....shouldn't we always?
Aside from a few new bike lanes here or there as part of Operation Orange Cone, there hasn’t been anything new to bike on in Baltimore for quite some time. Even the new shared bike and bus lanes downtown need some refreshing. One small victory was gained in the deep mid-winter on the central bikeway of Baltimore. Baltimore City Public School System had closed the parking lot of the Guilford Ave cut-through due to conflict between cyclists and pedestrians with extended gate arms and chains.
A compromise was reached by the Department of Transportation adding signage to direct cyclists to the parking lot and yiedling right-of-way to pedestrians; nothing more than is asked in the regular course of travel by cyclists in all parts of the city…and world. By adding 3 simple signs, the dream of the Guilford Avenue Bicycle Boulevard lives on.
Quite a few more signs for bicycles will spring up over the course of the spring, summer & fall taking B’more to the next level of bicycle existence. No, it’s not Portland, Amsterdam, Copenhagen or even New York City. It’s Baltimore. Not only will the Park Heights and Southeast Bike Networks become reality, but construction on 3 trail sections will begin and an existing trail will be recognized.
Until the summer construction season, keep on riding, shake the remaining cold and yield to pedestrians. There are many events coming this summer that need assistance of experienced cyclists. Let’s get more of B’more outta cars and onto bikes!!!
As Bartles & James used to say, “Thank you for your support.”
18 comments
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03.07.10 at 10:26 am
ratherbebiking
I’m gonna take this in a negative direction for a second.
The Charles Village on street bike parking disappeared months ago, and was supposed to return with half the amount of spots as before. The signage remains up but the parking has yet to return. June if we’re lucky? How pathetic that only a year since it was installed, the racks won’t be there for their first ‘birthday’.
University Parkway Bike lane between 40th street and West Cold Spring Lane. Don’t forget we had a bike lane there just in case someone at city hall does.
We’re being directed against traffic on W Lanvale near St Paul/Maryland Avenue. It’s a nice perk but at the same time you have to wonder how many drivers see the signs. Sometimes riding contra-flow there I feel like I’m asking to get hit.
Hopefully the infrastructure there will follow soon enough.
03.07.10 at 5:26 pm
Nate
I feel your pain, Liam. Winter came on hard & fast this year and prevented any pavement markings from going down – Roland, Frankford, Frederick, Lanvale, St. Paul, etc. Those that did go down are already gone – Pratt & Lombard.
The crews were slated to get the CV OSBP back in, but the blizzards hit and they’ve been digging out and now they’re filling potholes. Speaking of which, it was a shame that the bike lanes were used as snow dumping grounds. For future reference, 311 is the quickest way to fix that.
03.07.10 at 6:46 pm
ratherbebiking
I remember hearing the discussion about Pratt & Lombard.
33rd street is a mess now with all these diagonal cuts in it made by the city. Not sure what they’re for, but they’ve given me two falts so far. There’s no good way to cross them and the “edges” are mighty sharp.
In other news, lots more people commuting as of this past week.
03.08.10 at 11:27 am
dukiebiddle
Nate, thanks for all the information.
I have recently noticed a particularly disturbing piece of bicycle infrastructure at the corner of Wyman Park Dr. and Sission St. just east of the Stieff Silver Building., heading east on Wyman Park Ave. At the Sission St intersection, heading east on Wyman, the bicycle lane is placed to the left of automobile traffic designated to go straight. The bicycle lane is clearly marked as intended for bicyclists going straight. Yet, on the other side of the intersection the bicycle lane is to the right of traffic, requiring bicyclists to cross the path of accelerating automobiles to get into the proper bicycle lane. This is clearly an example of bicycle infrastructure that is far more dangerous than no infrastructure at all.
03.08.10 at 11:35 am
ratherbebiking
dukiebiddle :
I don’t know. I’ve used that lane pretty specifically all the times I ride through there (it’s a regular part of my commute). Haven’t had any problems with it. Even when I’m going east on Wyman, drivers making a left yield and wait for me to get through the intersection 85 percent of the time. I don’t think this would be the case if I wasn’t near the middle of the road when I entered the intersection.
The other lane is set up to get cyclists on to the switchback down to Falls, right? I think that’s good to use “at your own discretion” kind of thing, so it might not be great to use if you’re not sure the driver behind you knows what it’s there for. Obviously if you were going into Druid Hill Park you would just stay to the right.
03.08.10 at 11:59 am
dukiebiddle
ratherbebiking, I think all the infrastructure heading into Druid Hill Park is fine, it’s the eastbound towards Hopkins that disturbs me. My imagination cannot create a way that that setup does not potentially create confusion for cyclists and drivers alike. Fearful of crossing the path of automobile traffic, I will not use that designated bicycle lane so I take my place behind automobile traffic in the thru automobile lane. It has to be remembered, that according to Maryland bicycle code, I am braking the law by not using a designated lane that is available to me. The only advantage of the current setup that I can think of is that it facilitates right turning traffic, which is not a safety consideration.
03.08.10 at 12:00 pm
ratherbebiking
True, but you could always argues you didn’t think it was safe.
03.08.10 at 12:17 pm
dukiebiddle
Nate, another issue I have is with the placement of the sharrow markers I often see in the city. It is my understanding that the ideal lane placement of the cyclist in a sharrow is universally understood to be directly above the sharrow markings and one is supposed to aim one’s wheels for the middle of the arrow above the bicycle marking. Yet, time and time again I see that the sharrow markings in this city are too far to the right and place the cyclist square in the center of the door zone.
Here is a good graphic in an internet posting discussing my issue:
http://isocrates.us/bike/2009/04/placement-of-sharrows/
I’m thinking that the minimal safe placement would be 13 feet from the curb, yet on Mt. Royal east of St. Paul, on Guilford for the first few blocks south of Mt. Royal, and in many other places, I don’t think there is even 11 feet of clearance in parking zones, and I have once been run off the road by an infuriated driver on Guilford because he felt I was taking too much lane. I don’t think the sharrow lane markers helped me at all in that situation, and most likely exasperated his assholeness by leaving him with the impression that I was in his space.
03.08.10 at 1:15 pm
Nate
Dukiebiddle – Sharrows have been a thorn in my side for some time.
Almost all installed over the past couple years have been done so incorrectly. Proper centerline of sharrow to face of curb is 11′; most are 8′ putting bikes in the doorzone.
03.08.10 at 1:37 pm
dukiebiddle
8′? Yeesh, that’s even worse than I thought. Keep up the good fight.
03.08.10 at 5:23 pm
blarg
What is the status of the Jones Falls trail north of Druid Hill Park, are actual painted lanes going to be installed contraflow on Lanvale, and is there any plan to change stop signs on Guilford to be Yield only for Bicycles/are bike ave markers going to be installed mid-lane?
Finally, is the city PD going to enforce bike/bus only lanes? NOBODY follows the rules. I constantly get honked at by thru-traveling vehicles in those lanes who are breaking the law. Also–bike hooks on the Light Rail?
03.08.10 at 9:33 pm
Johnny
I usually call 311 on people stopped in bike lanes for a while (which happens in Hampden and Roland Park a lot). BCPD hasn’t once even shown up, though the online “follow-up” says they did and that there was no violation. Hell, in some cases, the vehicle was also blocking a lane of car traffic, which I thought they might care about so that emergency vehicles could get through. But no. I don’t mean to harshly judge (or not) judge the BCPD. I know this is not exactly a town easy on its police force, whoever’s fault it is.
03.08.10 at 9:36 pm
Nate
Blarg – Yes, yes, yes, maybe, yes, me too & MTA
JFT Phase 4 (Clipper Mill to Cylburn) is at 95% design. JFT Phase 2 (Penn Sta to Inner Harbor) is at 90% design. Both will go to construction later this year.
Pavement markings on Lanvale will be in as soon as it warms up.
Guilford’s bike boulevard feasibility study is complete.
BPD could enforce the bus/bike lanes but renewed pavement markings & new signs are needed first. Otherwise every ticket written will get thrown outta court. I have yet to encounter a bus in the Pratt St lane, only cars. Since its for bikes & buses, I cruise down the middle of the lane at my speed – ignore the honks and be a 1 person CM.
Light rail bike hooks = suggestion for MTA
03.08.10 at 9:40 pm
ratherbebiking
I’ve seen the CCCirculators in the bus/bike lane a bunch of times, but lots of cars too.
03.08.10 at 10:55 pm
dukiebiddle
Yield signs for bicycles on Guilford? How exciting! By the way, the whole Guilford Ave. bike boulevard project is far and away my favorite piece of bicycle infrastructure in the city. I am so happy to be off of St. Paul and away from its honk-happy drivers that are infuriated that I’m easily going as fast as them. Just going at a more leisurely pace on Guilford has done wonders for my sanity.
03.09.10 at 4:11 am
blarg
Nate,
That post made me very happy. Awesomeness all around. Keep on fighting the good fight, and thanks for the update!
03.09.10 at 12:08 pm
Johnny
I second that: thanks for EVERYTHING you do for biking in Baltimore, Nate. Seriously.
03.10.10 at 4:23 pm
Nate
Glad to help! And the whole “Google Bicycling Directions” released today will feature detailed directions for B’more – they’re getting our bike map data that shows existing bike facilities and recommended routes