Complete Streets: 4th Street edition

While form should always follow function in the creation of a complete street, form still matters.  Here is 4th Street from 2 years ago.

4th Street, circa 2009

And here is 4th Street now. Note the:

• Pedestrian refuge islands to provide for those crossing the street - function
• Narrow lanes to reduce vehicle speed - function
• Bike lanes to increase roadway capacity - function
• Center-island medians that prevent 250,000 gallons of run-off per year - function
• Tree-lined medians to provide boulevard-style tree canopy - form
• Red brick medians - form
• All on-street parking has been retained  - function
• Wide decorative "brick" crosswalks - form and function

The inclusion of form with function creates a complete street that not only works well but is attractive and beneficial to retaining property values for those that live there.  What if Route 1 looked like this through our fair City?  Why can't it?

Phase 1 of Bikeway Masterplan Completed

In the Fall of 2009, the City of Laurel passed a resolution adopting a City-wide Bike Masterplan (3mb PDF).  In 2010, the first phase was designed and vetted in public meetings.  This phase consists of 4th and 5th streets and connects to the City's Gude Lake Park with Riverfront Park, both of which have their own trails. 5th Street also fronts Laurel Elementary School and two of the City's community centers - the Anderson-Murphy Armory and the soon-to-be-opened community center at 811 5th Street.  In addition, 4th Street provides access to two large shopping centers. Since 4th Street is only one block offset from Route 1 and carries far less vehicle traffic, these new routes provide safer alternative for north-south travel.  See map below for a graphical depiction of the Phase 1 bike routes.

This initial phase started last summer with 4th Street bike lane striping in Old Town.  Now, Phase 1 has been completed.  The Phase 1 build-out consists of 3 miles of designated bikeways -1.25 miles of on-street bike lanes and 1.75 miles of shared roads designated as bike routes.  These routes are signed with the familiar bike route sign and are marked in the road with sharrows.  These sharrows help cyclists find the lateral location in a shared-lane where they are unlikely to be impacted by the sudden opening of a parked car door.

Click for larger image

New Street Lighting

DPW has ordered additional street lighting for the following three locations:

• Ward Street
• Van Dusen Road, just south of Erica Lane
• Intersection of 4th and Montrose (upgraded lighting)

These additional lights should in place in about a month.

Lane Striping on 4th Street

Towards the end of this week, DPW is anticipating finishing the lane striping on 4th Street from Ashford Boulevard to Cherry Lane.  The existing bike lanes will continue on for this entire segment, with access to the Gude Lake paths via the new widened median openings.

Right Turns on Red to be Prohibited at 4th & MD 198

Within the next few weeks, State Highway Administration (SHA) will be prohibiting right turns on red for drivers on northbound 4th Street at its intersection with Gorman Avenue (MD 198 eastbound).  When the signage is installed, the City will post a DPW news alert.

Navigating the Intersection of 4th and Cherry by Bike

Yesterday, the City's contractors finished resurfacing 4th Street behind the Laurel.  As soon as we can get some decent weather, DPW will stripe out the lane markings. There will be some subtle changes to the lane striping heading southbound as you approach Cherry Lane and Gude Lake.  Here is the previous lane configuration on 4th Street, with a left turn lane and a right turn lane:

Left and right turn lanes on 4th Street, heading south

Now, here is the new striping layout for the southbound approach on 4th Street.  Most notably, the bike lane that is on the right, shifts toward the middle of the approach:

New striping layout.  Representation only.  (click  for larger size)

If you're a driver, nothing changes - you will still have a left turn lane and a permissive right turn lane.  However, if you are a biker, you will take the center bike lane.  This allows you to go straight toward Gude Lake or turn left, without fear of a "right hook" collision with a car.  As shown with the green arrows, bikers can use the widened median opening on Cherry, with the widened sidewalk on Cherry and the new hiker/biker trail in order to access the paths around Gude Lake.   These new features also allow inexperienced bikers to turn left to access Laurel Place or Route 1, without having to bike on Cherry Lane (which is still legal).

Sidewalk widening on Cherry Lane

The City of Laurel is expanding the width of the sidewalk along Cherry Lane at 4th Street.  This is to accomodate both pedestrian and bikers access to the trails around Gude Lake from the newly-constructed access path down from the intersection of 4th and Cherry.  Further, it will allow cyclists on 4th Street access to the Gude Lake trails via the widened crosswalk/median-openings and expanded sidewalk. The picture below highlights some of the new and pending changes.

Yellow captions indicate new or pending changes to 4th and Cherry.

4th Street Boulevard Construction

Construction is underway on the final piece of the 4th Street Capital Improvement Project.  This project includes the transformation of this...


4th Street near Ashford Blvd

 ...into this:


Cross-section of 4th Street, with bike lanes and tree-lined median

The tree-lined center-medians will aid in traffic calming on this road and also will allow for better traffic management, when traffic picks up again on the Laurel Mall site.  DPW crew are currently installing bikes lanes, and contractors are repairing sidewalk, curb-and-gutter.  A new pedestrian crossing is being installed at the intersection of 4th Street and Ashford Boulevard.   In addition, the crosswalks and median openings at the intersection of 4th and Cherry will be widened to 14' wide on both sides of the intersection. These wider crossings will allow for easier and safer pedestrian and bike access from 4th Street to the Gude Lake, via the newly-built connecting path.  When all the concrete work is complete, contractors will mill and overlay select portions of the road. Construction is expected to take up to a month, depending on weather conditions.

DPW crew installing bike lanes on 4th Street today

Sharrows

If you're wondering what those strange markings along 4th street are,

they are called Sharrows - shared arrow markings. 

They are used to indicate to drivers that this is a

preferred bike route and to emphasize that the street is to be shared with bicyclists.  Where the markings are right in the middle of the travel lane, they are combined with this sign,

 

"Bike May Use Full Lane" to emphasize that bikes are allowed to use the entire lane, the same as a vehicle. This combination is used on preferred bike routes where the travel lane isn't wide enough for bikes to ride side by side with vehicles.

The first photo above shows 4th Street from Montgomery toward Main Street.  On-street parking is allowed on the left side of the street only.  The rest of the street isn't wide enough to incorporate a 5' wide bike lane and still have enough room for a vehicle to travel safely.  Instead, sharrows were used to indicate a safe bicycle riding location that also allows for a large enough gap between them and passing vehicles.

On other parts of 4th street, namely between Gorman and Talbot, sharrows are placed 11' from the right curb. This location guides bicyclists to an area that prevents them from getting hit by opening doors from cars parked on-street along the right side of the street, yet still allows for a comfortable separation distance for vehicles to pass on the left. See photo below.

Sharrow on 4th Street between Gorman Ave and Talbot Ave

New Bike Lanes

The City of Laurel is in the initial phase of implementing its Bikeway Masterplan.  As part of this phase, the City has installed their inaugural on-street bike lanes.  The lanes shown below are on 4th Street from Talbott to Montgomery Street.  This segment is one-way only with on-street parking on both sides.  The bike lane has been installed on the left side of the street to reduce the likelihood of bicyclists getting "doored."  The next set of on-street bike lanes to be installed will be along 4th Street from Gude Park to Greenhill Drive.

Turning roads into walking paths - literally

A short - but important - hiker/biker path was recently completed by the City in order to connect the intersection of the 4th Street and Cherry Lane with the popular walking paths around Gude Lake. The novel thing about this connecting path is that it was built from other City roads.

A recent repaving job on Sandy Spring Road provided the millings (ground-up asphalt) that comprised the foundation of the path. And the fill dirt that was used to provide a smooth grade on the sides of the path came from a new roadway currently being cut in another portion of the City.

From nothing, to a base-foundation, to a graded and top-coated path

The result is a path that required over 100 CY of base-course asphalt, fill dirt and surface-course asphalt - where over 90% of the materials used were recycled from other City roads.

Another view of the new connecting path

Bike Plan to begin roll-out

Tomorrow, the City of Laurel will begin implementing the first phase of its City-wide bike master plan. This initial phase is a north-south route that connects several neighborhoods, ending at Riverfront Park to the North and Gude Lake to the South.  The route runs along low-volume 4th/5th Streets and is a mix of on-street bike lanes and shared-route markings/signage, with a short hiker/biker trail connecting the intersection of 4th  and Cherry with the trails around Gude Lake.  In total, the City will be using signage and street markings to designate 3 miles of roads as preferred bike routes, with 1 mile of that stretch to include on-street bike lanes.*  Sharrows and signage will be used on the remaining two miles to emphasize the shared nature of the road. Work north of Greenhill Drive will begin on Friday, with the exception of any sharrows that need to be installed on roads that WSSC is in the process of patching/re-surfacing.  The on-street bike lanes on 4th Street from Cherry to Greenhill will be installed as part of a 4th Street CIP expected to start later this month.

A few of the bike guide signs to be installed

*To put this into context, the City maintains about 56 miles of local roadways and about 100 miles of sidewalk in a 4.5 square-mile municipality.

Upcoming Improvements to 4th & Cherry

This Spring, the City will make the following improvements to the Intersection of 4th and Cherry. Together, these modification will improve pedestrian and biker access to Gude Lake and its surrounding trails.

1. Construct a hiker/biker path from the pedestrian ramp to existing Gude Lake paths.(completed)
2. Widen the existing sidewalk between curb cuts to allow for both bicyclists and walkers. (under construction week of 11/8/2010)
3. Expand guard-rail openings (completed) and widen pedestrian ramps to 10 feet.
4. Re-stripe and re-sign 4th Street for on-street Bike Lanes (partially complete).

Public Hearing: New Bike Lanes on 4th Street and 5th Street

A Public Hearing will be held in Meeting Room #2 at City Hall on 7pm, Thursday January 28, 2010 on the topic of adding two miles of bike lanes along 4th Street and 5th Street. The on-street bike lanes will connect the Riverfront Park trail to the paths around Gude Lake Park. In addition, 4th Street provides direct access to Main Street, the Historic District, Laurel Commons and the Laurel Shopping Center.

For those that cannot make the Public Hearing, discussion material is presented below. As always, comments can be submitted directly to the City, DPW, or on this site.

Map of affected routes (shown in green)

Proposed Re-striping of 4th street from Cherry to Greenhill

Proposed Re-striping of 4th Street from Greenhill to Gorman (WB 198)

Proposed Re-striping of 4th Street from Gorman (WB 198) to Talbot (WB 198)










Proposed Re-striping of 4th Street from Talbot (WB 198) to Montgomery Street










Proposed Re-striping of 4th Street from Montgomery Street (WB 198) to Riverfront Park










Proposed Re-striping of 5th street from Main to Gorman










Proposed Re-striping of 5th street from Gorman to Montrose

Map of Designated Bikeways

Current or Pending Pedestrian Safety Improvements (updated weekly)

4^th Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
  
  
  
  High Visibility Decorative Crosswalks at multiple Locations
• Pedestrian Crosswalk Locator Signs

Update: Completed July, 2009

8^th Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
• High-visibility crosswalks at McCullagh Field

Update: Complete

9^th Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

10^th Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

Alan Drive

• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps

Update: Completed July, 2009

Carrissa Lane

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

Dorset Road

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps at crosswalks in front of Scotchtown Hills Elementary School

Update: Completed

Fairlawn Ave

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

Greenview Drive

• High Visibility Crosswalks at Clubhouse Lan
• Pedestrian Crosswalk Locator Sign
• Striping for parking lane to address traffic calming

See Figure 1 for illustration.

Update: Complete

Kalmia Drive

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• High Visibility Crosswalks at Erica Lane
  
  
  
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

KillBarron Road

• Complete Sidewalk on north side to Van Dusen Roadpedestrian side path. See Figure 2.
  
  
  

Update: Completed July, 2009

Lafayette Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

Laurel Oaks Lane

• 
  
  
  
  ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• 
  
  
  
  Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
  
  
  
  
  Update: Completed July, 2009

Laurelton Drive

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Completed July, 2009

Main Street

• Sidewalk Bulb-outs at 5^th Street. See Figure 4.

Update: Completed - Spring 2010

Montgomery Street

• Traffic Calming near 10th Street. See Figure 10.
• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
• Traffic Calming at 11th Street. See Figure 11.

Update: Completed

 

Montrose Ave

• High Visibility Crosswalks at Centennial Park
• Pedestrian Crosswalk Locator Signs at Centennial Park. See Figure 8.
• Concrete Islands and Pedestrian Crosswalk Locator Signs at Traffic Circle. See Figure 7.
  
  
  

Update: Completed

St. Mary’s Ave

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk
• High Visibility Decorative Crosswalks at multiple Locations

Update: Complete.

Van Dusen Road

• Countdown Pedestrian Signal (CPS) and Audible Pedestrian Signal (APS) at intersection with Killbarron Road. See Figure 3. Completed September 2009
• Countdown Pedestrian Signal (CPS) and Audible Pedestrian Signal (APS) at intersection with Cherry Lane. See Figure 9.  Update: Completed July,2009
• High-Visibility Crosswalk at Killbarron Drive. Update: Completed August 2009

Ward Street

• ADA compliant sidewalk ramps
• Repair broken and uneven sidewalk

Update: Complete

FIGURES

Figure 1: Proposed striping/signage improvements to the intersection of Clubhouse and Greenview

Figure 2: Missing Sidewalk on Killbarron (before) and New Sidewalk leading up to the asphalt path on Van Dusen (after).

Figure 3: Intersection of Van Dusen and Olive Branch/Killbarron

Figure 4: Illustration of bulb-outs at Main and 5^th.

Figure 5: High-visibility thermo-plastic crosswalks.

Figure 6: Illustration of new Decorative Crosswalk

Figure 7: Before-and-after conditions showing concrete islands for traffic circle and new circle striping. Not to scale.

Figure 8: Relocated pedestrian ramp and new crosswalk and signage.

Figure 9: Van Dusen and Cherry. Installation of new Pedestrian Countdown Signal (PCS) and new Audible Pedestrian Signal (APS)

Figure 10: Rendering of the Intersection of Montgomery Street and Sandy Spring, with realigned decorative crosswalks and bulb-outs to reduce pedestrian crossing distance and calm vehicle traffic.

Figure 11: Rendering of the Intersection of Montgomery Street and 11th, with traffic calming center island and high-visibility crosswalk.