baltimorespokes

Analysis of the States’ Use of Federal Funding [With tables summarized just for Maryland.]

[B’ Spokes: Note this table is for the life of the program so small changes in the percentage is a lot of money. To date the State has focused on the Programed amount (setting aside projects and their funds and as you can see Maryland is at 99%.) And we have focused on the Obligated amount of available funds. (Projects getting done and consuming funds and as you can see Maryland is not that good at 81%. (The State has promised to address this issue but no specifics yet.)]

Table 1: State TE Program Benchmarks for FY 1992 through FY 2010 (in thousands of $)

[B’ Spokes: Note that Maryland’s rescinded rate has been favorable (some of the report focuses on states with less favorable rescission rates) but $12 million of Maryland’s $15 million was rescinded in 2009. Too many out of the ordinary things are happening under O’Malley’s watch. ]

[B’ Spokes: The big question here is what happened in 2008, the second year O’Malley was in office? Did John Porcari just get distracted by his future appointment as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation? Reauthorization issues of the Transpiration Enhancement fund did not happen till late 2009. It’s very puzzling why Maryland took a nose dive in 2008 and then stayed below average.]

Table 2: Yearly Obligation Rates by Fiscal Year 2006–2010*

[B’ Spokes: This table is interesting as it shows not only our obscenely high match rate but also our obscenely high project cost. Lets look at total average project cost (The Table shows just the Federal portion): Maryland – $700K/40%=$1750K; Average – $380/71%=$535K. So the average Transportation Enhancement project for Maryland is three times higher then elsewhere (on average.) The explanation is fairly straight forward: Most states use this fund to build on-road bicycle accommodations (anything from shoulders to bike lanes) but Maryland forbids it. Most states can fund accommodations for bicycles as part of another projects (it’s a lot cheaper that way) but Maryland forbids it. Seriously, in this economy why are we are placing obstacles in the way of cheep accommodations for bicyclists?]

Table 4: Cumulative Programmed Federal Awards and Matching Funds, FY 1992 through FY
2010 (in thousands of dollars)

Continue reading “Transportation Enhancements Spending Report FY 1992 – FY 2010”

Excerpt from The Washcycle

Q. “Dr. Gridlock, several times in the last few months you’ve written that “drivers run stop signs too, but at least they slow down” as though that is a sign of greater virtue. But isn’t different behavior by different modes just a result of the technology, not the virtue of the operators? Drivers slow down because they’re going faster to start with, they can’t see or hear as well as cyclists, and they aren’t as maneuverable. In short, they slow down because they have to to avoid a crash. The prevelance of other illegal behavior seems to negate any claim to higher virtue. Would you not agree that cyclists, drivers and pedestrians do what they feel they can get away with without getting caught or being in a crash. So no group is more virtuous than other, right?”

Dr. Gridlock: My point exactly: Travelers generally comply with traffic law when they think there’s a reasonable chance they’ll get caught for a violation. Drivers complain about cyclists. Cyclists complain about drivers. But I don’t see any class of travelers having the moral high ground on complying with the law.

Continue reading “Running stop signs”

from TheWashCycle by Jim Titus
One of the pleasures of driving in the United States is that lanes are striped to tell people where to drive—and where to expect that other people will be driving. Most of the time, one can simply keep driving in a lane with little concern that the lane will suddenly become a hazard. To be sure, one must always keep a lookout. But changing lanes is usually optional, something one does before turning, to pass slower traffic, or allow faster traffic to pass. Where there is a potential conflict with other traffic, a traffic light, yield sign, or stop sign tells everyone who has the right of way; and other drivers generally follow the rules. A given sign or striping on the pavement always means the same thing, and the meaning is clear.
One of the most maddening aspects of riding a bicycle, by contrast, is that signs and pavement markings have unclear meanings or mean different things in different situations. Along many suburban roads, it is very difficult for a cyclist to figure out where the transportation department wants her to ride. The drivers let her know that they want her over on the shoulder. But to ride on the shoulder, she must continually cross solid white lines as the shoulder is overlaid with bypass lanes, right turn lanes, and even through-lanes that swerve right. The shoulder may be eliminated at narrow bridges and some intersections.
Someone riding a bicyle must often change lanes simply to continue straight. Read literally, the lane striping generally indicates that the cyclist is supposed to shift right into a ditch, or ride straight into the bridge structure. … but bikes are not recognized road users either whose path should be considered in road design or communicated to road users.
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Viewed in this context, it is apparent that the bike lane along curbside parking is very different than the bike lane along an open roadway. Rather than painting a bicycle symbol, these bike lanes would more accurately have diagonal striping to show that vehicles ought not drive there. Of course, that is not going to happen.
…
Meanwhile, the education of cyclists often emphasizes the need to avoid riding in the door zones. Unfortunately, those efforts do not reach all cyclists. The existence of half the cyclists riding in door zone bike lanes while the other half ride just outside the bike lane reinforces the impression of drivers that cyclists are unpredictable, arbitrary scofflaws….
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Going forward, bike lanes should be designed to actually be what drivers and most cyclists think they are—the best place to ride a bicycle on a given street.
(Jim Titus is on the Board of Directors of WABA, Maryland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (MBPAC), and the Prince George’s County Bicycle and Trail Advisory Committee (BTAG). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official opinion of WABA, MBPAC, or BTAG.)
Continue reading “Keep Bike Lanes out of the Door Hazard Zone in Prince George’s County [and hopefully elsewhere as well]”