Transportation & Public Safety Committee Meeting CANCELLED

The Transportation & Public Safety Committee originally scheduled for February 23, 2010 has been cancelled.

What does your money buy you - the Transportation Edition

A popular question that pops up during public hearings that involves new transportation construction is:

"What is it going to cost?"

The short answer is:  It varies greatly, depending on what you're building.


In the last two years material and labor costs have plummeted.  This is a good thing for fiscally prudent jurisdictions (ahem, like Laurel).  Tomorrow night, the City has a public hearing on installing approximately 2 miles of bike lanes and bike signage along 4th and 5th Streets.  To answer the inevitable question of cost - the proposed bike lanes, as presented, will run about $10,000.

To some, this may be a trivial amount; to others, it may appear exorbitant.  So, in order to provide context for everyone, please see the following chart that looks at how much infrastructure $10,000 buys, for several different modes of transportation.

This is a simplified comparison that doesn't take into account maintenance costs or other construction costs that relate to terrain re-grading.  It also doesn't factor in the time savings of one transportation mode over another - something that is tougher to put a price on, and something that diminishes in value as the distance traveled decreases.

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

Street Light Added to 6th & Talbot

The City recently added street lighting to the intersection of 6th Street and Talbot Ave (MD 198 westbound).  This intersection is at a sharp bend in MD 198, and is particularly dark when the trees are in full bloom.  The added lights should make this intersection safer for pedestrians and motorists.

Sidewalk improvement project on vacation

This month, contractors started working on sidewalk and curb/gutter improvements around the City.  The City's contractors will not be working for the remainder of this calendar year. There will be no restrictions on on-street parking during this time.

Pedestrian Safety (unscientific) Poll Results

Two months ago, this site polled residents on pedestrian safety. Given the size of the city, 27 respondents isn’t statistically significant, but here are the results nonetheless:

• 25% said “Yes, there is plenty of sidewalk and safe crossings"
• 33% said “No, too many fast cars”
• 7%   said “Yes, but more lighting is needed”
• 22% said “Pedestrian facilities are inadequate”
• 11% of respondents said that “They don’t walk much through the City”

The City of Laurel regularly addresses the issues listed in this poll through periodic lighting surveys, new sidewalk, speed surveys, new crosswalks, traffic calming, etc.  Since over 60% of respondents felt that pedestrian facilities were inadequate to some degree, we offer a follow-up question:  Assuming you live in the City of Laurel (see Map below), where do you feel that pedestrian facilities are inadequate?

Click to Enlarge

Sidewalk Repair around Town

Beginning at the end of November, cracked and separated sidewalk will be replaced on the following streets:

• Berryleaf Drive
• Summerwind Circle
• Concord Ave
• Scotch Drive
• Colony Ave
• Shannon Ave
• Saratoga Ave
• Plaid Drive
• Scotch Drive
• Haines Court
• Killbarron/Van Dusen (ADA ramp)
• Dorset Rd @ Scotchtown Hills Elementary (ADA ramps)

Decorative Crosswalks on Montgomery Street

For the next few weeks, the City will be installing 9-ft wide decorative crosswalks at every intersection along Montgomery Street from 4th Street to 10th Street.  This process requires closing one side of the Montgomery at the intersection where the installation is taking place. Your patience is appreciated for this final step in the lengthy process of repairing/resurfacing Montgomery Street's roadway and sidewalks.

The newly-improved Intersection of 4th/Montgomery

Results of Traffic Calming Study on Montgomery Street

Last year, the Laurel Department of Public Works conducted a speed study on Montgomery Street, near 11th Street, and determined that there were a large proportion of speeders at this residential location. DPW recently installed a center-island median, bright crosswalks, and a pedestrian pedestal at 11th Street and Montgomery Street (see Figure). DPW then conducted an after study to see if the traffic calming elements had the desired effect. As shown in the Figure below, 59% of all non-turning vehicles exceeded 30 mph prior to the traffic calming installation. After the installation, this number was reduced to 19% of all non-turning vehicles. The graph shows the motorists can still conveniently travel at the speed limit (25 mph), but are far less inclined to speed excessively. This balance of safety and convenience represents a win-win for both motorists driving through the neighborhood and for residents of the area who are more inclined to walk.

New Sidewalk along Van Dusen Road

The City of Laurel will be installing new sidewalk and curb-and-gutter along Van Dusen Road between Cherry Lane and Laurel Oaks Lane. Van Dusen has a high number of speeders, and there is currently no sidewalk along this segment. This segment is heavily used by pedestrians (primarily by school children), as evident by the path worn out in the grass along the road's shoulder. As shown in the figure below, this new sidewalk will connect the private sidewalk adjacent to the condominiums on Laurel Oaks Lane with the sidewalk along Cherry Lane, allowing residents a safer and more convenient passage.

Transportation and Public Safety Committee Meeting

On Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 7pm, Laurel will have its quarterly Transportation and Public Safety Committee meeting. The meeting will be held in room #2 at City Hall. Residents with concerns about roadway safety or congestion on City roads are encouraged to attend. Items currently on the agenda include:

• Montgomery Street traffic improvements
• Pedestrian safety at 10th and Montrose.
• Prohibited Parking in Wellington Subdivision – Ordinance 1436
• Traffic Safety at Laurel High
• Nightime visibiliy at Talbot and 5th.

This is an opportunity for residents to voice their pedestrian/bike/vehicle safety concerns directly to a City Councilperson, as well as City Staff from the Public Works and Police departments.

Montgomery Street - the Light at the end of the Tunnel

For some time now, local drivers have had to endure the Mess on Montgomery Street due to the installation of new water and sewer lines. As of this writing, The City has scheduled with contractors to pave Montgomery Street this month. We recognize that on-street parking is heavily used on Montgomery Street, but in order to expedite the paving, please adhere to the temporary "No Parking" signs when they are posted along the street. The signs will be posted 48 hours prior to paving, per DPW policy.

Prior to Montgomery Street, the following streets will also be paved:

1. Ward
2. 8th Street
3. Lafayette
4. Fairlawn

The roads will be paved in the above order.

Bikeway MasterPlan Approved by City

On September 28, 2009, the Mayor and City Council approved Resolution No. 10-09 - a resolution to approve and adopt a City of Laurel Bikeway Master Plan.

City unveils new Bikway Plan

The City of Laurel and the Department of Public Works is proud to release its draft Bikeway Transportation Plan for public review and comment. The draft can be downloaded here (3MB file).

Traffic Calming: Before-and-After Study

The City of Laurel conducted a Before-and-After Study of traffic calming measures at two locations in the City:
1) Greenview Drive
2) Montrose Traffic Circle.

Results:

• Narrowing the roadway on Greenview, by striping parking lanes, resulted in an 11% reduction in all speeders and a 21% reduction in motorists who exceeded the speed limit by 10+ mph.
• Constricting the westbound lane entering the Montrose traffic circle from 16 ft to 13 ft wide and adding splitter islands to the traffic circle reduced the number of speeders (25+mph) by 80%. Motorists traveling 30+ mph were reduced by 96%.

(click Greenview graph for larger figure)

(click Montrose graph for larger figure)