Category: Biking in Baltimore

Eastern Avenue, 2200 block, August 10, 3:20 a.m. A man told police that a group of teenagers had knocked him off his bicycle and had taken his wallet and keys. The man sustained orbital and facial fractures and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Continue reading “Neighborhood Watch: Southeast”

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― A child is struck and run over by a vehicle in Baltimore City.

Captain Mike Perry reports the accident happened around 4 p.m. on Windsor Mill Rd.

Police say a 12-year-old boy was riding a bike when he was struck.

They say the boy was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Windsor Mill Rd. was temporarily closed to traffic.
Continue reading “Child Struck By Vehicle Dies Of Injuries”

By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun

The city’s bicycle and pedestrian planner wants a "bike boulevard" to run up Guilford Avenue through Charles Village, an area already filled with commuters using pedal power. But a series of attacks on cyclists and several bike-jackings are creating concern.

Police had arrested three people in two bike robberies this month and thought they had a handle on the situation until three young men pushed Michael Byrne off his Blue Falcon bike Wednesday night at North Charles and 20th streets.

Police said one of the men rode the bike away, and a new search for suspects has commenced.

"We knew the arrests couldn’t completely quell the problem," said Maj. Ross Buzzuro, the commander of the Northern District. "We have increased deployment."

The attacks — which include several instances of harassment and rock-throwing, many that were not reported to police — generated discussion on Facebook among bike commuters and the city’s pedestrian planner, Nate Evans.

Evans said in an interview that he’s picked up on "a pattern of attacks on cyclists" in recent weeks in blocks bordered by North and Guilford avenues and Charles and 25th streets. He’s heard many of the stories at meetings as he plans a bike route on Guilford.

"It sounds like in a couple of the attacks, the victims were overcome by a number of assailants," he said. Most occurred on the evening commute, between 5:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

The area essentially divides neighborhoods north of downtown and upper Charles Village, and is almost unavoidable for anyone commuting from downtown to points north. It’s six blocks south from where Johns Hopkins researcher Stephen Pitcairn was robbed and fatally stabbed last month as he walked home from the train station.

"That area of Lower Charles Village has always been a dangerous area to ride around in at night," said one bicyclist who didn’t want his name used. He was a victim two years ago at nearly the same spot where Byrne was attacked. "It’s very dark and just kind of a no-man’s land," the young man said.

"Unfortunately, it’s not like a lot of people can avoid these routes," said Evans, who when designing bike routes charts potholes, road conditions, congestion and crime.

He noted that Guilford and Charles "are some of the safest streets going through that area" and he recommended that "if you see someone coming after you, if you have to go through a red light or a stop sign to avoid being attacked, then keeping safe needs to be the priority."

Byrne said he was riding home to Charles Village from work as music editor for the City Paper and was going "at a pretty good clip" when three kids stepped off a corner and knocked him down. "It was like a combination of getting punched and tackled," the 30-year-old said.

He said one youngster "screamed at me not to get up and somebody else took off on the bike." He said he suffered a bruised rib but otherwise wasn’t hurt. He said the bike is old and might be worth $300 or $400.

Police said the description of the attackers is vague. Byrne said he regularly commutes through the area and said he’s never before been attacked there. "I don’t think it’s a bad area," he said of the heavily trafficked streets. "It’s not a place where think, oh, something bad is going to happen here."

Continue reading “Police probe bike attacks in Charles Village”

by Nate Evans

Continue reading “Have You Seen This Bike?”

Madison is the safest major city in America in which to raise kids, according to a ranking released Thursday by Men’s Health magazine.

Madison beat out 100 other major cities in the country evaluated by Men’s Health magazine, with the examined criteria including the accidental death rates for 5- to 14-year-old children, the number of sex offenders per capita and the rate of abused children shielded from further abuse.
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The five least safe cities in order were Jacksonville, Fla.; New Orleans; *Baltimore*; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Tulsa, Okla.
Continue reading “Baltimore is NOT the safest city in the nation to raise kids, according to magazine ranking”

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In 2013, the task force study envisions three road improvements: turn lanes for Shookstown Road at Bowers Road; and Shookstown Road at Kemp Lane; and a signal at Shookstown Road at Opossumtown Pike.

The total cost for those three is roughly estimated at $550,000, with the city’s share being about $198,030, Hahn said. [B’ Spokes note the lower then 50% match, I wounder why, do car only improvements get a better break then bike/ped?]

The task force took into consideration right of way, lane width, median, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, grass buffer and landscaping and speed.

The task force recommended for two-lane road corridors having in each direction a 5-foot-wide pedestrian path, a 5-foot strip to separate pedestrians from a 4-foot bicycle path; a 12-foot automobile lane; and an 18-foot median. In areas with four lanes of traffic, the bicycle path is removed.

Hahn said the next step will be a resolution adopting the study’s recommendations. They will then serve as guides for the corridor improvements.
Continue reading “Frederick – Study plans for more traffic by car, foot, bike”

[B’ Spokes: You would have thought that people’s choice in transportation goes by what is well accommodated.]
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But the Minnesota approach is drawing praise from the national experts at the Texas Transportation Institute, which has tracked congestion across the country since 1982. Along with Seattle, the institute’s Tim Lomax told USA Today last month, the Twin Cities "are at the forefront of what’s going on … They are not only thought leaders, but action leaders."

For example:

* Twin Cities freeways have nearly 300 miles of bus-only shoulder lanes, more than the rest of the nation combined. This "transit advantage," initiated in 1992, allows buses to bypass stalled traffic, making them more attractive than driving for many commuters and reducing the number of vehicles clogging the road.
* Another transit advantage being introduced on a few routes in Minneapolis and St. Paul is traffic signal controls for bus drivers running behind schedule. Metro Transit says this tool has produced a 15 percent time savings for transit riders.
* Metro freeways pioneered entrance ramp meters, which showed their utility when gridlock followed an experimental meter shutdown dictated by conservative legislators.
* Interstate Hwy. 394 was among the first in the nation to establish a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) system, which allows solo motorists, for a price collected electronically, to use express lanes formerly restricted to car pools, transit and motorcycles. The 5-year-old project has sped up traffic in both the tolled and free lanes, winning support from drivers in all income classes. Now the HOT system has been extended to I-35W with similar strong results – 10 to 15 minutes off average trips, free flow in the priced lanes 99 percent of the time — and the Minnesota Department of Transportation is looking for ways to bring it to other crowded corridors.
* Last year, Metro Transit, the city of Minneapolis and federal funders collaborated on a project to concentrate all 78 express bus routes on dedicated two-lane portions of Marquette and 2nd Avenues S. downtown. This allows buses to pass each other in what Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons calls "a ballet of buses weaving in and out." It has increased express bus speeds in the downtown zone by 60 percent, he said.
* The latest improvements, launched last month, are advisory speed limits and other information on 170 electronic signs over 35W from Burnsville to I-494. The first-in-the-nation "Smart Lanes" system manages access to toll lanes, directs traffic away from crashes and responds to weather and road conditions by recommending slower travel. The advisory limits don’t carry the force of law, but "in a peak period you only need a small percentage of cars to comply with it," said MnDOT’s Nick Thompson. "Then the whole system starts to operate at that speed (as little as 30 miles per hour)." The signs are similar to those in operation for years at the Lowry Hill tunnel on I-94. More Smart Lanes will open into downtown Minneapolis this fall and along I-94 in Minneapolis and St. Paul next year.
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Continue reading “Twin Cities ahead of curve in managing congestion”

By Shatara Lumpkin
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”Many people wonder why we ride bikes for so many miles while working instead of getting in a car and making it easier. Well, wonder no more. Riding our bikes is actually cheaper, healthier, less time consuming, and better for the environment. Not only are our youth working on trails, but their bodies as well and you could do the same. Traveling by bike is a lot less expensive because you are saving money on gas. The average person spends an estimate of about forty dollars a week to fill up their gas tanks versus a person riding a bike that may only spend seventy-five cents to put air in their tires. Baltimore City has now even arranged the MTA to fit bike riders as well. Even if you ride to your destination and are too tired to ride back, you can hop on the light rail, bus, and/or the trains and spend one dollar and sixty cent or three dollars and fifty cents at most for the entire day. As for bike riding being healthier, you’re burning calories with each pedal you take and keeping your heart rate steady. Just from experience, the Gwynns Falls Trail youth workers have learned that it is definitely less time consuming as well. We use the trails where there is less is little to no traffic at all, making our trips shorter and easier. While cars are stuck in traffic, we’re zooming right through the city nonstop. Using our bikes causes less pollution in the air. Many vehicles leak gas or have toxic fumes coming from them which pollute our air and make it bad for the people around them. If everyone would ride a bike every once in a while, our community could truly be on its way to being healthier, cleaner, and safer for its people.”
Continue reading “Youthworks on the Gwynns Falls Trail”

-> "There’s no such thing as absolute safety. Risk is a relative thing. In 1993, Exponent Corp. (then Failure Analysis Associates, Inc.) published fatality rates for various activities. Here is how some of the activities scored, in Fatalities per Million Hours of Activity:"

"-Motorcycling 8.80 -Life Overall 1.53
-Automobile travel 0.47
-Bicycling 0.26
-School bus travel 0.22
-Airline travel 0.15…"
Continue reading “STATS R US”

by Jacksonville Bicycle Travel Examiner Donald Crowson

Cycling Baltimore, Maryland is not complete without a ride on the Gwynns Falls Trail. This 15-mile greenway trail connects the Inner Harbor with 2,000 scenic acres of parkland in the west and southwest of Baltimore.

Light Street Cycles is the cycle rental shop nearest downtown and the Inner Harbor and their daily rental fees are $25 ($15 add. day) for hybrids and $50 ($35 add. day) for road bikes. Their friendly and knowledgeable staff are eager to help fellow bicycle travelers.

The ride starts at the Visitor Center, at Inner Harbor (see Google Map below), where an informative printed map of the Gynns Fall Trail is available (The same map is also available at Light Street Cycles.). Plus, a must have for bicycle travelers to Baltimore is their New Baltimore Bicycle Map, produced by the city’s BikeBaltimore program. A printed copy may be obtained by calling 410-396-6856.

After picking up your map and starting your trek along Light Street, the ride winds its way through the Otterbein & Federal Hill districts. Arriving at Solo Gibbs Park, the trail’s first off-road sections begin. As I395 towers above the ride passes M&T Bank Stadium and Parcs Animal Shelter and then off-road again for the Ridgely’s Cove section. This section is a quiet, winding greenway, where a homeless community has set up residency. Even though the area is spotted with several homeless camps, the area is void of trash and liter. The ride returns to an on-road route as it passes the huge smoke stack and travels along Kloman Street, past the Westport rail station. Once arriving at Middle Branch Park the ride again returns to an off-road path. Wildlife such as Great Blue Herons and various migrating ducks & geese can be experienced throughout the park and at several wildlife observation boardwalks. Past fishing piers and the Harbor Hospital the route reaches its turn-around point at Cherry Hill Park.

This southwest side of the Gynns Falls Trail is definitely a plus for Baltimore and especially for the areas it passes through. Further benefit is a future planned route along the western shore of Middle Branch. As always read the bike safety article, practice safety first, don that helmet be observant and get cycling!

[Read the full article for maps and pictures!]
Continue reading “Cycling Baltimore, Inner Harbor Middle Branch Park ride”