Transit Improvements in Laurel

While this blog is oriented toward pedestrian and bike infrastructure (and its role in planning and the creation of a sophisticated modern city), there is another transportation mode that are no less important to cities: transit.  Two important transit improvements are coming (in a couple of years) that will help those that rely on the Metro bus or MARC trains.  The first piece of news is that MTA is adding capacity to the MARC lines via more cars.  The second piece of (old) news is that WMATA was awarded a TIGER grant last year to improve bus travel time on several routes, including Route 1 from Laurel down into DC (2MB PDF).  Bus travel time improvements include Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and Queue Jumps.  TSP allows buses to get through an intersection faster than they normally would by adding green time or truncating green time from cross streets.  Queue Jumps provide space for buses to get ahead of a queue of cars (so that there actually is a potential time advantage to using a bus over driving yourself).

Both MARC and WMATA improvements are scheduled for a couple of years out, but are very welcome nonetheless.

Real-time traffic in Laurel

Zoom and Pan within the map.

Doing Parking Islands the right way

Laurel has a lot - a LOT! - of surface parking.  These lots collect stormwater (and motor oil and antifreeze and debris) and send them directly into the nearby Patuxent river, and eventually into the Chesapeake. While treating all this stormwater prior to it reaching the river is expensive, there is a ubiquitous tool that can treat some of it :  the humble parking island.

Old style parking islands 

But instead of making them like the one above, for the same amount of money, they can be made like these:

"Green" parking islands

Capturing & treating run-off before it enters storm water inlets (photo credits: Lisa Zimmerman)

These parking islands are slowly becoming more common. They capture filter run-off from moderate storms. The only main difference between these "green" islands and traditional ones is 1) the use of rocks to slow down and capture water flow; 2) the types of plants that go in the island.

With a new Walgreens coming to town, and a new (reconfigured) parking lot,  the City presently has the opportunity to try and start "greening" some its parking lots.

US Route 1 Sidewalk gap to be filled

There has been a long-standing gap in the sidewalk network along the City's main north-south commercial corridor, Route 1. This gap is the section along Route 1 in the southern part of the City between the Contee Shopping Center and the rest of the City north of Braygreen Road.  See picture below taken from the City's Bike MasterPlan.

Only sidewalk gap on Route 1.

DPW requested sidewalk from the State about a year ago.  The State obliged and is putting in a new 5' sidewalk, with a 4' buffer between the sidewalk and road. The buffer provides room for further expansion to a full fledged hiker-biker trail that meets up with the City's existing designated bike routes (and ideally will go all the way down to Muirkirk Station and College Park, one day). This new sidewalk is a big feather in the City's cap, as it completes the sidewalk network for the entire Route 1 corridor (on the west side, at least).  Well done DPW  - you've made a lot of people safer and made their trips more convenient.

On a different note, posts on this Blog will be much more infrequent, as I am no longer in the City's employ.  Hopefully, the City will grant me the opportunity to volunteer in whatever capacity I may be of service.  Thank you Laurel; it has been an honor to work for you.

Bike Sharrows on Laurel Lakes Ave

As part of the City's Bike Masterplan, Laurel Lakes Avenue and Cypress Street were designated as preferred Bike Routes through the City.  As shown below, both Streets were marked with sharrows and signed as Bike Routes.

Bike Guide sign on Cypress, directing cyclists onto Laurel Lakes Ave for access to points south on Route 1.

Sharrows on Laurel Lakes Ave. Sharrows are located such that cyclists won't be doored by parked cars, yet motorists can still easily maneuver around them, if needed.

These two streets bring the City a little closer to having a complete north-south route the full length of the City, providing access to the commercial Route 1 corridor without requiring cyclists to actually ride on Route 1.

Hiker-Biker Trail on Van Dusen

Contractors for the City of Laurel are putting the finishing touches on an 8-ft wide trail along Van Dusen Road, from MD 198 to North Arbory Court. Here is what the heavily-worn area looked like before:

Van Dusen, before the new hiker-biker trail

Here is what the upgrade - already lined with shade trees - looks like now:

New 8' sidewalk along Van Dusen Road

Comments from passers-by have been overwhelmingly positive!

Yes, that was an earthquake in Laurel

But no, it didn't stop ongoing pedestrian and bike projects around town.  Currently, there are two projects underway.  The first is the marking and signing of Laurel Lakes Ave as a designated bike route.  The second project is the installation of a new 8' wide hiker bike trail along Van Dusen Road.  More on both of these important projects to follow.

Bike Box

This is a photo of Laurel's first intersection bike box.  It was installed with the Cypress Street bike lanes.

Left-turn Bike Box on Eastbound Cypress at Mulberry

The left-turn bike box provides a safe area for cyclists to wait out approaching traffic from westbound Cypress, without fear of being rear-ended by motorists behind them.  The sketch below shows this a bit more clearly.

Sketch showing the two ways that a cyclist can turn left onto Mulberry from Cypress

From the sketch above, an eastbound cyclist traveling in the full lane of Cypress Street can make a quick and easy left turn onto Mulberry* (solid green line) assuming there is no westbound traffic on Cypress.  If there is westbound traffic, the cyclist must wait (like any vehicle) in the intersection until westbound traffic has cleared (dotted green line).  The box delineates a safe area where cyclists are protected from westbound traffic heading toward them, as well as from eastbound traffic coming up behind them.

*Bike lanes will be installed on Mulberry as part of that street's Capital Improvement Project, currently slated to begin next spring.

Bike Lanes on Cypress Street

New bike lanes have been installed on Cypress Street from Oxford Drive to Mulberry Street.  The bike lanes are 6 feet wide.  8-ft parking lanes have been delineated, as well.

New Bike Lanes on both sides of Cypress St.

Because Cypress Street is a collector road for the Vistas, the Tiers, Oak Pointe, as well as the Wellington neighborhoods, it sees a good deal of vehicle traffic; so separating out the bike lanes for this short stretch provides for a safer biking trip.

Using Traffic Counters to Target Speeders

Typically, when DPW puts out a traffic counter, we end up with data that provides an overall speed profile, something similar to this:



Typical Speed profile for a road

By itself, this chart gives you high-level data such as average speeds, and percentage of speeders.  While this data is useful in determining if a road has an overall speeding problem, it doesn't provide the micro-level details that tells you if a problem exists during certain times.  For example, last year we presented speed data to residents on Main Street that showed that, on a relative basis, instances of speeding were low.  However, the data didn't break down the speed distribution as a function of time-of-day.  For example: what if all the speeding occurred at night? Or maybe they're all morning commuters?
To try and resolve this, DPW has a borrowed a new counter for the summer that outputs more manageable data that can be graphed into something like this:

The 3-D graph above shows how the speed distribution varies throughout the day.  In the above street, for example, we can see that there is a spike of speeding in the 7:00 hour and the 8:00 hour - meaning that these likely are morning commuters exiting the neighborhood.
Also, we can drill down and see if there are individuals that may speed at the same time every day.

The above graph is a scatterplot of all the vehicles going over 30mph, broken down by time-of-day and by day-of-week.  From this data, we can see that if there are speeders who speed every day at roughly the same time.  Of course, there's no guarantee that it is the same driver, but the data still provides the opportunity for:

• Selective and efficient radar enforcement; using radar enforcement only when the data shows it to be useful. 
• Micro-targeting speeders using radar enforcement on small time intervals to target likely repeat offenders.

Sidewalk widening on Cherry Lane

Next week, contractors will begin widening the sidewalk on the south side of Cherry lane from Laurel Place to Ashford Blvd.  The sidewalk will be widened from 4 feet to 9 feet.  While this stretch of Cherry receives a lot of pedestrian traffic currently, the City anticipates even more foot traffic along this route.  Further, this widening will induce even more pedestrians, joggers, bikers, etc. The growth of pedestrian traffic necessitates changes in the existing design of the road at driveway locations where pedestrians and cars will be in conflict.  To accommodate this change and to make the widened sidewalk safer for faster moving pedestrians - joggers and bikers, the City will also sharpen the curb radii at the driveway entrance for the Laurel Lakes Executive Park. See the photos below. While this change to the driveway entrance may seem trivial, it is not; here's why:  The current wide driveway entrance allows for very fast turning into and out of the executive park.  These fast turn movements:

• Reduce the likelihood of a turning motorists seeing a passing jogger;
• Increase the injury level of a jogger, if one is struck.

By sharpening the curb radius, we force entering and exiting vehicles to slow down as they cross the potential path of fast moving pedestrians.

Driveway to Laurel Lakes Exec. Park showing locations for new curb location

Exit from Laurel Lakes Exec. Park, showing new curb location

Entrance into Laurel Lakes Exec. Park, showing new curb location

New Pedestrian and Bike Regulations in City Code

As of July 1st, the City of Laurel has adopted a Unified Land Development Code. This new code consolidates and replaces the existing zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations, forest conservation codes, and all other development-related regulations.  Several particular changes have been made in the Code with regard to the way that new developments accommodate and mitigate traffic.  Specifically, developments will now have to accommodate pedestrian and bicycle travel, in addition to the vehicle traffic that developments have traditionally been required to mitigate.  These changes will help provide alternative choices for City residents to get around town. The changes are as follows:

1. Sec. 20-2.2. (b)(3)  Requires traffic impact studies to look at the effects of bike and pedestrian traffic generated to and from new developments, instead of only vehicle traffic. This will insure that traffic mitigation, if needed, applies to pedestrian and bike traffic, instead of just car traffic.
2. Sec. 20-16.12. (b), (g)  Reduces and/or consolidates the number of parking lot driveways during redevelopment projects. The purpose of this change was to reduce the number of conflict points the lead to crashes - for cars and for bikes and pedestrians.
3. Sec. 20-31.5. (b)  All new blocks are now limited in length to 500 feet. The previous limit was 1400 feet. This change encourages shorter blocks to reduce the likelihood of mid-block crossing in commercial areas that get a lot of pedestrian traffic.
4. Sec. 20-31.1. (c)  For new developments, minor streets are to be designed such that speeding is discouraged. Potential methods, offered by the Code, include traffic calming, sharp corner radii, narrow streets, and bump-outs at intersections. By providing for traffic calming in the design process, it prevents the City from going back and having to retro-fit a speed reduction fix into a neighborhood.
5. Sec. 20-31.1. (o)  Dead-end streets (e.g. cul-de-sacs) are now prohibited.
6. Sec. 20-28.7 (e)  Bike Parking requirements: All new multi-family, office and commercial developments must provide bicycle parking. For residential properties, two spaces are required for every five dwelling units (exemptions are made for Single family, duplex, triplex, and townhouse developments are exempt from residential bike parking requirements). For retail and restaurants, two spaces are required for every 2,500 square feet. For all other commercial or office properties, two spaces for every 5,000 square feet. A single rack constitutes two spaces. Bike racks shall be either an “Inverted U-Style (Bike Arch)” type or a “2-Bike Post and Ring” type and have a powder coat finish. Wave or Grid type bike racks are not permitted. Bicycles must be able to be locked in two places. Outdoor bike racks must be located within visual distance of the entrance of the building for which the parking has been designated. Bike parking for office buildings and for residential, if applicable, shall be located indoors. Rack areas located outdoors must be lighted with a minimum foot-candle of 1.0.
7. Sec. 20-44.6. On new developments, sidewalks are required on both sides for primary and secondary residential streets; the Code previously required sidewalk on only one side. Minimum sidewalk width is now 6' with the exception of residential-only areas. For new developments or redevelopments, roadside hiker-biker trails on property that abuts permittee’s property must be extended, in kind, through permitee’s property in the City’s public right of way. In addition, bike facilities shall be required in the City right-of-way, as referenced in the City of Laurel Bikeway Master Plan.  Bicycle facilities should extend to the nearest intersection on each side of the permittee’s property.   These changes provide for the continuation of investments the City has made in alternative travel modes.

New Sidewalk

Updated
Now that many repairs to existing sidewalk around town have been made, the City's contractor will construct two new lengths of sidewalk to fill in some gaps in the overall network. There are two locations - one on the north side of town and the other on the south side:

1. 7th Street, east side, between Montgomery Street and Prince George Street. (update: completed 7/7/11)
2. Laurel Lakes Ave, west side, from its intersection with Cypress south to where the existing sidewalk terminates.  (update: sidewalk completed last night and has seen many users already!)

Each of these new segments will add about 400' of sidewalk to the City's overall network. 

The additional sidewalk on 7th Street fills in a necessary gap that ought to prevent pedestrians from needing to cross 7th Street, near Prince Georges Street - an uncontrolled location. Similarly, the new sidewalk on Laurel Lakes Ave provides an off-street connection for pedestrians traveling between the Laurel Lakes Shopping Center and the senior housing facility on Laurel Lakes Ct.

(Left) New sidewalk on 7th Street; (Right) new sidewalk on Laurel Lakes Ave

Sidewalk Contract to Start up Next Week

Contractors will be in town starting next week to make repairs at select locations where public sidewalk is damaged.  They will also be installing new sidewalk at a handful of other locations around town in order to fill in gaps in the City's sidewalk network.

Brooklyn Bridge Road re-paving

Prince Georges County will soon wrap up the re-paving of Brooklyn Bridge Road.  The road will be re-striped the same as before, with one exception. At the City's request, the County has agreed to paint narrower travel lanes on Brooklyn Bridge near the gully right before it becomes Montgomery Street.  Re-striping this narrow section of the roadway will have two effects - 1) it should have some effect on slowing down drivers as they enter the City; and 2) more importantly, it will provide a wider shoulder for all of the pedestrians, joggers, bikers, skaters, etc. that use this stretch of roadway.

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Brooklyn Bridge Road, prior to entering the City of Laurel