Year-end Review

Here's a a quick recap of new Pedestrian/Bicycle infrastructure installed by the City of Laurel this year:

Traffic Calming

• New traffic calming island at Tenth Street & Montrose Avenue
• New bump-out at Main Street & Fifth Street.

Bikeways

• Completed Phase 1 of the Laurel Bikeway MasterPlan, comprising three miles of striped/signed bike routes
• Installed the City’s first on-street bike lanes and sharrows.
• Procured 16 custom bike parking hitches to be installed at various public locations around the City.
• Constructed 4th Street boulevard (CIP)

New sidewalk/paths

• New pedestrian/bike path at Fourth Street and Cherry Lane for direct access into Gude Lake Park.  Path was made with 90% recycled material.
• Sidewalk repair along parts of Tenth Street; Phair Place; Clubhouse Boulevard; and Fourth Street as part of City’s CIP.
• New sidewalk on west side of Van Dusen from Laurel Oaks Lane to Cherry Lane
• New sidewalk on west side of 10th Street from Phair Place to West Street (CIP).
• New Sidewalk along 9th Street near Park Ave.
• Widened sidewalk on Cherry Lane at 4th Street to accomodate bikers and pedestrians.

Pedestrian crossings and related improvements

• Added pedestrian countdowns signals (CPS) and audible pedestrian signals (APS) at Van Dusen Road & Cherry Lane; Van Dusen Road & Killbarron; and Main Street & Lafayette Avenue.
• Installed new cross-walks at Laurel Lakes Avenue and Cypress Street; Van Dusen Road & Cherry Lane; Van Dusen Road & Olive Branch; Tenth Street & Montrose Avenue; Clubhouse Boulevard & Greenview Drive (CIP); Ward Street & Montrose Avenue; and Main & 5th.
• Added Street lighting on 900 block of 5th Street and on Northlake Court.
• Planted 48 street trees.

All in all, a good year for walkers and bikers in the City of Laurel.

New Pedestrian Signal Installed at Cherry Lane & Van Dusen Road

This week, the City is installing a new push-button pedestrian signal to allow for safe dedicated crossing of Cherry Lane at Van Dusen. ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps were installed on the "pork chop" island, as well as on the southeast corner, to accomodate the crossing. 

New Signalized Pedestrian Crossing at Van Dusen Road & Cherry Lane

Weather permitting, the City will install has installed a crosswalk this week  in order to finalize the crossing.  This crossing will allow pedestrians to safely cross Cherry Lane (ADT of 22,000 cars) without having to walk down to the nearest pedestrian signal at Ashford Boulevard, over a 1/4 mile away.

MD 197 and Bowie Road

The City of Laurel has made a request to the State Highway Administration for a pedestrian signal for crossing MD 197 at Bowie Road/Clubhouse Blvd. There is already a traffic signal at this intersection, and SHA has made many pedestrian improvements to the area – particularly on the west side.  The request is currently in the 90-day review period. This blog will be updated when the review status changes.

New Pedestrian Signal Crossing at Van Dusen & Cherry Lane

The City of Laurel is installing a new pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Van Dusen Road and Cherry Lane. 

 

The new crossing entails:

1. Opening up the walkway width of the 'porkchop" island on the northeast corner (this will allow for extension of the Van Dusen Road Bike sidepath in a future phase);
2. Tightening the turning radius on the south east corner and adding an extra-wide ADA compliant ramp;
3. Installing an 8' wide ladder-style crosswalk across Cherry Lane on the east side of the intersection;
4. Adding a pedestrian crossing signal phase and countdown timer.

 There is currently no crosswalk or pedestrian phase for residents to cross Cherry Lane at this intersection.  The new crossing desscribed above will fix this, providing students from the Wellington Developments a safer crossing to Laurel High School without having to cross at an unprotected location in front of the school, as is often the case.  It will also allow all the developments near this intersection - Laurel Oaks, Laurelton Forest, Crescents, etc. - quick and safe pedestrian access to surrounding neighborhoods.

 

Status Update:  Items 1), 2) and 3) are complete.  Item 4  is scheduled for mid-October.

Pedestrian crossing signal for Amish Market (MD 198)

Recent enhancements to the intersection of  MD 198 and Laurel Plaza Ave (where the recently-opened Amish Market is in Laurel) include a dedicated left-turn phase for drivers coming in from Anne Arundel County along MD 198.

...but a closer inspection of the intersection reveals lines and circles spray-painted on the ground that indicate pole locations and conduit runs.  Based on the locations of these circles and lines, this humble engineer can deduce only one thing - that MD 198 is getting a pedestrian crossing phase across from the Amish Market, complete with a push-button to trigger the phase (and ideally a countdown timer). 

Those of you that go to the Amish Market know that available parking is much less than at its previous location in Burtonsville.  Consequently, many drivers park across the street - that is, they park across the 6-lane divided highway - and make the rest of the trip on foot.  So, one can see the necessity of having a dedicated pedestrian phase for crossing MD 198.  We don't have an installation date yet, but the fact that the lines have been spray-painted means that the State is moving forward to correct this pedestrian safety problem and that installation is immenent.

Update:  Pedestrian Countdown Signal is operational as of 7/19/2010.  Crossing time provided is 36 seconds.

Biking & Pedestrian Infrastrucuture for Laurel included in Senator Cardin's FY2011 Appropriations Request

In his Appropriations Request for funding in FY2011, Senator Benjamin Cardin has included a $400,000 request by the City of Laurel for bike and pedestrian infrastructure improvements. The funding will be used at select locations for:

• 10' wide Asphalt hiker/biker trail to be illuminated with solar-power overhead lighting.
• Sidewalk gap infill.
• Countdown Pedestrian Signals/Audible Pedestrian Signals.
• Remove and replacement of existing ramps for ADA compliance.

Keep your fingers crossed.

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.