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.

View Larger Map
Brooklyn Bridge Road, prior to entering the City of Laurel

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?

Community Center Bike Parking

Custom bike hitches at new community center on 811 5th Street

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.