Category: Biking in Baltimore

by Nate Evans

If you’ve pedeled Frederick Avenue lately, you may have noticed some changes.  There are some fresh layers of asphalt between Hilton and Beechfield, but its the paint that makes the difference.  The Department of Transportation is installing bike lanes from the city line to the Gwynns Falls Trail as part of the city’s first major “road diet”.  A road diet is a technique where travel lanes are reconfigured; typically converting road with 4 travel lanes to 2 travel lanes, a center-turn lane and 2 bike lanes.

 

Frederick Ave at Augusta

Other benefits of the Frederick Avenue Road Diet include:

• Full bike lanes (not sharrows) on a major arterial road
• Bike connection to the Gwynns Falls Trail
• While the bike lanes end at the city line, Baltimore County and the State Highway Administration are looking at extending these lanes westward.  If done, this will make Baltimore’s bicycle network REGIONAL! 

 

Please join me in thanking DOT’s Deputy Director Jamie Kendrick for making these new bike lanes a reality!

Should it?

Continue reading “Frederick Avenue Road Diet”

It looks like they have not caught these guys so have a watchful eye out for missing manhole covers when out riding.
Continue reading “City replaces 17 stolen manhole covers stolen for scrap”

Jacksonville Bicycle Travel Examiner – Donald Crowson

Baltimore, Maryland offers many things to do and places to cycle. Inner Harbor, Baltimore’s downtown attraction, with its boardwalk, Science Center, restaurants and shops and many other places of interest is centrally located near hotels and Baltimore’s new Cruise Terminal. From the Inner Harbor to Fort McHenry and back, this ride features a stop at Fort McHenry and Federal Hill Park. The New Baltimore Bicycle Map, produced by the city’s Department of Transportation, BikeBaltimore program, displays a wealth of information, like roads with bikes lanes, common routes used by cyclists, shared use trails and even future trails. A printed copy may be obtained by calling 410-396-6856.

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

This 6.2 mile ride starts at Light Street Cycles (See Google Map below). Heading south on Light Street the route then turns left on Fort Ave. Traveling through the Locust Point community on Fort Ave is enjoyable and calm. Fort Ave is not a major thoroughfare and thus has less traffic. A ride through Latrobe Park, and past the Locust Point Dog Park offers an exciting diversion to the strait trek to Fort McHenry Park. 

If you are reading this before November 2010, you will find that Fort McHenry Park is temporarily closed to cyclists due to construction of their new Visitor Information Center. On foot or bike, Fort McHenry is filled with excitement and to experience the important history of the park its best to leg it. Along with being a pivotal battle site of the Revolutionary War, Fort McHenry has the rare double distinction of being a national monument and historic shrine. The feeling of patriotism and gratitude is very palatable there. 

The return route zigzags its way through Locust Point to Key Hwy. Once on Key Hwy the route passes, the American Visionary Art Museum. Take a ride around the Museum for examples of interesting sculpture. Next to the American Visionary Art Museum is Federal Hill Park. Its a great place to take a breather (after one climbs its many steps and finds a close-by bench) and view the Inner Harbor and downtown Baltimore from a birds eye perspective. 

After a few blocks ride back to Light Street Cycles stop next door at Cross Street Market for some lunch and/or a stroll through. As always, review the bicycle safety article, don that helmet and get cycling.

Continue reading “Cycling Baltimore, Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry Park ride”

by: awessendorf

Heads up to commuters taking the Guilford Avenue route. My husband was attacked this week by a group of young men (probably preteen to early teen). They kicked his back tire, punched him in the side, and grabbed his shirt.

He was able to get away and we have no idea if the purpose of the attack was to steal the bike or simply to harass. But be careful if you are taking this route.
Continue reading “Guilford Avenue Route”

by Nate Evans

Continue reading “Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee July Meeting”

by Nate Evans

Continue reading “BICYCLES AT ARTSCAPE”

—by Mary Helen Sprecher

After moving right up to the (angled) line, Baltimore City is now taking a step back.

Following its announcement that the city had preliminarily approved head-out angle parking on certain streets in Canton, volunteers were set to begin carrying around petitions on blocks that would be affected by changeovers.

Now, the Department of Transportation has decided that it was perhaps not the best idea after all.

According to a memo, the city would “like to take a step back to make sure angled parking in Canton is implemented in a strategic manner with an eye toward sustainable green streets and a reduction in car use.”

Say what?
….
[B’ Spokes: if you want to see a less car centric Canton please attend the following meeting:]

The meeting will be held on Thursday, July 15, 6:30 p.m. at the Canton Community Association office in the Broom Factory. The meeting is open to the public.

The text of the memo from city planner Mark R. Brown that went out last week on the Canton list-serv, stated that the city’s Department of Transportation “thinks it’s best to hold off on any angle parking conversion which requires a traffic direction change. This will accomplish two things; it will buy us time to better plan more comprehensive street improvements as part of the upcoming Canton Transportation/Greening Plan, and it will reduce some of the pushback surrounding such large-scale parking/traffic changes.”

According to Brown, “the terms ‘green streets’ and ‘sustainable streets’ are often used interchangeably. These are streets which accommodate all users (walkers, bicyclists, transit, cars) equally, and often act as outdoor living rooms instead of just a conduit for automobiles.”
Continue reading “City makes a U-turn on Canton angle parking (Meeting notice)”

Overview

Baltimore, the State of Maryland’s largest city and a thriving tourist destination, is known for its magnificent Inner Harbor and historical significance. A major seafaring and trading community since the early 17th century, Baltimore played an active role in the American Revolution. Today, besides museums and historical sites such as Fort McHenry, Baltimore offers you numerous recreational activities including sailing, biking and golf and lots of options for healthy eating.
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Biking

Explore the many bicycle trails Baltimore has to offer or alternatively go biking with the Baltimore Bicycling Club. The Baltimore Bicycling Club offers group rides Monday and Friday during the day, Tuesday and Thursday evenings and numerous rides throughout the weekend. The BWI Trail is a 12.5-mile biking loop that circles Baltimore Washington International Airport. Most of the trails are paved with the exception of a few wooden boardwalks located in environmentally sensitive areas. The trail begins at Linthicum rail station and continues on past the historic Benson-Hammond House to the Stewart Avenue Bridge. Parking is available at five separate locations along the trail.

Continue reading “Activities in Baltimore, Maryland”

[B’ Spokes: There is no doubt in my mind that bicycle theft is a deterrent to everyday people biking more and even more poignantly a major obstacle to kids mobility and them getting the exercise they need to stay on the path of a healthy life style. A bicycle is more then just its dollar value, it is freedom of mobility for kids, it’s health and quality of life for the mature. A bicycle thief should be viewed as we did horse thieves in the wild west or a heinous crime like steeling candy from a baby as it is an attack on the quality of life and should not be tolerated.

I will point out once again that studies show that increase traffic enforcement reduces crime and other locations have solutions to reduce bicycle thefts yet in Baltimore its a none issue.]
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By Paul Rebman, Baltimore
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The story originally caught my eye, not due to the fact that Ms. Bush Hager’s name was attached, but instead I was intrigued by noticing a story about stolen bicycles. You see, I truly feel the pain Ms. Bush Hager and her husband must have felt to have their bicycles stolen. I too live in Baltimore City and have had not one, not two, but five, yes five, bicycles stolen from me in just five years of living here. Some from my house, some from Penn Station (I commute to work every day on my bicycle, it is more than recreation for me, it is transport). Thus, the article did tug at the heart strings, knowing the feeling that someone else was going through what I have gone through five times now.
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In journalism, it is the name that draws the attention. I did have five bicycles stolen. My neighbors have been held at gunpoint in their own garages. My friends have had their front door smashed in and houses ransacked, but I still have yet to see a word in print on any of it.

And it extends beyond journalism. I was happy to hear that not only the Baltimore City police were looking into the case but the Secret Service were as well. For my part, it took no less than seven calls to the police to report the theft of my stolen bicycle. Like Ms. Bush Hager’s bicycle, my bicycle too was valued at over $1,000 and served as my transportation to get to work. When the police finally did arrive 10 days after the first call, the actual response I received from the officer was "Seriously? You brought me out here for a stolen bicycle? You want me to do a police report for this? I have more important things to do with my time." Perhaps I should have called the Secret Service.

Or maybe, yes maybe I should have been a Bush or a Ripken or an O’Malley. Maybe I should have lived in Federal Hill instead of Pen Lucy. Maybe my life should have been noteworthy.
…

Continue reading “Crime, bicycle thieves and police attitudes”