Home

  • Bike Plan Survey
  • MORE/Loch Raven Fundraiser

    • Bmore Bikes You Tube Twitter Facebook Group

    Baltimore Wins Federal Grant for West B’more Bike Improvements


    August 19th, 2011 | Categories: Infrastructure, Programs | 3 comments

    Last week, Baltimore learned it won two grants from the Federal Highway Administration.  Under the Transportation, Community and System Preservation Program, the Charm City Circulator was awarded $1.6 million to developed the “Star Spangled” route between the Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry.  The same program also awarded $1.7 million to develop bicycle & pedestrian infrastructure in West Baltimore. 

    A concept of the W. Baltimore Bike/Ped Loop

    Dubbed “Reconnecting West Baltimore,”  this project features the West Baltimore Bicycle & Pedestrian Loop: an off-road, multi-use trail which circles the “Highway To Nowhere” between Fulton Avenue and Stricker St.  Other improvements with this grant include developing bicycle boulevards and additional bike lanes connecting the communities to schools, markets, parks and transit stations.

    The candidate bicycle boulevards include:
     - Stricker St (from Pratt St to Harlem Park),
     - Hollins St (from MLK Blvd to Stricker),
     - W. Lexington St (from MLK to Stricker St)
     - Carrollton Ave (Lafayette Park to Hollins Market)

    Additional bike lanes are being evaluated for Pratt & Lombard Sts from Stricker to Frederick which connects to the Gwynns Falls Trail.  A bike route connecting Harlem Park to Lafayette Park is also being evaluated.

    As this project is in the preliminary stages, community meetings will be planned.  The Department of Transportation is excited about this project as the city’s bicycle network expands westward.


    • Curious About Guilford Ave

      Speaking of bike boulevards what is the status on the Guilford Street bike boulevard improvements that were supposed to have begun being constructed in the spring?  I’ve seen them fixing curbs, repaving one block and convert a 2-way stop to a 4-way stop (which I’m happy about, but sort of the opposite of what I was thought bike boulevard infrastructure improvements were about); but as of yet I have not seen one bicycle boulevard or complete street improvement.

      Actually, in front of the Board of Ed the other day I saw a construction worker moving one of the bicycle calming bollards so that now cyclists can no longer use one of the 2 passage ways (although, at least for now, the moved bollard has made it possible for cyclists to get by the gate in the same lane as cars; but who knows what the future holds for that bollard spot.  As of now it’s just really really confusing, with the bollards seemingly no longer functional as a cyclist calming gate.

    • http://bike.baltimorecommutes.com Nate Evans

      The road to constructing the Guilford bike blvd was not an easy one, Dukiebiddle.  Completion of the engineering went without incident, but once the project was advertised, delays began.  The sole bid on the project was rejected due to an exorbitant price tag. 

      Fortunately, DOT is able to include the bike blvd construction in an open-end city-wide traffic calming project.  The pre-construction meeting takes place TOMORROW!  The delay in construction worked to DOT’s advantage as two sections of Guilford were resurfaced and other minor utility work was completed.   Curious, where’s the new 4-way stop?

    • Curious About Guilford Ave

      Guilford and 23rd street.  

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=guilford+avenue,+baltimore,+md&hl=en&ll=39.315621,-76.612718&spn=0.010641,0.01929&sll=39.330825,-76.612639&sspn=0.010556,0.01929&vpsrc=6&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.315621,-76.612718&panoid=t-0S7OSfkzutWTc6fQibXw&cbp=12,182.52,,0,19.72

      They installed stop signs on Guilford a couple of months ago (previously, where was only a stop sign on 23rd. 23rd was one way, so I guess it is now a 3-way stop, and previously was a 1-way stop).  Personally, I think that’s a positive.  I’ve seen cars on 23rd almost flatten bikes and crash into cars on Guilford on a couple of occasions in the past.  It seemed the drivers on 23rd were unaware that Guilford had no stop sign before.  It certainly didn’t seem like a thruway sort of an intersection.

     

     


    The views and opinions on this website are those of the author and not of the City of Baltimore or the Department of Transportation. For official Baltimore City DOT news, please visit this page.