Category: Biking in Baltimore

Next Saturday, November 7th, will be a combined Tree Baltimore/Bike Baltimore Event. Trees will be distributed to communities via BIKE (bike trailer, cargo bikes, etc)

We’ll meet at DeWees Park at 8:30 am with Mayor Dixon and then take some trees for a spin! Anyone with a bike trailer is encouraged to participate!

Please contact Nate Evans nate.evans@baltimorecity.gov or Anne Draddy anne.draddy@baltimorecity.gov for details.

www.baltimorecity.gov/bike

October 2009

Updates Transportation reform IS health care reform! With the debate over health care reform dominating the news, Transportation for America brought physicians, health policy experts and Julia Lopez, a 14-year-old who advocates for children’s health, to Capitol Hill in order to highlight the often neglected impact that transportation has on our health. In more than 35 meetings with legislators and staff, the group explained how where we live, work and play has a profound impact on the rates of obesity, diabetes, asthma and other quality of life measures. And they connected the dots to policies that can keep us healthier by reducing exposure to pollution, increasing walkability and making physical activity a normal part of our daily routine. Learn More

		FAST FACTS Each year air pollution triggers over a million asthma attacks, more than 47,000 cases of chronic bronchitis in adults and 540,000 cases of acute bronchitis in children and kills 70,000 people. Source: Transportation For America Health Fly-In Statistics 2009.

Continue reading “Transportation reform IS health care reform!”

[I was on on of the Baltimore Bicycling Clubs rides through Roland Park and had a great time! It was wonderful to see a bunch of kids out and about. But seriously $4,500 for a mile of half a road closure for basically half a day, that is totally outrageous! Maybe a police officer at a major intersection, but all the minor ones as well??? I have an idea, lets charge shooters for police time and let events that promote Baltimore get police time for free.]

By Michael Dresser

For five hours of a perfect autumn morning, half of Roland Avenue went to the dogs. To the bikes. To the runners and the walkers and the stand-around-and-schmoozers. And the skateboards, baby carriages, wagons, skates, at least one unicycle and a three-wheeled, scooter-like contraption called a Trikke.

Anything but motor vehicles.

From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, the city closed the southbound lanes of Roland Park’s main drag to motor vehicles – turning the busy traffic artery into a mile-long, paved park. The event was a test of a concept called "Sunday Streets" that has been imported to from Colombia and transplanted to a growing number of American cities. Organizers said that if it were successful, such street-closing events could become more frequent and larger in scale.

And judging by the smiles on the faces of the hundreds of Baltimoreans – many of them children — who turned out for the highly mobile festival, a success it was.

For Erica McCullough of Charles Village, Sunday Streets was an opportunity to let 4-year-old son Carter get used to his bicycle with training wheels without having to dodge cars or travel to a more distant bike trail.

"It’s a perfect event for him to bring it out and get going – a nice straightaway," she said. "I would love it if they could do it more often because kids need to get out more," she said.

Jonny Pike, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gilman School, was delighted that the city had allowed an event where his skateboard was welcomed rather than prohibited.

"I’ve gotten yelled at for trespassing in a lot of places for skateboarding," he said. Both he and his sister Lauren, 12, said they’d like to see the city do it more often.

Kim Forsyth, one of the many humans who were parading their dogs down the middle of the street, said she and her pit bull Daisy were enjoying a break from the sidewalk.
Continue reading “Pedestrian event makes its way from Bogota to Roland Park”

First off our thanks go out to City Council Persons Bill Henry and Mary Pat Clarke for their participation and interest in this topic. To highlight some of the points discussed:

* Fixing parallel storm grates
* Cycling bill of rights
* Better police participation in enforcing cyclists rights
* Crash reports for all cycling/motor vehicle crashes
* Legalizing riding on the sidewalk.
* Cyclist safety to and from Johns Hopkins Hospital
* Legalize single track Mt biking in the City Reservoirs

With the latter City Council will hold another hearing to discuss how to better serve recreational use of our reservoir areas, so stay tuned.

All cyclists in Baltimore and who use the Reservoir areas thank those who came to show support and those who testified, especially Nate Evens our Bike/Ped Planer extraordinaire in the city DOT, Gary Letteron of the Department of Planning. Also testifying, Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, Baltimore Bicycling Club, One Less Car and Mid Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts.
Continue reading “Hearing on the Equal Rights for Bikes Task Force Summary”

Baltimore, MD – October 17, 2009. Baltimore City residents are invited to join the Roland Park Civic League for a field test of Baltimore’s “Sunday Streets” Program. The first ever City-permitted field test is part of our community’s first Seven Generations Weekend. “Seven generations” refers to the Great Law of the Iroquois, “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation.” It is a founding principle of the sustainability movement.

From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on October 25, the southbound lanes of Roland Avenue will be temporarily closed between Northern Parkway and Cold Spring Lane to allow cyclists, pedestrians and skateboarders safe access to the street. Students and other volunteers will be trained and deployed as safety officers. If successful, a larger Sunday Streets event will be organized in March 2010, connecting Roland Park, Lake Montebello and Druid Hill Park (the “lake to lake” pilot route).
Final details are being worked out by the Civic League’s Sustainability Committee, the Office of the Mayor, Department of Transportation and Baltimore Police Department under the leadership of Councilwomen Mary Pat Clarke and Sharon Green Middleton. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council and One Less Car are providing additional support. On Sunday morning, Princeton Sports and Joe’s Bike Shop will have mechanics on hand to check bikes, make minor repairs and inform the public about bike safety. The Baltimore Bicycling Club is organizing two rides that morning that will include the Roland Avenue Sunday Streets course.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009
6:00pm – 7:30pm
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING CONFERENCE ROOM
417 E. FAYETTE ST, 8TH FLOOR

PLEASE BRING YOUR BIKES INSIDE!

WE’LL PREP FOR FRIDAY’S VERY IMPORTANT CITY COUNCIL HEARING! !!!

Please plan to attend if you would like to contribute on Friday.

Bike Baltimore ,
Vol. 1, Issue 4

 

Thank you for subscribing to the BIKE BALTIMORE e-newsletter distributed by
the Baltimore
City , Department of
Transportation.  Here you will find the latest information regarding the
city’s efforts to make Baltimore
a safer and more enjoyable place to bike.

 

 

NEWS!

 

The Baltimore City
Council will conduct a hearing on

the
Equal Rights for Bikes Task Force

Friday, October
23^rd at 12:30 pm.

Du Burns
Council Chamber, 4th floor, City Hall

 

While this Task Force is a good idea, the Department of
Transportation (DOT) and Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (MBAC) are
already fully engaged in many of its goals.  DOT has since submitted a
list of other laws that would help improve cycling in
Baltimore :  Complete Streets, mandatory
bike parking, Cyclists’ Bill of Rights among others

 

Please attend this important hearing to make
Baltimore a better place
to bike!

 

• The Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee

  will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, October 20th at 6pm in the Department
  of Planning Conference Room ( 417
  E. Fayette St , 8th Floor).  If you want to have comments submitted to City
  Council on the 23rd, please attend this MBAC meeting!

 

 

• The Baltimore Metropolitan
  Council has completed the BICYCLE COMMUTER
  RESOURCE GUIDE for the Baltimore Region.  The guide
  contains an array of information road rules, outfitting your bike, and
  where to ride.  The guide also contains information for employers on
  how to encourage employees to commute by bike.  The guide is now
  available online.

 

• A map of the Park Heights Bicycle Network will soon
  be availabe at the Bike Baltimore website.

 

• The on-street bike parking in
  Charles Village will return
  after St. Paul Street
  is resurfaced within the coming months.  Along with the bike
  parking’s return will be new bike lanes!!!

 

• The bike lanes on Fallsway will be unavailable for a
  couple days over the coming weeks as they will undergo
  “improvements.” 

 

• The biking community of
  Baltimore welcomes Richard
  Layman as the new bicycle pedestrian planner for
  Baltimore County ! 
  Richard will be developing the Western County Bike & Pedestrian Plan
  as well as focused planning in the Towson
  area.

 

 

 

BIKE EVENTS

 

• Tour du Port, Baltimore ‘s
  premier bicycle event, took place October 4th with nearly 2000 riders!!!
  Congratulations to Carol Silldorff and ONE LESS CAR on
  the Tour’s success.  All
  proceeds from the Tour go directly to advancing the programs and advocacy
  efforts of One Less Car, a non-profit dedicated to walking, bicycling and
  mass transit in Maryland .
  

 

• Baltimore‘s first CYCLOVIA
  event will be Sunday, October 25th in Roland Park!!!  Sponsored by
  the Roland Park Civic League, Roland
  Ave will be transformed into a temporary park
  from 8am – 1 pm between Cold
  Spring Lane and
  Northern Parkway .  For more
  information or to volunteer, email Mike McQuestion at mike.mcquestion@gmail.com

 

• The
  Southeast BIcycle Network
  will be unveiled Wednesday, October 28th 6:30 pm at the Southeast Anchor
  Library.  See what new bike facilities will be coming to
  Highlandtown, Canton ,
  Fells Point, Little Italy and points in between.

 

• The
  annual Baltimore Halloween Bike Ride
  (Critical Mass) will take place on Friday, October 30th starting at the
  Washington
  Monument at 7pm.

 

 

These events and more can be found on the Bike
Baltimore website at www.baltimorecity.gov/bike

…
"I just wanted to ride to school, ride to Baskin-Robbins, ride to Wal-Mart," Elli said.
…
When Elli was 7, she wanted to ride her bike to school. But the Giammonas live off Mullan Road. Each day, 12,000 cars go by their home, and go by fast. Her parents, Luann and John, weren’t keen on their daughter biking with speeding sedans.

But Elli rode on sidewalks back when the family lived in Austin, Texas, and she wanted to know why there wasn’t a sidewalk on Mullan. Sidewalks, her mother explained, are expensive.

"Can you buy one?"

"Mmm. No. I don’t think so. But here’s an idea."

The idea was a brief lesson in lobbying one’s government. Luann taught Elli the meaning of the word "petition" and told her how one works. Soon, an idea took shape.

Elli took writing utensil to notebook paper:

"Petition. We want a sidewalk on Mullan Road. With a rale."

She and her sister Kate, now 6, knocked on doors, as did her brother Nick, now 12, with a friend. Together, they gathered more than 75 signatures, and few people turned them down. It wasn’t what Elli had expected.
…
Continue reading “The power of a purple bike and a little girl”

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Bike Pittsburgh has compiled the following data for 60 of the major US cities. So I’ll highlight Baltimore’s ranking:

* 30 – Commuting by bicycle
* 10 – Commuting by walking
* 9 – Commuting by driving alone
* 8 – Commuting by mass transit
* 6 – No car available
* 28 – Females that commute by bike (indicator of bike friendliness)
Continue reading “2008 Commuting Trends by City”