Transportation Advocacy Organizations Join Together to Defend Complete Streets

The below letter was sent in support of Complete Streets from 1000 Friends of Maryland, Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, Bikemore, Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, Citizens Planning and Housing Association, and The Opportunity Coalition.

June 9, 2017  
The Honorable Catherine Pugh
Mayor, City of Baltimore
100 North Holliday Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Dear Mayor Pugh:

We are writing to express our concern over the removal of the Potomac Street protected bike lane in Southeast Baltimore, and the precedent set by this decision, based on an interpretation of the International Fire Code 20 foot unobstructed access rule for fire apparatus access roads.

When we commit to public safety, it requires us to act in the best interest of our citizens, to minimize risk, and ensure equal access to health and safety. Prioritizing efficient emergency access at the peril of safety of people walking and biking is problematic. It is the administration’s duty to make infrastructure safe for people who live and travel in Baltimore City under a variety of conditions. That means protecting people from traffic crashes as well as reducing risks of fire. Baltimore must not set a precedent that indicates the Baltimore City Fire Department is unable to safely fight fires on streets without 20 foot clear access.

Such a precedent has broad implications that extend beyond bike lanes. It potentially threatens portions of the Baltimore Red Line corridor and any other transit project that contains on-street rail or road diets associated with construction. It threatens new construction in our city, where best practices state streets should have travel lanes under 12 feet in width. It threatens all infill development and home retrofits on streets that have existing conditions narrower than 20 feet clear.

The broad International Fire Code adopted by Baltimore City is in conflict with the City’s local, context-sensitive engineering design guidelines. This conflict is not unique to Baltimore; many other historic cities such as Boston have found themselves at this crossroads and chosen to prioritize local, context sensitive design of streets over broad international code guidelines inappropriate for the dense urban built environment. Baltimore should follow their lead, not do the opposite. 

Lack of physical activity and a number of negative health outcomes are closely related to the built environment. One-third of Baltimore’s residents lack access to automobiles, and that number climbs to above 80% in our most disadvantaged neighborhoods. The number one cause of death for teens in the US is vehicular crashes. Those who do bike and walk in Baltimore suffer death and injury from being struck by cars at disproportionately high rates. Furthermore, many residents currently do not bike in Baltimore City precisely due the dearth of safe and protected bike lanes. These residents and commuters end up back in their cars increasing traffic and reducing available parking.

These are just a few of the reasons experts believe that the emphasis on designing for large fire trucks is not the best way to improve the health and safety of people. That's why the National Association of City Transportation Officials states in its Urban Street Design Guide: "Design for the most vulnerable street user rather than the largest possible vehicle. While designs must account for the challenges that larger vehicles, especially emergency vehicles, may face, these infrequent challenges must not dominate the safety or comfort of a site for the majority of daily users."  

In fact, referencing the needs of Baltimore's neighborhoods your own Transition Report states “The City should continue to invest in innovative efforts to link neighborhoods to opportunities within the City and throughout the close-in suburbs by strategically advocating for transit improvements from MTA and tactically expanding Baltimore BikeShare and dedicated bicycle lanes.”

Baltimore can not continue to prioritize moving and parking cars over moving people. Baltimore can not thrive without safe, reliable access to multiple modes of transportation.

If our city is to turn the corner and begin to thrive and grow, we must aggressively pursue buildout of safe places to walk, bike, and ride public transit. That means building out our protected bike network. It means fixing sidewalks city wide. It means building more bus-only lanes and building the Red Line. It does not mean catering to a few vocal opponents over the safety and needs of the majority of Baltimoreans. 

We urge you to follow the lead of our peer cities and your own transition report, reverse this decision, and move forward alongside us in fighting for a Baltimore that has safe, reliable transportation options for all people.

Sincerely,
1000 Friends of Maryland
Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition
Bikemore
Central Maryland Transportation Alliance
Citizens Planning and Housing Association
The Opportunity Coalition

Response to Mayor's Statement on Potomac Street

Today, the mayor told reporters “got to be up to code,” implying that the International Fire Code requirement for 20 feet of unobstructed access on fire apparatus access roads is being strictly interpreted to apply to city streets, including Potomac Street, where the city plans to remove a 75% complete protected bike lane.

We look forward to holding the mayor accountable to this claim, particularly in respect to the miles of reverse angle parking that have been installed during the same time period as the Potomac Street planning process that fail the 20 feet clear standard and the many major development projects underway in the city that have planned streets under 20 feet clear.

The decision to weigh international code above local street context flies in the face of best practices of safety, public health and economic development.

The mayor’s spokesperson also said advocacy groups have “built their reputation on confrontation.” Bikemore has been a true partner to the city: offering freely our guidance, serving on committees, and helping to secure national recognition and hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for the city’s efforts. Both Executive Director Liz Cornish and Policy Director Jed Weeks served on the mayor’s transition team, and her transition report adopted many of Bikemore’s recommendations to improve the everyday safety of residents who use city streets.

Prior to taking action on Potomac Street, Bikemore worked alongside the city for weeks, bringing national leaders in transportation to the table to help educate the mayor and her staff on best practices and solutions when faced with these constraints. We, and those experts, had hoped for a different outcome.

The Mayor is not simply choosing to ignore the nearly 1000 residents and business owners who in a single week have expressed concern over this decision, but the stated position of Councilman Zeke Cohen, the Canton Community Association, and the communities that surround Canton that have requested real action to calm traffic and reduce car dependency by providing safe, comfortable, all-ages bike facilities.

The fact that there is even a debate that pits the safety of emergency response against the safety of Baltimore residents who demand improvements to walking and biking safety is a failure of leadership. It shows a lack of understanding of national best practices and an unwillingness to hold a vision for sustainable, affordable, healthy transportation solutions for Baltimore residents.

Removal of this facility now almost certainly means the city must pay back already spent federal and state grants with local dollars, while expending additional local dollars on removal. It’s unconscionable to waste those local dollars on a non-problem when we’re short on money for our schools.

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.