City's Lake Avenue Traffic Response Annoys Residents
By Adam Bednar, North Baltimore PatchThe city’s response to residents concerns about the speed of traffic and congestion on Lake Avenue has left some residents extremely frustrated.
Nearly three months after residents met with city officials to discuss their concerns, nothing has been done to address the problems. Residents are now worried plans to construct a bike route connecting Mt. Washington and Belvedere Square using shared bike and car lanes, known as “Sharrows,” along Lake Avenue will make matters worse.
"It seems to me like the city is only interested in moving a lot of traffic along Lake Avenue," said Robin Reid, president of The Orchards Association.
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At the end of the meeting the officials said they would examine what could be done to address residents concerns about traffic, which came to a head after a hit and run accident involving a cyclist.
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"The Traffic Division advises that the study for the intersections of Lake & Stony Run and Lake & Kenmore have been completed. From the investigation, traffic volumes and crash data did not support the installation of stop signs at these locations. The locations do not satisfy the warrants for consideration of the installation of all way stops," Kohl Fallin, the areas transportation liaison, wrote to community leaders.
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She also said that a bike route along Lake Avenue isn’t feasible until the situation with congestion and speed are properly addressed by the city.
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The full article: <a href="http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/city-s-lake-avenue-traffic-response-annoys-residents">http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/city-s-lake-avenue-traffic-response-annoys-residents</a>;
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B' Spokes: Hmm, I've ridden Lake Ave. and found it rather pleasant but then again I'm comfortable riding in traffic. At least Lake is better then Northern Parkway, you can't make bike traffic completely disappear, it's got to go somewhere and Lake is the best option we have at this point.
I wish I better understood the concerns of the residents but if they want larger gaps in the traffic to make entering Lake from the side streets easier, try eliminating the rights-on-red entering Lake. If it is the speed of traffic, try speed tables. Both should circumvent the "warrant" issue described and the latter should fall under the traffic calming program.
But in general we have a problem with the false ideology that "every street needs to be an expressway" and I am sick of the city giving credence to this type of thinking. That is just wrong, we need a mix of arterials and side streets, Northern Parkway is the arterial and Lake is the side street. Ya I know drivers would love to make Lake a short cut to avoid all the traffic on Northern Parkway, but the only way to make it a viable short cut is to speed and that's just wrong, if you are not willing to do the speed limit then don't use the road.
Lastly, does anyone have any info on the hit-and-run? I can't find anything searching the internet.
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