Keep the Jones Falls Valley Safe for Everyone

A map of the proposed relocation site with the floodplain overlay

Baltimore City is proposing relocating the Sisson Street Transfer Station to the Jones Falls Valley. There are numerous concerns around this proposal from adjacent neighborhood residents, stakeholder groups like Friends of the Jones Falls, and environmental advocates concerned about the overlap with the floodplain.

At Bikemore, we believe the Jones Falls Valley can and should be realized as a world-class linear park. We don't believe relocation of a waste transfer facility fits into that vision.

But if the city is insistent on relocating the facility despite the conflict with this vision and community concerns, the corridor must be safe for people of all ages and abilities walking and biking. Safe access for these users must increase.

In fact, that's a vision the Mayor's Office and Baltimore City Department of Transportation has long promised adjacent communities, a promise they have not made good on. Now is the time to make good on that promise, regardless of the outcome of the relocation proposal.

Below is a letter to send to your elected officials. It focuses on the bare minimum safety improvements required for a walking and biking corridor to safely exist with relocation.

To be clear, we think the proposed relocation site is a bad one. So if you have opinions on the relocation proposal itself, please customize the letter to include them.

Polling Shows Baltimoreans Want Safer Streets Infrastructure, Trails, and Transportation Options

Polling conducted by our fellow advocates at The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Rails to Trails Conservancy in the weeks before the May primary election shows Baltimoreans want safer streets infrastructure and more transportation options.

• 79% say it's important to have trails in your neighborhood

• 71% say it's important to run MTA buses every 30 minutes or better

• 64% say bike lanes benefit people

• 58% say they'd be more likely to vote for a candidate who prioritizes trails

• 55% say it's important to build the Baltimore Red Line

• A majority want to "Increase the number of dedicated bike lanes in Baltimore City" and "Build the projects in the Baltimore City Bicycle Master Plan."

Digging deeper into the data tells an even more compelling story.

Support for bike lanes is stronger from Black respondents (64%) and Latino respondents (74%) than white respondents (62%).

In addition to ensuring respondents reflected Baltimore's overall demographics, the poll ensured half of city residents were in zip codes adjacent to proposed trail facilities (such as the neighborhoods surrounding Gwynns Falls Parkway, 33rd Street, Chinquapin Run, and the Middle Branch).

Despite this focus on sampling these neighborhoods--places a few oppositional voices often point to as examples of where infrastructure is not wanted--only 4% of respondents oppose the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network.

The message from this poll and the subsequent primary election is clear: Baltimoreans are ready for safer streets infrastructure and transit investments.

They want to see the Baltimore Greenway Trails Network and the Separated Lane Network Plans implemented.

We encourage you to read the full Medium post from Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, which contains the survey methodology and more data on resident desires to re-prioritize our regional funding away from highways and toward biking, walking, and public transit.

Action Alert: City Council Bike Lane Hearing Scheduled for March 7th

On January 22nd, City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton announced yet another hearing on bike infrastructure, requested by the Fox45/Sinclair backed Anti-Complete Streets group.

The hearing has been scheduled for 4:00pm on Thursday, March 7th in council chambers. The public can attend in-person or virtually at this link.

The individuals calling for these hearings have been very clear: they want a moratorium on new bike lanes, removal of existing bike lanes, and repeal of Baltimore City’s Complete Streets ordinance.

Please send an email to City Council serving as written testimony for this hearing. Customize it with your own story of why increased investment in safer bike infrastructure is important to you as a resident and taxpayer.

Another Council Hearing Against Complete Streets and Bike Lanes

On Monday, January 22nd, City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton is announcing yet another hearing requested by the Fox45/Sinclair backed Anti-Complete Streets group, who are using this momentum to try and repeal Complete Streets, halt bike infrastructure construction, and rip out existing bike infrastructure.

Send an email to City Council now telling them enough is enough. Please customize it with your own story of why continued investment in Complete Streets and all-ages bike infrastructure is important to you.

Full Details

Across the nation and in Maryland, fatal crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists are on the rise. Here in Baltimore, they're dropping, evidence Baltimore's Complete Streets ordinance and the investments being made in traffic calming our high-injury network are working.

Baltimore is also in the top 10 cities for growth in bicycling since 2019—seeing a 56.4% growth in ridership—thanks to our city's investment in all-ages bicycle infrastructure. 

These statistics are gaining national attention, with the federal government recently awarding the city tens of millions of grant dollars to double down on these investments, increasing access to opportunity and reducing injury and death.

Despite these obvious successes, our City Council leadership continues to cave to a small group of Fox45/Sinclair Media backed individuals, hosting investigatory hearings on Complete Streets and Bike Lanes.

The opponents calling for these hearings have stated they want bike lanes and bus lanes removed citywide. They want Complete Streets repealed. 

City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton is introducing yet another hearing at tonight's council meeting. 

We're asking you to send an email saying you're tired of this nonsense, and that you want your elected officials to spend time and resources on implementing proven Complete Streets and bike infrastructure treatments, not opposing them. 

Please customize the email. Tell them why this is important to you.

Big Jump Detour for Druid Hill Reservoir Construction

Background

The ongoing Department of Public Works construction project in Druid Hill Park to install tanks to store treated city drinking water is moving to a phase of pipe construction to connect the two tanks our water system. The pipe will cross Druid Park Lake Drive at Linden Avenue, and follow the roadway along the median east to the JFX on-ramps. To make this connection, DPW will need to dig a trench in the median of Druid Park Lake Drive.

In between the original plans for this construction and today, Baltimore City Department of Transportation received a grant from People For Bikes called The Big Jump, to install a temporary shared use pathway along Druid Park Lake Drive and across the 28th Street bridge, a road diet and protected bike lanes on Huntingdon Avenue and 25th Street, a bike boulevard on 27th Street, and bike lanes on Remington Avenue.

Of those grant funded projects, only the most important one—the connection across Druid Park Lake Drive and the 28th Street bridge—has been constructed. The shared use path, installed in June 2018, allows people to walk, bike, skate, and use a wheelchair or mobility device to safely cross from Reservoir Hill to Remington for the first time.

The Detour

The trench work for the Druid Hill Reservoir will require detour of The Big Jump for approximately one year, and work will begin as soon as September 28, 2020. Motor vehicle traffic will move to the existing travel lane utilized by The Big Jump from Linden Avenue to the Mount Royal Avenue slip lane. Water filled barriers along this portion of roadway will be replaced with concrete barriers. The Big Jump will be relocated to an adjacent 8 foot sidewalk, which DOT is working to clear of weeds and debris.

The existing Big Jump route is shown in red. The detour route is shown in green.

The Big Jump will follow an 8 foot sidewalk from Linden Avenue to Lakeview Avenue. DOT is working to mow and clear debris.

At Lakeview Avenue, The Big Jump will move to the northern side of the street adjacent to Lakeview Towers, repurposing an existing parking lane. It will then cross over to the existing pathway on the 28th Street bridge through a newly created curb cut underneath the existing non-ADA accessible pedestrian overpass from Druid Park Lake Drive to 28th Street. To facilitate safe crossing at this location, the Mount Royal slip lane will be closed to motor vehicle traffic with physical barriers—a huge safety improvement.

The Big Jump detour from Lakeview Avenue past the Lakeview Towers to the Mount Royal slip lane.

The Big Jump detour will connect back to the original Big Jump path through the Mount Royal slip lane, which will be closed to motor vehicle traffic.

What’s next

While the sidewalk element of this detour is not ideal, there are very encouraging opportunities that the trench work unlocks. Since the existing water filled barriers are being replaced with concrete barriers through the duration of the detour, it’s possible we could keep the concrete barriers in place when The Big Jump returns to the street, improving safety and reducing maintenance. It’s also possible to reconfigure and resurface the motor vehicle travel lanes along Druid Park Lake Drive. This will further reinforce The Big Jump as a semi-permanent pathway.

Also coming up is the release of the Big Jump evaluation report. It’s exciting in that it reveals The Big Jump had almost no effect on traffic conditions—one of the major vocal complaints from drivers.

Long-term, Baltimore City Department of Transportation has committed to a corridor realignment study to propose a complete redesign or removal of the highways that separate Druid Hill Park from communities. None of this work would have been possible without community partners and the leadership of Councilman Leon Pinkett. Neighbors and advocates are organizing around the corridor realignment study under the banner of The Access Project: Druid Hill Park. You can read more at TAP Druid Hill.