Potomac St Bike Lane Community Meeting Notes
Note: These are my notes and are not the official Canton Community Association meeting minutes.
The meeting kicked off at 7pm and started with an intro from Doug Kaufman asking for calm, and giving a little outline of the meeting. He introduced Michelle Pouraciau, the new director of the Department of Transportation. She has been on the job for a month, and has had to jump in head first on this issue. Around the time she came on, the settlement with the city and Bikemore was just being hammered out, and so she had to hit the ground running to get this worked out before the previously scheduled Canton Community Association meeting.
They first went over the goals of the track:
- It needs to be an all ages track that goes from Patterson Park to the Canton Waterfront Park. They mentioned the idea of age 8 to 80.
- Potomac St has excess capacity. This effort actually started years ago as a traffic calming measure. They mentioned that one lane promotes slower traffic than two wider lanes.
- Shorter street crossing distance. Currently, you have to cross two full lanes of traffic as a pedestrian. They wanted to cut that down.
- Emergency vehicles needed to be able to get in. That was the issue that stopped the cycle track in June.
- Maximize Parking. Parking is always, always, always a premium in the city (but not premium enough that we want to pay for it).
- Loading zones for businesses.
- Historic district requirements. The area requires a sign off by the Maryland Historical Society (I think)
- Accessibility. Disabled residents need to be able to get to their cars.
The biggest restriction that is being worked with is that the cycle track MUST be a two way, protected track. The grant that paid for this stipulates that. If its not a two way cycle track, then the money has to be returned.
The proposed solution would put diagonal parking on one side of the road, with the travel lane next to it, followed by a buffer and then the 8' two-way cycle track. The width of the road from Eastern to Fait is different than south of that. The only difference would be the width of the buffer between the two sections (I was in the back, so it was hard to tell exactly, but they mentioned that as the difference later in the presentation; wait for the presentation to be posted).
They mentioned that they can do either 8' or 9' wide. Wider spots provide more space, but would take away parking. They showed an image of (what I believe was) Hudson’s angled parking. The parking behind Safeway and that area is 8', and the image they showed had lots of space. You can get an idea on Google Streetview, although that area has been reconfigured a bit since that picture.
The elephant in the room is always parking. They went around and counted 220–225 on the Potomac St corridor. They mentioned that there is a lot of illegal parking in no stopping zones, in front of fire hydrants, and past the end of buildings where parking is not allowed. It was not clear if that 220–225 number included those parking spots.
They have engineering software that they used to determine the amount of parking that would be available after the reconfiguration, and came up with 199 spots with 8' spots. They also identified 4 more spots within 50' of Potomac that could be added, as well as 4 more that were added with the removal of the MTA bus stop nearby. By that math, there are 220–225 spots before the reconfiguration, and 207 after the reconfiguration.
The parking reconfiguration also took into account the turning radius of trucks, and fire trucks. The same software they used for identifying the parking situation was used to make sure that all driveway entrances, fire hydrants, and turning areas were taken into account.
This was in response to much of the feedback from the May Canton Community Association meeting where people mentioned:
- Fire saftey: fire trucks now have 19' of clearance
- Accessibility: no one has to cross a bike lane to get to their car as cars will be along the curb
- Increases visibility of cyclists in the track since cars will no longer act as the buffer.
- The buffer is now flex posts that will still separate cars and cyclists (not as well as cars, but this is compromise).
Timeline
- The comment period goes from August 8 until September 7.
- The week of September 18, there will be an open house for community review
- Immediately after that, the construction will start, with a completion date of October or November (weather dependent)
Question/Answer/Comment Section
They then opened it up to comments. They wrote down all of the comments and answered what they could. Note that I did not quote all of these; these are summaries.
Q/A will be marked if it was a question that was answered. C will indicate comments that did not require a response.
One of the more notable comments came from the mother of Jeremy Pope, the cyclist that was riding near BWI when he was run over from behind and killed. She described the horror of getting that phone call on the Fouth of July to find out that her son was dead. While protected bike lanes like this are partially about getting more people out of their cars, and onto bikes, the other part is to provide safety so these incidents don’t happen.
In the most tone deaf comment of the night, the person that followed up Jeremy’s mom tried to express that she thought safety was important, but still express her opposition for an all ages, protected cycle track.
Q: Someone asked what the stipulations of the grant were.
A: The stipulations are a bit more complicated than they wanted to go through in a forum like that, but the main thing was that it be an all ages, bi-directional, protected cycle track. Anything else would lose the grant.
Q: Someone asked about how fire trucks would handle a fire if it happened today.
A: There was a representative from the fire department there who stepped up to take this question. She said that they “would never look down a street and say… ohh… thats too tight. If there is an emergency, we will get down there.”
The best quote of the night was when she described how they would get down there. “We would get down there even if we have to push a few BMW’s or Mercedes out of the way.”
Oh man that was the answer of the night.
Q: Someone asked if the fire department was consulted in the first place.
A: The fire department rep came back up and broke it all down. She said that the fire code requires 20', but that they have 19' and a few inches on Potomac. They are allowed to take other considerations into account, and that is why they approved it.
The 20' rule comes because the outriggers that hold a truck stable when the ladder is deployed are 18' wide when deployed. In this case, the extra space from the angled parking makes them feel good about the setup. They also feel good about the turning radius issues.
C: Someone was called on, but did not have a microphone. She used her ‘mom’ voice to voice her appreciation for the lane. She lives west of the park, has kids, but does not have a car. She is able to take her kids shopping without getting other transportation. She said many other things though, but her points got a little garbled and lost.
Q: Why can’t the northbound bike lane be put on Linwood?
A: The grant doesn’t allow it.
Note: Also, that would take another complete lane.
Q: Normally, a block needs 70% approval to switch to angled parking. Why is that not applying here?
A: That is because the street accessibility would change, because it usually changes a street from two way to one way. That does not apply in this case as this is a larger project.
C: I am a doctor and have a neighbor who is disabled who has trouble getting to her car. This will make it harder for her because her car will be around the corner.
C: The cones and flex posts are ugly. They should be removed. (I think he asked that it be put back as well).
C: Adam Aviv, a Canton guy who organizes rides on the The Southeast Group Rides Facebook group encouraged people to try riding, and to join their group for rides.
Q: The questioner looked at the Baltimore bike master plan and did not see Potomac on there. It was part of the amendment, but not in the original plan. If this cycletrack has been planned for many years, why was it not on there?
A: The director mentioned that they have plans in many different places, and we do need to bring things together into a master transportation plan. But this has been in the works for many years.
Q: Another comment about it not looking good as it is now (I think they wanted something done between now and the end of September when its changed). They also asked about what was in the settlement.
A: She was adamant that there was not a settlement. I am not sure what she meant, as I thought there was. But she might have meant that the settlement did not force their hand in this effort. There was not a follow up question on this.
Q: Questioner wanted to know why the lane was 8' wide, as that seemed wide to them.
A: Normal bike lanes are 4'-5', but since this is a two way lane, it needs to be double the width.
C: Someone complained that there were hundreds of cyclists that took over Potomac St a few weeks back and didn’t let traffic through.
He was complaining about Baltimore Bike Party, the monthly city ride.
C: Someone commented that Baltimore is a majority Black city, and that many people do not have cars. Bike lanes are important for many people in this city.
No joke. People shouted him down for bringing up the equality aspect. It was the second most tone deaf part of the meeting.
C: A Canton resident mentioned that she bike commutes to work, but has to take Hudson, with the unprotected bike lane. Its a harrowing section to bike on, as you are in the door zone, and in the way of cars pulling out. She said she would love to get rid of her car if more bike facilities were provided.
C: Someone suggested dropping the bike lane to a single lane and then using the other four feet for something else. I think he said something about an Italian boulevard or something (I couldn’t hear it). He kind of tailed off with his point. Not sure what you do with a lane and a half as a travel lane.
C: Someone from the Maryland Department of Transportation (Canton resident, not associated with the Baltimore DOT) pointed out that this lane could not be used for getting around, and would only be useful for leisure rides between the parks. I didn’t really get her point, as the DOT mentioned that the reason it was picked was because of the park connection. I am not sure if she thinks that it cant be used for getting around or something.
Q: Someone asked about the width of the lane and the buffer.
A: The Maryland Ave lane is between 8 and 10 feet wide. Potomac will be 8' all the way down. The buffer will be 3' north of Fait, and will be basically the width of the flexpost and two lines south of that.
C: Someone said that the lane is only usable 55 days per year. And that there are 28 houses on his block and only 21 spots.
Q: Where is snow going to go when it gets plowed? They aren’t going to plow the bike lane.
This was a question that was noted, but that they didn’t directly have an answer for immediately.
Q: What is going to be done with the comment period?
A: Comments will be collected, answered, and then provided during the open house week on the week of September 18th.
Q: Someone asked how cyclists are insured. If a driver hits a cyclist, they have to stop. If a cyclist hits a car, they were asking if they have to be insured.
A: DOT punted this question because its so outside of the relevant.
Note: But normally, homeowners insurance or renters insurance covers those things.
C: The community association was never asked about this. We were told in April that it was coming and were not given a chance to push back on that.
Q: Will the 20' rule be the standard moving forward for all city transit projects?
A: They kind of punted on this, but basically said that they need to make a standard to be applied across the board, and prioritize multi-modal transit.
C: At the July Bike Party, there was a guy (Steve) who held up a sign that said that he was from Canton and for the bike lane. He had a pretty impassioned dressing down for his neighbors for moving the goal on this whole issue, and not prioritizing safety.
These were four or five comments that I compressed into one comment. A lot of people came from Maryland Ave that talked it up.
C: A couple people that live next to the Maryland Ave cycletrack talked about their experience with it. One person noted that people in wheelchairs were able to use it when the sidewalk was too rough. A girl who described herself as ‘obese’ said that the Maryland cycletrack was the thing that got her to start cycling a few times a week, and that she would not have done it on an unprotected track.
Q: How do we protect the integrity of the track from cars pulling over into it?
They did not have an immediate answer for this.
C: Someone had a meandering comment about how he recently got a new truck, and that he didn’t want people dinging up his doors. He wanted wider, 9' spots. But he also wanted lots of parking. And I guess he wants free parking right by his house. I am not sure what he was asking for. Maybe a pony?
C: A guy who was in the business of bringing more businesses to the city, and who cycles a lot mentioned that one of the biggest questions he gets from potential companies is about how to get around without a car. He also mentioned that he was hit by a car on Pratt St. He asked that we prioritize bike lanes and multi modal transit to make Baltimore more attractive to potential companies.
C: Someone was not paying attention during the presentation, and asked how people will get to their cars in the middle of the street. That will no longer apply in the new design.
Q: There was a guy (who has to be this guy from Reddit) who brought a list of regulations that the track was not following. It was hard to follow as a comment, and would have been more useful with less explicit citations. But he was making the point that cycletracks are not meant for low traffic roads, and should have usage of 100–750 riders per day. He also asked about beautification.
A: They pointed out that the track is not even complete yet, and its hard to measure usage when people are parking in the bike lane, throwing cones in the lane, and REMOVING BOLTS holding down the flexposts.
They punted on the beautification question because his question was too long.
C: Someone was concerned about the immediate safety risk between now and when the lane is reconfigured in late September. He was frustrated that the comment period was supposed to have started on August 1 and been 14 days.
C: Someone that came last time and expressed how he couldn’t afford a car, but wanted a bike reported that he now had a bike. And how he promptly got right hooked on Eastern, and why we need not only this bike lane, but many, many more.
C: A firefighter from Canton expressed frustration that the fire department was not asked about this plan before it was rolled out. He agreed that they could get anywhere, like the other fire department rep mentioned, but he expressed that they just wanted to be consulted. I have a feeling that he was the one that riled everyone up about the fire code issue before.
C: A guy that grew up in a small town that had bike lanes everywhere said that even in his town, they didn’t have bike lanes in residential neighborhoods. So we shouldn’t have one in Canton.
