Why We Oppose the Potomac Street Redesign

The original South Potomac Street design was a two-way, parking protected bike lane consistent with Baltimore City's adopted NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide. It was an all-ages, high-quality protected bike lane.

Bikemore was supportive of an initial requested change by the Baltimore City Fire Department that would have reduced the portions from Eastern to Fait to the narrowest lanes NACTO recommends in constrained settings, allowing a wide, 12 foot travel lane on South Potomac. While we feel a lane of that width is inconsistent with the goal of slower, safer traffic on neighborhood streets, it was a compromise that still maintained the bicycle lane as all-ages.

The new design is not an all-ages facility. It is not a high-quality facility.

The section from Eastern to Fait will be moved adjacent to the travel lane, and will be striped with an unprotected buffer. This introduces two-way bike traffic in an unprotected setting, and gives a person driving a car the visual appearance of a 20+ foot roadway. Without frequent speed humps and other traffic calming measures, this will create a roadway where people driving cars will speed and possibly encounter people riding bicycles head-on. This is not low-stress, it's not all-ages, and without traffic calming measures, is unsafe.

FHWA guidance for a one-way facility

The section from Fait to Boston narrows the two-way parking protected bike facility to just 7 feet with a 1 foot buffer.

The narrowest two-way facility NACTO guidelines recommend in constrained settings is 8 feet with a 2 foot buffer. FHWA guidance is a recommended 12 feet for a two-way facility with a required 3 foot buffer if parking protected.

This is not a two-way protected bike lane.

Even as a one-way protected lane, it would fail to meet recommended conditions from FHWA, as the buffer is too narrow. 

 

Not only do these design changes make the bike lane unusable for people of all ages and backgrounds, they jeopardize funding.

This facility was built using state and federal grants that require designs to conform to federal, state, and local street design guidebooks, including the FHWA Separated Bike Lane Planning and Design Guide. The original design conformed to these guidebooks. The new design does not. 

It is likely that the re-design will need to go before State Highways Administration for a review in order to keep the dollars already expended on the project and expend further dollars. If this is rejected, Baltimore City may be on the hook to return expended dollars in addition to using local dollars to construct the new design, since it fails to meet guidelines. 

We can't back this.

We cannot back potentially paying back grant dollars with local dollars and spending even more local dollars on top of that to design and install a worse facility that makes the street less safe for all road users. 

Every local dollar spent on this imaginary problem is a local dollar that the city said they didn't have to invest in bicycle infrastructure in other neighborhoods. The West Baltimore Bike Boulevards project has been held up for a year because the city couldn't commit the funds to get the project done. But now there's suddenly local money available to cave to unreasonable demands in Canton?

Spend the money on facilities elsewhere.

We know the city has money available for bike facilities, because they have suddenly come up with it to make this change in Canton. We don't believe any change should be made. But if the Mayor's Office is committed to tearing out this perfectly good bike facility, they should revert the street back to the original configuration and use any money they allocated to a new, worse design on building out bicycle infrastructure wanted and needed by other communities. We can come back to Potomac Street once this fire access issue is fully sorted out. There's no need to build inferior infrastructure in the meantime. 

There are two ways to take action today! 

Register to attend our Shifting Power workshop, our new program providing livable streets advocacy training to everyday citizens.

Tell your elected officials that you are against the Mayor's Office decision to redesign the Potomac Street bike lane, and that you support safe streets for all. 

#FightForBikes: Potomac Street Downgrade, Other Projects in Jeopardy

Today, the Mayor’s office made a decision to redesign the Potomac Street protected bike lane. Construction of the Downtown Bike Network has also been halted, and sections of the Maryland Avenue protected bike lane may be evaluated in addition to Potomac Street for potential significant re-engineering or removal.

The Potomac Street redesign is impractical. It does not meet National Association of City Transportation Officials or Federal Highway Administration standards for a high-quality, all-ages protected bicycle facility. The original design did.

Neighbors along the Potomac Street protected bike lane lobbied the Baltimore City Fire Department around a provision in the International Fire Code that states "fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet."

Bikemore has been working behind the scenes over the past two weeks to encourage the city to make a different choice at this crossroads between street safety and fire access.

This is not a new issue. NACTO and other NACTO member cities have commissioned reports on this particular provision of International Fire Code and its applicability to old cities with street grids where almost no street meets the 20 foot clear requirement. As early as 1997, Oregon amended their state code to ensure that standards for the width of streets adopted by local governments superseded International Fire Code provisions.

 The 20 foot clear rule is unreasonable and incongruent with the goal of reducing pedestrian and bicycle injuries and increasing bicycle ridership.

Baltimore City is effectively stating the Fire Department needs 20 feet clear to safely fight fires, despite the fact many streets in Baltimore fail to meet this standard, including the streets one block east and west of Potomac Street, which have in places just 9 feet clear.

This was not made an issue when miles of reverse angle parking installation, containing thousands of parking spaces, created the same condition as Potomac Street throughout Southeast Baltimore. 

Despite the precedent this sets, NACTO guidance, and support for the original design from Canton Community Association and the elected delegation in Southeast, the Mayor’s office has chosen to redesign the facility.

NACTO assisted with this redesign, and has produced an alternative design that meets the “unreasonable constraints” provided to them by city officials. This design is not an all-ages, high quality bike facility. The original design was.

This standard also does not take into account the reality that the majority of fire department response calls are not for fires, but for traffic crashes and medical response to chronic illness like heart disease, asthma, and diabetes that building more "complete streets" infrastructure helps prevent. 

Interpreting this provision of International Fire Code in this way will prevent some of the low-stress bicycle facilities recently adopted in the Bike Master Plan addendum from being constructed in Baltimore City. It will threaten millions of dollars of already engineered right of way improvements, and an untold amount of economic development dollars if new building construction or roadway projects cannot proceed under this interpretation of code.

After consulting national street design experts, we are unaware of any city in North America that has halted construction, or removed protected bike lanes, in response to fire access concerns.

Once again, Baltimore City is prioritizing parking of cars over people, and wasting money redesigning bike infrastructure to be less safe—money that could be used to build facilities in other neighborhoods.

You can read the letter from the Mayor to residents on Potomac Street and view the new, inadequate design here. 

We urge the Mayor’s office and Baltimore City Department of Transportation to prioritize the safety of Baltimore City residents and create streets that are safe for all modes of travel, and have clear emergency access. 

Take action! Contact city officials using the form below: 

More information: Bikemore Fire Access Memo, San Francisco Fire Access Memo, Best Practices: Emergency Access in Healthy Streets

Baltimore City Department of Transportation proposed design changes (with comments by Bikemore in red), Bikemore proposed design changes

Action Alert: Show Up For Bikes!

 

Action Alert: Show Up For Bikes!

This week there are THREE community meetings that will further discussions around access for people riding bikes. See below for description and details, and plan to show up, speak out, and let elected leaders, city agencies, and your neighbors know: I Bike, I Vote.

Think a bike friendly Baltimore is a done deal? Don’t get complacent. We have a ways to go before all local leaders believe there is a demand for safe streets that prioritize people over cars. We win by showing up and being vocal. Join us!

7:00pm Tonight, May 23rd

Canton Community Association General Meeting

United Evangelical Church, 3200 Dillon Street (at the corner of S. East and Dillon, entrance is on S. East)

Potomac Street protected bike lanes are a main agenda item for this monthly general meeting. Councilman Zeke Cohen will discuss transportation in the 1st District and BCDOT will provide an overview of the Potomac Street project including reviewing the multi-year planning process and phased construction approach taking place.

Do you live in Canton, or nearby communities? Come prepared with one minute talking points about why you support streets designed for all modes, and how you or your family’s quality of life and safety are improved with the construction of safe, comfortable facilities for people who bike. Speak up, even if others say what you were going to say.

6:00pm Tomorrow, May 24th

33rd Street Area Public Meeting About Proposed Walking/Biking Trail

Chaired by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, 14th District

Abbottston Elementary School, 1300 Gorsuch Ave (Enter school through the Gorsuch Ave. parking lot)

In 2015, Bikemore and Rails-to-Trails formed the Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition. Our work, funded through the Center for Disease Control program Plan4Health, seeks to build support for a city-wide trail concept that would connect over 50 neighborhoods to our city parks by building a safe multi-use trail to walk and bike. Last fall, we began outreach along the 33rd Street corridor to engage residents in developing a concept for a trail.

This Wednesday, Councilwoman Clarke is bringing together City agencies and the Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition to discuss the project with residents. This meeting was spurred mostly by residents vocal in their opposition to all further engineering and study about how a multi-use trail can improve public health outcomes, active transportation access, and spur economic development.

Come express your support for The Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition’s efforts to connect 50 neighborhoods to our city parks through a 35-mile trail loop, and let Councilwoman Clarke know you support further study and engineering to obtain the safest option for creating safe places to walk and bike along 33rd Street.

7:00pm Tomorrow, May 24th

Roland Park Civic League Annual Meeting

Roland Park Elementary and Middle School, 5207 Roland Avenue

The Roland Park Civic League Cycle Track Committee has reached consensus and recommended the RPCL Board adopt this statement to present to the City and guide next steps:

Consensus Statement: Either restore curbside parking with a wider, safer bike lane and slower traffic, or partner with the community to create a complete street that works for everyone. The full end of year report from the Cycle Committee can be found here.

Bikemore’s recommendation from the earliest planning stages has been to create a road diet on Roland Avenue that reduces speed and improves safety of all users. That option is outlined in the Alta Planning report commissioned by Roland Park Civic League, and we believe it satisfies the need for a complete street that works for everyone.

If you ride a bike along Roland Avenue and want to be part of the community led conversation about what happens next for active transportation along Roland Avenue, show up and get involved.

Can’t attend meetings this week, but want to be part of our movement to ensure that Complete Streets are standard operating procedure in all neighborhoods?

Sign our Complete Streets pledge and stay up to date on our efforts to draft legislation that will prioritize people over cars, and put the investments that make streets safer for walking and biking and taking transit in the neighborhoods that need them most.

On Bikelash & Potomac Street

by Liz Cornish, Executive Director

I got this question in my inbox last week:

I am on Nextdoor and have seen some vocal individuals that are against the Potomac Ave cycle track. Is this something that could be shut down? I am wondering if I need to worry about them or not.

If your question is should you worry about folks opposed to the bike lane being able to have it removed, my answer is honestly, I don’t know. I do know we’ve been working with the Department of Transportation, the Mayor’s office, Councilman Cohen’s office, and the Canton Community Association to make sure we understand why folks are concerned and that those issues are addressed. DOT has been out on the site numerous times addressing any resident’s valid concerns. They plan to be at the 5/23 Canton Community Association meeting to report out on the construction of the project and discuss ways communication and implementation can be improved in the future. That said, it is Bikemore’s opinion that communication on this project was adequate. Each resident on Potomac received door hangers, multiple public meetings were held over a two year period, and those meetings were well attended. Installation is still a challenge, but we are working with DOT to advocate for improvements that reduce the time that residents are confused about new construction.

Bike lanes are a thing now in Baltimore — something people in Baltimore have been fighting to get moving for years. The opposition is vocal, but most concerns are run of the mill bikelash, something that has been happening and being overcome in other cities for years. Bikelash mostly just represents fear of change. It’s something we now have to navigate as a city that is actually making progress on building out a bike network. But it’s important that those in the neighborhood express their support: to Councilman Cohen, DOT, and the Canton Community Association. It is not a forgone conclusion that the Mayor will continue to make progress in this area. We already have seen instances where leadership within the City are prepared to walk back improvements because they seem unwilling to stand strong on a commitment to safe streets or a transportation vision that goes beyond planning for cars. We will be sending out a targeted email tomorrow to those on our list who live near the facility with instructions on how to show your support and get more information about construction at the 5/23 meeting. (If you're not yet on our email list or haven't provided your home address before, subscribe here.)

The recent behavior I’ve witnessed from some who oppose changes in the public right of way that allocate more space for people who bike is worrisome. Baltimore is facing a public health crisis of immense proportions. The astronomical rates of violence, addiction, and chronic disease are a direct result of our cities inability to address the fact that a significant number of people in this city don’t have access to jobs, safe housing, healthy food, or high quality schools. We have talented local leaders with community based knowledge of what our most vulnerable residents need. We have leading academic research, that comes from our very own anchor institutions that points to public policy solutions to these issues. We know what we need to do. That doesn’t mean the solutions are easy, or that the money to execute on solutions is readily available, or that the legislative or policy solutions to enact these solutions have been created. That is the work — change the laws and the policies so the barriers to implementation are removed, and prioritize the funding of these solutions. But no matter who we elect, or how many forums we convene, we just can’t seem to get to the “doing” part.

You see, addressing root causes — by radically reorganizing our power structures and shifting funding priorities to do so — requires a complete shift in mindset. Our “City of Neighborhoods” mentality may be charming, but the fortress mentality that it creates is holding us back. We have a lot of Baltimore residents who live in relative comfort and safety, that will fight tooth and nail when a parking spot or a tree in their neighborhood is under threat, but will not apply that same level of tenacity or civic mindedness to our most pressing city wide problems. And that’s what I see when I see bikelash. I see a misapplication of concern, talent and resources. I see people mistaking compromises in personal preference or convenience for actual injustice. I see people more concerned with retaining power in a situation, rather than co-creating solutions that still create safety. And I witness how this ties the hands of city employees when they aren’t always granted the political cover to forge ahead on projects that are working toward addressing root causes but receiving public backlash — especially when that backlash comes from wealthy, politically connected constituents.

Good projects create space and opportunity for folks to have input and have their concerns addressed. Good cities have leadership that weigh community input against long range plans for improving the public good and determine the best path forward.

Making the streets safer for people who walk and bike is a public good. And we need to do more. We need to implement plans faster, and we need to ensure that resources for active transportation improvements are distributed equitably. That’s what our Complete Streets legislation seeks to do. That’s creating the policy that allows us to begin to work toward progress.

But bikelash? That’s an old way of doing business in Baltimore that is predicated on this idea that if you're relatively affluent, and politically connected, and shout and threaten to move away you’ll get your way — often at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens. That’s not democratic. That’s not neighborly. That’s not the mindset that will allow us to take on the most important challenges that lie ahead. And if elected officials continue to cave to these temper tantrums rather than following the lead of cities around the world of creating public spaces that work for all modes of transportation, Baltimore will continue to be left behind.

Want to support city wide organizing and coalition building around complete streets?

A Recap of Our Annual Members Meeting

Each year Bikemore hosts our annual member meeting. This is our version of an annual report. Instead of spending resources designing and printing something, we ask everyone to come hang out, drink a beer, and ask questions in person. We discuss our organization’s success, challenges, and where we stand financially. This year we thanked members by providing a drink ticket and a hot off the presses edition of our Illustrated Guide to Biking in Baltimore.

On Tuesday over 100 folks gathered to hear about our year in review. The past twelve months have been an incredible year for bikes and Bikemore! The City of Baltimore finally began construction on the Downtown Bicycle Network, including the long awaited Maryland Avenue Cycletrack. Last fall the city also launched bike share. Biking in Baltimore now looks and feels incredibly different.

Bikemore also grew significantly. We added two new staff, Danielle Parnes and Jed Weeks, growing our organization from one full time staff to three. We added new programs like the Mobile Bike Shop and Bike to Market that encourage people to incorporate biking into their everyday lives. We also advocated for the passage of the Separated Bike Lane Network, ensuring that future investments in protected bike infrastructure are equitably distributed throughout the city.

We celebrated our volunteer of the year, Alex Gebhart for his leadership and commitment as our volunteer bike mechanic at our Mobile Bike Shop. His leadership and skills have helped take the program to new heights, and we are so lucky to have him serving a second year alongside our youth employee Dominique Thorne.

One of the highlights of the evening was pointing out how critical our individual members have been in our success. This year we planned to raise around $40K in individual donations. We have surpassed that and have raised nearly $60K in individual donations, with an average gift size of $100. That accounts for 25% of our overall operating budget, and has paid for 40% of our operating expenses to date. We literally couldn’t have done it without you!

When it comes to larger grants, we are so grateful for the support from key local foundations like Goldseker and Clayton Baker Trust, whose donations have allowed us to add staff, fight on more policy fronts, and serve more neighborhoods.

What our financial picture tells us is that on the expense side we are tracking right on budget. Our spending is also not out pacing our revenue. On the revenue side, we are currently not on track to meet our revenue goals. We need to raise an additional $55K by July first to finish in the black, or $77K to meet our revenue goals with cash reserves. While we have a plan in place to get there, we cannot do it without your support. If you haven’t considered supporting our work with a personal donation before, but feel our advocacy has been of benefit to you, we ask you to consider making a gift today to ensure our organization remains fiscally strong to be able to continue to build a force for biking in Baltimore.

Click through the slides to learn more:

Ready to take action?