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[cpzilliacus]

Baltimore Sun: City Council repeals part of fire code to accommodate bike lanes, development

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is weighing whether to sign legislation that would repeal parts of the city fire code to allow new bike lanes and encourage development projects, her spokesman said Tuesday.

The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve the bill, sending it to Pugh’s desk.

“Her only stance is that citizens be able to reside safely in their communities,”  said James Bentley, a spokesman for the mayor.

For months, the city’s Fire Department has been at odds with cycling advocates and developers over whether city streets are wide enough to accommodate their projects and large pieces of fire equipment.

[Laura]

Citizen Laura speaking on behalf of myself...

Appendix D of the fire code has been the bane of my existence for 15 of the past 16 months at my current planning position. I am a part of the interagency site plan review committee, and prior to the Potomac Street cycle track, the fire department did not care about street widths at all. They were not a regular part of the meetings. Then, one of the NIMBYs against the Potomac Avenue cycle track did some research and found the 20 foot street width rule for all new projects. Even then the fire department wasn't interested in getting involved until they were forced. Even after the mess with the project being cancelled, then the lawsuit, then the modification plans, the fire department wasn't super concerned. People brought up the hypocrisy with the majority of city streets and alleys being less than 20 feet yet being allowed to have parking on them and demanded that parking be removed instead. The fire department nonchalantly "allowed" for the street to be accepted at 19 feet.

I figured that was it, good, done, and that we'd never hear from the fire department again....wrong. Suddenly, they became a regular fixture at site plan review meetings and denied approval on every project that was build on streets and alleys less than 20 feet wide (for buildings under 35 feet) and 26 feet wide (for buildings over 35 feet high). This happened on infill projects, too, since most infill projects are technically counted as new construction in the city. I even questioned the fire department rep and asked "so why can't this infill rowhome be built if there's already rowhomes on this ten foot alley and that you already have a truck to serve them?" and he said because even though this would be an infill project it counts as new and they are against new construction that doesn't meet the standards. This has left many projects in limbo in a city that is shrinking and could use all of the growth it can get.

Frankly, I think this got a unanimous vote from the city council because it's negatively affecting development projects in every single district from moving forward. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mayor Pugh will sign it.

[TheOneKEA]

MDOT SHA posted several photos of the resurfacing of the Hanover Street Bridge today.

[cpzilliacus]

MDOT SHA posted several photos of the resurfacing of the Hanover Street Bridge today.

SHA? 

They  maintain exactly nothing in Baltimore City.

The Baltimore Sun ran this the other day: Hanover Street Bridge closed for repairs

[cpzilliacus]

Frankly, I think this got a unanimous vote from the city council because it's negatively affecting development projects in every single district from moving forward. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mayor Pugh will sign it.

New development in Baltimore is a good thing.  I get the impression that the standards in question  were arbitrary.  If there's a street design that really hinders the arrival of fire or EMS, then it  can be discussed as needed.  But  firefighters tend to know the area that they serve (especially their first-due response area), and I suspect they know how to get themselves and their vehicles to the scene.  There are several areas of Baltimore that have narrow streets for as long  as I  can remember (think Fells Point as one example).

[TheOneKEA]

MDOT SHA posted several photos of the resurfacing of the Hanover Street Bridge today.

SHA? 

They  maintain exactly nothing in Baltimore City.

The Baltimore Sun ran this the other day: Hanover Street Bridge closed for repairs

I misspoke. It was actually the MDTA that posted the photos, by retweeting the Baltimore City DOT Twitter account.

More photos appeared today and the DOT stated that the bridge resurfacing is almost complete.

[kj3400]

Bridge resurfacing is done.
I just rode over it on my way to work on the bus. It was so smooth, I hadn't noticed that it was repaved until we got to the end. Now all they need to do is repave the approaches and they'll be doing something.

[Mergingtraffic]

Baltimore city streets are like a museum.  Lots of old signage and original button copy.  Although GSV shows reworking on the US-40/I-170 frontage roads to update things.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2929774,-76.6455842,3a,75y,28.64h,85.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8dXTWmd_ZUD_N2aq7KEJDQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[roadman65]

Baltimore city streets are like a museum.  Lots of old signage and original button copy.  Although GSV shows reworking on the US-40/I-170 frontage roads to update things.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2929774,-76.6455842,3a,75y,28.64h,85.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8dXTWmd_ZUD_N2aq7KEJDQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

  Just like you will still find old MD span wire signals there while the rest of the state went mast arms quite some time ago.

[BrianP]

While I agree that the state has been going toward mast arm signals, there are still plenty of wire hung signals outside of Baltimore. 

Although I can think of one relatively new signal installation that is a wire hung signal.  MD 355 at Old Baltimore Road.  That seems to be a temporary installation.
There is construction happening near there.  But that seems to be to improve the intersection with Brink Road just south of there. 

Otherwise I believe new traffic signal installations use mast arms.  And some existing wire hung signals have been converted to mast arm. 

[roadman65]

While I agree that the state has been going toward mast arm signals, there are still plenty of wire hung signals outside of Baltimore. 

Although I can think of one relatively new signal installation that is a wire hung signal.  MD 355 at Old Baltimore Road.  That seems to be a temporary installation.
There is construction happening near there.  But that seems to be to improve the intersection with Brink Road just south of there. 

Otherwise I believe new traffic signal installations use mast arms.  And some existing wire hung signals have been converted to mast arm. 

Yes, you are correct.  Many wire hung installations still do exist outside of Baltimore, however most are being phased out.

Also, with big cities many tend to have their own different from outside the city.  New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and even Omaha both have different signals compared to the rest of the states they reside in.

Yes, but considering that other features of Baltimore was mentioned I would add to that as they are still not rushing or moving to replace the old wire hung signals that used to be the norm from PA all the way to Florida and MD was definitely one of them for sure.

[cpzilliacus]

Baltimore Sun op-ed: Stop caving in to Baltimore's bike lobby

The bicycle lobby seems to have taken over Baltimore. This tiny group claims on its web page to – in essence – control our city government. “We elected a new mayor and a majority new city council,”  it proclaims. Given the obstacles they have had the city lay in our streets, their boast seems true.

Bike lanes have created problems for motorists trying to park on Roland Avenue. On Maryland Avenue, the city has eliminated one traffic lane to create a bicycle lane, making it exceedingly difficult to go to the Inner Harbor. Many motorists now avoid that route by using St. Paul Street, which now is often clogged as well.

The city has been engaged in a mammoth project on West Mt. Royal Avenue installing a lane wide enough to accommodate two-way bike traffic. In the process, the city has eliminated all parking in the westbound lanes. Disabled people now have no easy access to the offices and businesses along the street. The mail carrier is blocked because the city has taken away his parking space. It is nearly impossible to deliver supplies to offices or provide maintenance services. Apparently to make room for all this the city also took out a row of trees along the median strip, which surely was not an environmentally friendly act.

[mrsman]

New designs planned for Druid Park Lake Drive (DPLD)

I do read articles in GreaterGreaterWashington and they mentioned plans for the city to narrow the roadway and possibly install bike lanes along this stretch.  DPLD is actually a very short stretch of street, but in terms of the project, this actually encompasses several streets that make up the park's southern and western boundaries (including Aurchelontory and Reisterstown).

https://ggwash.org/view/83598/baltimore-looks-to-right-size-druid-park-lake-drive

I'm a little miffed that ggwash posted their story after the comment period ended.   

Here are more links.

https://transportation.baltimorecity.gov/dpldcsdesigneffort

This next link was a very clunky virtual meeting page.  I wished that this was all in one pdf instead of needing to click all over the place.  That was a waste of time, even though the information was interesting.

https://dpld.meetsyou.online/#/introduction

My thoughts and ideas (not what is proposed by the city): 

Druid Park Dr on the north side could be shrunk to one traffic lane in each direction without adversely affecting traffic.  Any extra space can be used for a 2-way bike lane alongside the park, which seems to be what many of the street activists like to see.  It's OK here.

The Reisterstown/Park Heights/Druid Park intersection has always been messy.  It used to be a traffic circle many years ago.  One idea I had was for R and PH to be one-way couplet between here and Cold Spring, with each roadway narrowed to two driving lanes (excess space for parking, and room on PH for bike lanes as well).  Another idea takes the same concept, but at a more minimal scale.  PH will still be two-directional, but R will be one-way southbound between Hilldale and PH (limited to two traffic lanes).  In this way, the number of movements at the big intersection will be somewhat limitied to three main directions:

DP, PH NB&SB,  PH NB & R SB

Traffic from the big intersection heading to northbound R, should just take PH north and make a left on Hilldale and continue onto R.  Doing this will remove one conflicting movement from the big intersection and make traffic better.  It will also allow for some narrowing of streets.

[The idea is inspired by Sunset/Santa Monica junction in Los Angeles.  Santa Monica ends at Sunset, so EB Santa Monica defaults onto Sunset at the intersection with Sanborn.  To get to westbound Santa Monica, you need to go on Sunset WB for one more block to Manzanita, and then make a left and then a right to continue onto Santa Monica.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0924051,-118.2803559,3a,75y,317.92h,84.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sS-lxjX1-L8Cge8kCCNUN0w!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DS-lxjX1-L8Cge8kCCNUN0w%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D129.81564%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
]

Regardless, the more recent improvements to R/PH/Druid Park are better than what existed previously.  Even though, I think that my idea would make it more feasible to narrow R to two lanes in each direction south of R/PH/DP.

South of the big intersection, Reisterstown should be narrowed to two driving lanes in each direction.  The section of Auchentoroly between R and Liberty Heights should be closed.  To accommodate the movement, a double left between R and Liberty Heights should be designed.

For the next section of road alongside the park, Auchentoroly alongside the residences should become a one lane quiet service road.  The thru traffic, that emanates from Liberty Heights (and partially from Greenspring) should be accommodated with two traffic lanes in each direction.  To keep things simple, the main roadway south of Libery Heights should be renamed to DPLD, but the service road can still be called Auchentoroly.

McCulloh and Druid Hill need to be maintained as a one-way couplet.  The parkside road should default onto those streets with a forced left turn necessary to reach DPLD or North Fulton.  I would also downgrade the "sweep: along this stretch of DPLD to make sure that the road is built as three separate signalized intersections: Fulton/DPLD, Druid Hill/DPLD, and McCulloh/DPLD. These three intersections should allow all possible turning movements (not just those that are permitted today).  Of course, DH is one way southbound, McC is one way northbound.  DPLD, east of Madison, can be shrunk to one lane in each direction.

All in all, a quite interesting project that I will try to keep tabs on.

[The Ghostbuster]

This might be the wrong thread for this, but is the city of Baltimore finally planning to tear down the former Interstate 170 freeway stub in the near future?

[74/171FAN]

This might be the wrong thread for this, but is the city of Baltimore finally planning to tear down the former Interstate 170 freeway stub in the near future?

I think it is fine.  I have found I-170 references in multiple threads.

[74/171FAN]

I just found out that the MD 147 Harford Rd Bridge was reopened on October 1, 2022.

[rte66man]

Wasn't sure this was the right thread so mods, please feel free to move it. Still not sure how the headline fits the body of the article.

https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/baltimore-leaders-apply-for-federal-funding-to-demolish-highway-to-nowhere

Baltimore leaders apply for federal funding to demolish "Highway to Nowhere"

By: Bryna Zumer
Posted at 12:33 PM, Oct 24, 2022 and last updated 12:30 PM, Oct 24, 2022

BALTIMORE – A longtime plan to rebuild West Baltimore's Route 40 - known as the "Highway to Nowhere" - is now moving forward.

Baltimore's transportation officials have applied for up to $2 million in federal funding to do a formal study on what to do with the 14-block stretch of the "Franklin-Mulberry Expressway," which slices through the heart of West Baltimore but was never finished, due to environmental opposition.

Oct 24, 2022
@BmoreCityDOT

Replying to @BmoreCityDOT
"This is an important step in directing resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and applying them to overdue infrastructure corrections for a community that's suffered from the impacts of the US 40 Franklin & Mulberry expressway for over 50 years."