Photo by Jeff L.
Following several fatal crashes at Montgomery and Prince George's County trail crossings, the counties and SHA have been making some changes in hopes of making the crossings safer. At Viers Mill (Matthew Henson Trail) engineers added button-activated flashing lights (which wasn't enough to prevent a 2nd fatal crash involving a cyclist a few months later); at Little Falls Parkway (Capital Crescent Trail) they've made plans for a road diet and speed limit reduction; and now at Campus Drive (Trolley Trail) the sound barrier that blocks the direct path of the trail is being removed.
This is part of a larger project that will
Remove and dispose of 10 sound barrier wall panels, construct a new 50-ft long by 10-ft wide asphalt bike trail, and install a w-beam traffic barrier with end treatments on Campus Drive
The bid for that work went out 12 days after the fatal collision there. The traffic barrier referenced above will go where the wall used to be.
There was a proposal from a Complete Streets public workshop to cut a hole in the wall (see image below), but not to knock the whole thing down, though the image above includes an email that says that just one panel could be removed. (Maybe they're moving it to the Mexican border). Not sure when this was decided on, but last April when participants in a charrette suggested knocking the wall down, they were informed that this was already the plan.
About a month after the last year's fatal crash at this site, despite the bid, they still weren't sure what would happen with the sound barrier.
The city is working with the county to improve the Campus Drive intersection by either adjusting or removing a sound barrier, Wojahn said, which currently forces bikers to divert from the trail. However, these kinds of improvements have been in the works for at least a decade, Wojahn added.
"We'll continue meeting with them and continue to push them on this … they always talk about walkability … but it seems that the county practice when it comes to adjusting roads doesn't match what they say."
But by November, they'd made plans to "tear down that wall."
College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn said the city is removing noise barrier panels near the crossing to increase visibility for cars. The city also applied for a grant from the state that would help provide designated bikeways for bicyclists to use separately on the side of the road, Wojahn said.
The city wants to see speed cameras installed, because of rampant speeding, but SHA - who will take ownership of the road once Prince George's County approves it - has a different idea.
Bicyclists can increase their safety by stepping off their bikes and walking alongside them when they cross an intersection, [SHA spokesman David Buck] said.
I openly invite any MD SHA employee--including David Buck--to bike with me! Let's see idiotic and inconvenient it is to dismount at every street crossing. Let's make our roads safer. It's not the pedestrians silly SHA, it's the crossings!! Getting off my bike doesn't magically make me safer--if anything I would say it makes me MORE vulnerable. Another trail crossing that I haven't heard much about: Sligo Creek @ East-West Highway.
Posted by: Biker In PG | January 06, 2017 at 08:13 AM
SHA not only thwarts walkability and community development, they flaunt it. That agency needs to have every single employee fired and forced to reapply for their jobs in open competition. It's time to get some human beings in there.
Posted by: Greenbelt | January 06, 2017 at 11:12 AM
Of course, removing the noise barrier gets the local residents pissed at cyclists. Great!
Posted by: SJE | January 06, 2017 at 11:21 AM
If only there were some technology that blocks sound while providing visibility . . .
http://www.noisebarriers.org/noisebarrier/transparent-sound-barrier.html
Posted by: xmal | January 06, 2017 at 11:25 AM
The sound barrier isn't loved by the locals at all. You could find some people supporting it I'm sure, but not very widespread.
There'd be no need for a sound barrier if speed limits were enforced or traffic calmed to 30mph or less. Decibel levels go up exponentially with speed.
Sound barriers are for freeways like the beltway, not neighborhood streets.
Posted by: Greenbelt | January 06, 2017 at 11:35 AM
Can someone explain the idea that it's safer to walk with a bike through an intersection? It seems like you'd move more slowly through the intersection, stopping cars for longer.
You're not really more visible walking, just a bit taller for certain bike styles.
Is the idea just that if you get off and walk, you have to stop for a moment to get a good look at oncoming traffic? Seems pretty patronizing if so, might be better to come up with a slogan to the effect of "heads up, look both ways before crossing"
Posted by: Ben | January 06, 2017 at 11:39 AM
SHA totally does not get how to design for cycling. Even when they do things like put in bike lanes, they do it so badly you're usually no safer than before.
Posted by: Crickey7 | January 06, 2017 at 12:09 PM
If that's SHA position, they should put up signs that read "No biking" and take the dings that come with that. Because that's what dismount and walk means.
Posted by: washcycle | January 06, 2017 at 12:13 PM
Lawsuits against SHA in Maryland might get their attention. Lawsuit in NY state DOT for failing to correct known unsafe condition succeeded:
http://nyc.streetsblog.org/2017/01/05/states-highest-court-holds-nyc-liable-for-injuries-on-streets-without-traffic-calming/#
Posted by: Greenbelt | January 06, 2017 at 12:28 PM
Crickey, do a Google streetview of the "bike lanes" along Greenbelt Road between the beltway and the CSX/metro bridge sometime.
Those aren't bike lanes, they're deathtraps, painted only to pad SHA stats, not to provide any sort of meaningful bike access or safety. Quite the reverse. Similar on Route 1 between Beltsville and Laurel.
Posted by: Greenbelt | January 06, 2017 at 12:30 PM
Noticed on the commute home last night and corroborated by my commute inbound this morning (always presuming I'm stupid-tired coming away from work), the corner of Little Falls and Capital Crescent is now narrower in both directions on Little Falls. The state added flex-posts to narrow to one lane. The reflective signs informing motorists to yield remains in the middle of both directions along the dashed white line, in between the flex-posts, where it has been, more or less since the fatal collision. The crossing seems somewhat bewildering in that as you stop at the stop sign it appears to be two lanes separated by a line of posts, confusing which is the travel lane and which is blocked in either direction. It is momentary. The inner lane in each direction is the travel lane.
A road change I've not seen mentioned is that sometime in the summer, the intersection of Capital Crescent and Dorset is now a four-way stop. It had been stop only on Capital Crescent. Most motorists don't stop at the sign, but many do stop for the speed humps which have been there even before the change in signage.
Posted by: Just Another Rider | January 06, 2017 at 02:10 PM
I nearly got smacked at that intersection of the CCT and Dorset a few months ago by a car that totally failed to stop. Missed me by about an inch.
Posted by: Crickey7 | January 06, 2017 at 02:31 PM
The CCT-Little Falls intersection has certainly gotten more interesting for a cyclist on the parkway. Southbound it's great because you can ride down the closed-off lane and ignore the traffic signal at Arlington without a shred of guilt. Going north, however, you have to take the traffic lane or get fouled by cars turning right at the Arlington light.
Posted by: Smedley Burkhart | January 06, 2017 at 02:40 PM
@Ben: dismounting at every intersection makes people stop biking, solving all bike safety issues.
Posted by: Mike | January 09, 2017 at 08:16 AM
Haha the biker is totally biking on the wrong side of the trail and looks like he isn't going to yield right of way to the pedestrians.
What an accurate depiction.
Posted by: Richard B | January 13, 2017 at 12:21 PM
From a still image, how can you tell what someone is going to do? But yes, let's use a rendering as some sort of statement on cycling behavior
Posted by: washcycle | January 13, 2017 at 02:23 PM
@washcycle it just obvious that whoever put that still together knows how the majority bicyclists cant be bothered to follow rules.
Posted by: Richard B | January 13, 2017 at 03:42 PM
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2008/07/the-myth-of-the.html
Posted by: washcycle | January 13, 2017 at 05:12 PM