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.

How to put in new sidewalk in a tough spot, without breaking the bank

Most of Van Dusen Road has drainage swales on both sides of the road.  These "ditches" catch rainwater runoff from the road and filter it into the earth and direct it to larger stormwater management systems.  These ditches work fine for rural roads. The problem is that Van Dusen Road has lots of development on it and lots of pedestrians - it is not rural - and it needs sidewalk.  However, one can't simply plop down sidewalk above the road-grade without redirecting the flow of water to someplace where it shouldn't be.  Retrofitting ditches with concrete piping and stormwater catch drains/basins to alleviate this becomes extraordinarily expensive. The Laurel City Department of Public Works came up with a nifty solution to install sidewalk along Van Dusen Road that utilizes the existing drainage ditches, but also builds above-grade sidewalk. The initial segment of new sidewalk to take advantage of this solution is this segment of Van Dusen Road that leads from the intersection of Cherry Lane to the entrance of the Laurel Oaks development.  As shown in the picture below, it is well traveled and in need of sidewalk, as Van Dusen also has its fair share of speeders.

The new solution involves utilizing a concrete flume, extending from a new gutter, that runs underneath the sidewalk panels, at predetermined intervals. 

The flume allows water that is caught by the gutter to exit out into the ditch, as before, yet still allows for uninterrupted sidewalk. The sidewalk panel over the flume is reinforced with 1/2" rebar, because of concrete's weak tensile strength.  This covered-flume solution has been installed along Van Dusen between Cherry Lane and Laurel Oaks for the past 2 months and appears to be working as intended.  Provided it continues to hold up well, this system allows for continuous concrete sidewalk to be installed along the remainder of Van Dusen without the prohibitive costs of brand new stormwater management systems.

New Traffic Calming Island at Montrose & 10th

Speed profile data collected on Montrose Ave, just east of 10th Street, showed a high number of speeders and an intolerably high number of excessive speeders (35+ mph in a 25 mph zone). See data below:

To mediate this, the City is installing a center-island median (26' long by 10' wide) in the intersection. This median will serve two purposes:  1) focus attention of motorists toward the intersection where a new crosswalk is being installed; and 2) force speeders to slow down to a residential speed.

The new island will look something like this and will be bisected by a ladder-style crosswalk:

Status update:  Complete.

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.

FY2011 Capital Improvement Projects Beginning

The City of Laurel has begun their FY 2011 "Street Improvements" CIP.  These projects currently underway include:

• Intersection of Greenview Dr and Clubhouse Blvd
• New ADA compliant ramps;
• Resurface/re-stripe intersection;
• Resurface eastbound Clubhouse blvd. approach
• Phair Place
• Replace broken or separated sidewalk and curb-and-gutter;
• New ped crossing on north side of intersection of Phair and 10th;
• Resurface Phair Place
• 10th Street, from MD 198 to West Street
• Replace 3' sidewalk on east side of street;
• Replace broken or separated sidewalk and curb-and-gutter;
• New sidewalk and curb-and-gutter to replace existing drainage swale on west side between Phair Place and West Street;
• Resurface 10th Street

Status:  Complete

Main Street in the Washington Post

Flipping thru the Washington Post's weekly Magazine yesterday and saw a picture of a popular street in Laurel, deluged with snow from this past year's storm.  I wonder which one our intrepid residents braved the elements to take the photo.

Pending Pedestrian Safety Improvements

The City of Laurel is currently making pedestrian safety improvements to two intersections: 1)  Park Ave and 9th Streets; and 2) Cypress St and Laurel Lakes.

The Improvements at 9th and Park include:

a. Extending the sidewalk on the west side 9th Street until it reach a location across from the playground entrance on the east side 9th street.

b. Installing a high-visibility crosswalk across 9th street.

c. Installing pedestrian crossing signs to warn motorists.

d. Updating sidewalk ramps for ADA compliance.

Park Ave and 9th Street

The Improvements at Cypress St and Laurel Lakes Ave include:

a.  Install sidewalk connecting Cypress Street to the Safeway grocery store and the rest of the shopping center.

b.  Relocate southeast sidewalk ramp in front of stop bar so that it is oriented with the receiving ramp on the southwest corner.

Cypress St and Laurel Lakes Ave

Crosswalk Facelift on Main Street

The City of Laurel is field-testing a crosswalk enhancement procedure to make a busy unsignalized crosswalk on Main Street at 5th Street more visible to drivers. The procedure will replicate the decorative crosswalks recently applied to  Montgomery Street. 

Here are some photos mid-application.

And here is a before-and-after comparison of the visibilty of the crosswalk from a driver's perspective.

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.

How walkable is your neighborhood?

A while back, the good people at Walkscore created a tool that allows users to "measure" the walkability of their house. Users can type in an address at their site or in the "neighborhood walkability" widget on the right-side of this blog.  Their measure of walkability is based on the distance to amenities nearby (i.e. within walking distance), such as grocery stores, restaurants, bars, public transit, schools, pharmacies, parks, etc.

Because The City is compact and has several parks, and schools and shopping centers, many of the City's older neighborhoods - such as Old Town or Fairlawn - score very well.  However, some the new developments are a mixed bag in terms of their walkability score.  The new Archstone-built apartments at the corner of 4th/Cherry and on Contee Road have good scores of 75 out of a 100 and 63 out of 100, respectively.  Meanwhile, the newest developments of Wellington 7 and the Crescent on Cherry Lane fare worse at 45 and 28, respectively, in terms of walkability.

Now, the walkability score is far from perfect. Impediments such as rivers or highways are ignored, as well as, the existence (or lack) of sidewalk or pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.  Fortunately, the City of Laurel has a well built-out sidewalk infrastructure and no large boundaries such as interstates or rivers to impede walking.  So, in general, the higher your walkability score, the closer you are to many amenities. 

Studies (PDF) have shown that, in general, higher walkability scores are correlated with higher home values in Cities.  Based on a random selection of neighborhoods, this does not appear to hold true in the City of Laurel.  With the exception of Old Town, the neighborhoods with lower walkablilty scores tend to be more expensive.  Of course, home size and new construction have a large role in that corollary.

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.

Transportation & Public Safety Committee Meeting

On Tuesday, April 27th, from 7pm to 9pm, the City of Laurel's Transportation & Public Safety Committee will meet in room #2 at City Hall.  The meeting is open to the public and all interested residents are encouraged to attend. Representatives from the City Council, Police Department and DPW will be in attendance to answer your questions.

Bump-out on Main Street at 5th

This Next week, contractors will be installing a brick sidewalk bump-out on the north side of the intersection of Main Street and 5th Street. This bump-out will extend the sidewalk 7.5 feet into Main Street at the existing crosswalk location in front of Selborne House.  The bump-out will allow for vehicle and crossing-pedestrians to better see each other without any reduction in on-street parking.  This sidewalk extension will also reduce the incidences of speeding at this location.  In addition to the bump-out, both ramps on the south side of the intersection will see improvements in alignment and ADA accessibility.

Are we filling out the Census? Let's check...

The TV has been reminding us for weeks now to fill out the census, so that our local neighborhoods get the most money it can back from Uncle Sam for roads and such.  To that end, the census bureau has a nifty website that updates daily with the census participation rates for your neighborhood.  As of April 1st, the national participation rate is 54%.  If you click on "View Participation Rates" you can drill down to the neighborhood-level and find that Maryland as a whole is at 56%, with the County at 50%.  And here's a look at Laurel by neighborhood*

For the most part, the City of Laurel is on par with the State and County, with Old Town leading the charge and Fairlawn at the caboose.

*Not really by neighborhood - most likely by census tract - but roughly the same.