From NORTH BALTIMORE BIKE BRIGADE
….shouldn’t we always?
Aside from a few new bike lanes here or there as part of Operation Orange Cone, there hasn’t been anything new to bike on in Baltimore for quite some time. Even the new shared bike and bus lanes downtown need some refreshing. One small victory was gained in the deep mid-winter on the central bikeway of Baltimore. Baltimore City Public School System had closed the parking lot of the Guilford Ave cut-through due to conflict between cyclists and pedestrians with extended gate arms and chains.
A compromise was reached by the Department of Transportation adding signage to direct cyclists to the parking lot and yiedling right-of-way to pedestrians; nothing more than is asked in the regualr course of travel by cyclists in all parts of the city…and world. By adding 3 simple signs, the dream of the Guilford Ave Bicycle Boulevard lives on.
Quite a few more signs for bicycles will spring up over the course of the spring, summer & fall taking B’more to the next level of bicycle existence. No, it’s not Portland, Amsterdam, Copenhagen or even New York City. It’s Baltimore. Not only will the Park Heights and Southeast Bike Networks become reality, but construction on 3 trail sections will begin and an existing trail will be recognized.
Until the summer construction season, keep on riding, shake the remaining cold and yield to pedestrians. There are many events coming this summer that need assistance of experienced cyclists. Let’s get more of B’more outta cars and onto bikes!!!
As Bartles & James used to say, “Thank you for your support.”
https://nbbb.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/direction/oldId.20100307071600596
Hmm.. I wonder how many people ride through this area that it became such an issue. I sometimes take this route in the evening on the way back home and have only seen 2 or 3 other cyclists during the last year. I noticed that they closed the parking lot at some point, but had no idea there were any conflicts. While I’m used to seeing conflicts between pedestrians/cyclists and motorists (and often between motorists and and their own kind as well)… I always expected that at least pedestrians and cyclists would get along well. Sadly, I must have been wrong.