UMCP Class Project
Jack Sullivan will be having a landscape design class on W Baltimore St from Schroeder to Frederick. Students will be working on the streetscaping and the branding charrettes and using the information gathered through the charrettes to work on their final project. Also working with Graham Young and the Baltimore City Complete Streets project, as well as Nicole King’s Walk Down West Baltimore Street work. Will also look at the streets that come into W. Baltimore St as well as identifying places where there’s potential for improvement and investment.
Scott asked about whether parking would be an area the students would look at. Yes, parking is one of the areas that the students are looking at.
Committee Project Updates
- Bike Lanes
- Issue is that bike lanes that are planned but don’t exist. Want to develop a monitoring and advocacy system to ensure that planned bike lanes are implemented. Would also want to engage with other neighborhoods to ensure that the bike lanes are successful. Want information to be communicated to SWP, encourage people to use the network, also want to ensure that there’s interaction with the commercial committee, and encourage stakeholders to encourage the sustainability of the bike plan network and that it is maintained. Generally want to make sure that the SWP neighborhoods have a voice in the bike plan.
- Wants to make sure that there is buy in from the Committee and comes up with a plan that is clear and can be implemented. Also want to understand how Complete Streets plan fits with the plan
- Next Steps are stakeholder engagement–advocacy groups like Bikemore and people along the route
- Bif has connected with Bikemore and would like to keep pushing with Rails to Trails
- Howard asked about some integration with the scooters? That’s something we can raise with DOT and Bikemore.
- Signs
- Had a couple of meetings. Took a stab at where to start with looking at the green and blue tourist signs. Diana contacted Ethan Cohen to ask about the old green and blue tourist signs–they are all over the city and all need to be replaced. Are under the purview of DOT. DOT will raise replacement or taking them down to the people in charge. There may be funding available for wayfinding signs. Would the Committee prefer to have them refurbished or removed? Would want them replaced and more wayfinding signs, but would like to retain the poles. Mencken House and the National Parks Association are working on a project to replace the signs for the Mencken House.
- Would also like a map like sign with various landmarks in the Southwest Partnership
- Accessibility? How can we make the signs more accessible
- Next steps–where are all the blue and green signs?
- Traffic Calming
- Streets and Sidewalks
- Crosswalk and Street Markings
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cfW1OP-Gu3Y9E57hRdCwqLReLtsvv5Iq/view?usp=sharing
- Next steps are to figure out the information in the outline of things to find out and basic principles
- Tree Trimming and Tree Trunk Removal
- Dotie wants to be aligned with the schools and to trim the trees where there are lighting issues and where there is criminal activity
- Scott shared the Baltimore Tree Inventory
- Howard will connect with Donnell about removing tree trunks that need to be removed
- Jack worked on creating a guide for urban tree planting and is working with a colleague on it
- Franklin Square Comfort Station: Water and Renovations
- Liaison from Rec and Parks came to the meeting, planning on a walkthrough to identify where repairs are needed in order to get the water back on
- Public Art: Scott and Laura and Meghan would like to form a public art subcommittee
- Baltimore Streetscaping Charrette
1st charrette will be April 3rd 10am-12pm, will have a report out on the current conditions along the corridor from anchor partners, developers, findings from streetscaping walks. Main goal will be to get input from stakeholders about what they would like to see along the corridor. Hope is that the UMCP class can help with design.
-count current street furniture
-identify sites for public art
-identify sites for neighborhood projects
Will need at least five volunteers from the Committee to help with the break out rooms.
Will then report back at the next Vibrant Streets meeting at the end of April.
Complete Streets
Complete streets is about a complete network of streets where it is safe and comfortable to walk and bike to your destination. Have a modal hierarchy–special needs, walking, then biking, then public transit, then cars.
Complete streets is paying attention to the context of each street, have different street types which help prioritize what’s in the right of way. Complete Street Manual contains a scoring system that ranks which projects are priorities, includes equity dimension and historical disinvestment.
Goal is that all routes to school are safe for all children. There are also guidelines about traffic signal timing. Also have speed guidelines–design streets to the goal speed on each street based on street type.
Moving more towards serving the way that people actually behave rather than how they “should”.
DOT has been following it internally, goal is to have it formally adopted by March 2021, as well as a tracking/evaluation system.
Dotie asked about traffic studies–when do they result in action? Past traffic studies have been very limited in what they do–Complete Street Manual will implement a more common sense approach. One of things that the Complete Street Manual makes clear is that a traffic signal is needed in most cases–but they are very expensive.
One of the goals in the Mayor’s Transition Report was to develop a plan to study one way to two way conversions in the city.
Diante: what does implementation actually look like? Especially around MLK, Russel St, Pratt St? Would be a number of things–guidelines don’t create projects Different for each street–MLK for example can have fewer lanes, and better crossing times, and improved turning situations into pedestrians. Pratt St has had past projects that the modal hierarchy can improve decision making around.
Dee: Examples of accessibility? Any streetscaping projects have to make things ADA compliant. Only projects where they don’t do that are local street resurfacing
Laura: would like to see MLK narrowed? Do you know anything about UMB wanting to open Fremont St to MLK? Was a fatality because of the north bound left at W Baltimore St and MLK? Project wasn’t funded, other solutions that could probably be applied there.
David: Are street types assigned ahead of time? Right now only assigning them when work is happening on the streets but ultimately want to assign all of the street types.
Patty: Is there a recording of the Complete Streets meetings that happened back in October? Do you think that this will be a priority now? Doesn’t think we have the recording, all the feedback went to the advisory Committee members. Does see this making a difference–budget is not great, would take a lot of money to make a dent in pedestrian safety numbers. Need hundreds of million dollars and annual budget is 20 million for capital projects, but can still chip away especially by focusing on certain areas. Are also taking on neighborhood traffic calming–taking a proactive approach to neighborhoods with the most traffic on local streets. Crashes are underreported, but still have 20,000 reported crashes a year going based off of that list. Trying to take the most proactive approach, but having better guidelines to follow will result in more common sense solutions.
Patty asked how to make drivers more respectful? Lots of factors (education, enforcement) but also a better roadway environment
Ms Doties asked about no right on red signs
Scott: How can we move projects in our neighborhoods forward with the blessing of DOT? Couple of programs for right of way art and tactical urbanism that communities can apply for. Real infrastructure has to go through a developers agreement through reviewers in different agencies. The way funding is allocated DOT doesn’t have a pot of money to do larger, more expensive projects. Best way is to focus on tactical urbanism
Howard: Asked about shared streets with scooters etc? Were they thought about in regards to downtown? Also is there a way to deal with streets that have limited streetway but they are not functional streets and also can’t do anything to it (alley gating etc). Doesn’t know the answer–DOT liaison may know the answer
Bif asked about who to talk to about pushing projects through that communities have funding for? Shayna.rose@baltimorecity.gov (Tactical Urbanism, art in the right of way), copy Graham as well. Also is there a way the speed camera fines can go to neighborhood improvements
Complete Streets Manual: https://baltimoreplanning.konveio.com/draft-baltimore-city-complete-streets-manual
