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said in an email. "Particularly as parking is limited at certain locations, it's a viable alternative for some riders."
Already a third of Metrorail riders walk to stations, according to the agency. But Metro wants that number to grow. It also wants to quintuple the number of people who bike to stations from 0.7 percent to 3.5 percent by 2030.
The agency estimates that 45 percent of its rail riders live within three miles of a station -- a distance that could be biked or walked.
A new study, released last week, identified $25 million worth of projects to help accomplish the goal of increasing foot and bike traffic to Metro stations. But that is more than triple the $6.6 million the agency has budgeted over the next five years to pay for such work.
Some of that money went to the study itself. The agency paid consultants Toole Design Group and AECOM $293,455 to assess what projects the agency needed to do. Stessel said that's the equivalent of about 4 percent of the $6.6 million budgeted for bike and pedestrian improvements. "This kind of planning effort is a necessary step," he said.
Metro and regional communities lost out earlier this month on a $29 million federal TIGER grant to help pay for some pedestrian and bike improvements. Stessel said some of the smaller projects will still move forward, even without the grant, though.
Now, the agency is choosing which projects it wants to do first. Its goal is for every station to have at least 10 spaces for bike parking.
The agency already has several efforts under way. Early next year, it plans to open a bike corral at College Park where bikers can park their wheels in a secure cagelike structure.
The system is also trying out some new ideas, including adding on-demand bike lockers this spring at one or two stations. Metro currently has lockers available on an annual basis.
