Month: October 2007

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Transportation Outlook 2035 Draft Plan

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB) has released a revised draft of the Executive Summary of Transportation Outlook 2035, the long-range transportation plan for the Baltimore region.

Based on significant public input on the need for additional transit and expanded transportation choices, the BRTB reduced the number of highway projects in the plan. These highway projects were deferred within the plan and those project funds were shifted into transit.

Specifically, the members of the BRTB agreed to defer six highway projects to provide additional funding for MARC. Among the proposed improvements to MARC is an East Baltimore station, which will serve the Bayview campus and provide connectivity with a proposed Red Line extension to Bayview.

[If you are interested in seeing what trails are planed look at pg 15 of the executive summary. And kudos to the Mass Transits folks for helping turn the tide on a car centric transportation plan.]
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Transforming car lanes to bike lanes

For those of you who have not seen the new bike lane going SE on University just after the Roland Ave split, it is way cool. They removed a travel lane to install a bike lane. This concept is very important to implementing our bike master plan well; obtaining road width where it is not absolutely needed for motorized travel. If you would like to see more road designs that accommodate all road users well, send a thank you note to Frank Murphy frank.murphy@baltimorecity.gov .

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Jones Falls Trail meeting

The next trail meeting will be on Thursday, Oct 18 7PM at The Wesley, 2211 W. Rogers Ave.
Come learn what those who support/oppose the trail have to say and have an opportunity to put your own 2 cents in.

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SR2S 2007 State of the States Report

Very few children walk or bike to school today. But this
wasn’t always the case. In 1969, according to the National
Household Travel Survey, approximately 50 percent
of children in the U.S. got to school by walking or
bicycling. By 2001, only about 15 percent of students
traveled to school by walking or bicycling. As a result,
kids today are less active and less independent. Over the
past 40 years, rates of obesity have soared among children
of all ages in the United States, and approximately
25 million children and adolescents are now either
overweight or obese.

The increasing trend of driving kids to school also has
other serious implications for health and safety. As much
as 20 to 30 percent of morning traffic can be generated
by parents driving their children to schools, and in the
United States, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause
of death for children ages 3 to 14.

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Studies have shown that physical activity during youth
plays a critical role in the development of strong bones,
cardiovascular health and overall physical development.
But today, sedentary lifestyles for both children and adults
are, unfortunately, the cultural norm. In fact, on average,
the majority of U.S. children now spend more time each
day watching television and playing video games than
they do in school.

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College Park Serial Bike Thief Caught

Undercover University Police officers arrested a serial bike thief Tuesday after they spotted him cut the lock on a student’s bicycle in front of Martin Hall, a police spokesman said.

Six charges were filed against Michael Crum, of Washington, including theft for five bicycles that police said he stole from students on the campus.
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"He’s definitely one of the guys that is a leading stealer of bikes on campus," said Dillon. "It’s a relatively low-risk kind of criminal activity unless you start stealing bikes in front of cops."
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Plainclothes officers in were hanging fliers on bikes encouraging owners to register with the university’s database of bicycle serial numbers and corresponding owners, when they spotted Crum ride up on another stolen bike with flat tires, Dillon said.
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"We hope and expect him to see jail time for this," Dillon said.

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