Website to help cyclists on region’s trails

The Delaware Department of Transportation has completed a website that allows bicyclists, particularly J-1 students, in beach communities to find their location on trails and identify bathrooms, bicycle shops and other services.

A promotional campaign to officially launch Bike at the Beach is being planned to coincide with Bicycle Month, which is May. It was outlined at an April 1 Delaware Bicycle Council meeting by John Fiori, a DelDOT bicycle coordinator who assists the council.

Work on the Bike at the Beach website began a year ago and was completed in February, Fiori said. It was designed to assist visiting foreign students with J-1 classification from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who participate in educational programs, including graduate medical training, he said. The students typically arrive in May.

“This was all initiated a couple of years ago with our J-1 bike loan program,” Fiori said. “We were trying to establish something that the J-1 students, who arrive and are working in the resort areas, could use in order to find easier ways to get to and from where they live and work.”

A QR code or the DelDOT website will access trail maps between Lewes and Fenwick Island, allowing cyclists to track where they are biking in resort areas. An icon will track a user's location on the trail as they travel. Cards with the QR code will be distributed by the state describing the service.

“This is really interesting, and it ties into what we’re trying to do here in Rehoboth in terms of creating a less-stress bike network through town with signage and some bike infrastructure and the like,” Collins Roth of Rehoboth Beach told the council as he watched the meeting remotely.

The city is working on plans to improve its bicycle infrastructure, Roth said.

DelDOT’s website includes trail maps, information on the DART bus system and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, and advice on how to safely access retail outlets along Route 1.

The test run is in the resort areas, but it could eventually be extended statewide, Fiori said. The system does not track or record users, he said.

“We were hoping that this will help students be able to find some easier, less-stress ways to get from work to home and back," Fiori said. “But we decided this will be a good tool for anyone. So we’re going to be releasing this to the public and have them try it out and tell us what’s good, bad about the website.”

Moped discussion continues

The council discussed other options April 1, while awaiting DelDOT officials’ reply to the letter it sent in March making a second appeal for signs on paved state trails to make it clear that mopeds are banned. 

Council member Marty Lessner, who drafted the letter, suggested the group recommend changes to state law to further limit mopeds from trails.

One of the suggestions in the state’s reply to the first council letter proposing signs suggested the council pursue legislation. It also suggested the council investigate how other states have addressed the issue in an effort to help create a new Delaware standard.

Signs can create physical obstructions, especially along narrow paths used by cyclists, and pose safety hazards, DelDOT stated.

Some people have been riding mopeds, which are faster and more dangerous than electric bikes, on multiuse trails.

E-bikes can legally be ridden on the trails. Mopeds are banned from paved state trails and must be registered with the state Division of Motor Vehicles for use on roads.

With the use of e-bikes growing rapidly and mopeds also in the mix, there has been a backlash among pedestrians and riders of traditional bicycles who share the same trails.

The council wants to remove what members said are the more-dangerous mopeds in an effort to ease the tension among the different groups who use the trails and increase safety.

Complicating matters, electric bicycles, mopeds and electric motorcycles have similar appearances but very different capabilities. And there are three categories of e-bikes.

Delaware State Police Maj. J. Andrew Lloyd noted at the council meeting that it is not easy for police in the field to draw distinctions between the different vehicles and identify those being operated illegally.

“It’s so detailed, it’s nearly impossible for troopers or municipal officers to actually be able to identify the appropriate charge,” Lloyd said. “I think a goal could be to make broader definitions to make it easier to understand and apply law in situations.”

The council also discussed the importance of public education about safety issues involving mopeds.

Stephanie Johnson, director of planning at DelDOT, said the agency is planning a campaign on this issue. The agency hired a consultant that is involved in a similar campaign in Maryland, she said.