This is the section of Spooks Hill Road containing "the wall" if you are heading north on Spooks Hill up to Beckleysville Road.

So...if your goal is to do a bunch of repeats on "The Wall", you have only 5 days....

It will be closed until May of 2017.

The details are here:  http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts … from=share

There is an obvious, and short, detour: Kidds School House and Beckleysville Road.

I just noticed this today.

Any body know what happened or when or whether the store will open again?

It was bad enough when the Boring store closed. That was a great loss. If this is the closing of the historical Butler Store then it has to be said that the glory days of BBC riding are over.

just over and gone. Its not like it used to be.

The revised plan and the comments received on the original play are to be found:

Revised Bike Master Planhere.

Bikemore had proposed that the default bike line in Baltimore City be Bike Traks, Some on the BBC, argued that having Bike Traks as the default bike facility in Baltimore would be too restrictive on planners.  (The original version of the bike master plan had the standard bike lane as the default lane.)

The DOT revised the Master Plan in relation to this issue. There is no longer ANY default "bike facility" in the Master plan. Rather there are general guidelines and an emphasis on the particular context of the "bike facility".


"In consideration of Bikemore's comments, the DOT has provided additional language in the plan that outlines objectives that state the DOT will design streets based on observed speeds rather than posted speeds to determine the most appropriate bike facility for the roadway. This will help ensure the appropriate bike facility is designed on a street-by-street basis."

I personally find this revision of the Bike Master Plan a reasonable one and a victory for those in the BBC who argued against making the bike track the default lane in Baltimore City. There will be some bike traks; all new "bike facilities" do not have to be bike traks.  Seems OK.

Other views of this?

BikeMore's amendment to the Bike Master Plan--what exactly are they objecting to?

I spent some time on this very cold day trying to connect Bike More's proposed amendment to the Master Plan itself. I had to read the Master Plan carefully to do this. It was a good exercise.

The gist of the proposed amendment is that facilities with some physical separation be the default preferred facility for streets with 85th percentile speeds above 25 miles per hour."

Now nowhere in the Master Plan is there any talk of the "default" preferred facility. As far as I can tell BikeMore is objecting to this section from page 20 in the master plan:


1. Bike Lanes
a. Bike Lanes
    DESCRIPTION –A bike lane is a dedicated lane for cyclists that is separate
from vehicular travel lanes. It is delineated with striping and pavement markings
on the roadway and with signage. Bike lanes typically are located to the right
side of vehicular travel lanes and run in the same direction as traffic. Bike lanes
typically do not have any physical separation from the vehicular travel lanes.
    BEST PRACTICES
    Bike lanes are the most universally preferred type of bicycle facility and
should be given priority when they can be accommodated on roadways.


The Master Plan says that Bike lanes should be "given priority" when they can be.

Bike More disagrees with this and wants cycle tracks to be "given priority" or be the "default facility" in cases where the 85th percentile speeds are above 25 miles per hour. (This means in cases where the actual speed of the motorists is above 25 mph 85% of the time.)

Why this speed: "This is the suggested threshold because it is an approximation of the speed beyond which crashes between automobiles and bicyclists or pedestrians become dramatically more likely to result in death or grievous injury."

To see these numbers go to p. 64 of the Bike Master plan:

5. Neighborhood Slow Zones
Objective: Establish a Neighborhood Slow Zone pilot program by 2015, and make
this program available to communities by 2018.

The severity of accidents and risk of fatalities during traffic collisions greatly increase as
traffic speeds increase. The World Health Organization has shown that accident severity
dramatically increases when traffic speeds reach 30 km/h (18.6 m/h) or higher. Risk of
pedestrian fatality during traffic accidents remains at about 10% when travel speeds are
below 30 km/h (18.6 m/h), but soars to 85% at 50 km/h (31 m/h). Pedestrians struck by
motorists traveling at 25 m/h are at a 40% risk of fatality (WHO, 2008.)


For the arguments on both sides of this question, see other entries in the Advocacy Forum. 

Here are some images of cycle tracks where the barrier protecting the cyclist is a row of parked cars. See p. 23 in the Master Plan for a description of Cycle Tracks and the requirements governing them.  There are additional photos of cycle tracks with the discussion of Cycle Tracks in the Master Plan.

The Maryland Avenue/Cathedral Cycle Track will be, I think, a two way cycle track.  Again see p. 23.  (I live about 4 blocks from where this Track starts. I am eager to try it out as soon as it is in place.)

Kim

You say: "It recently came to my attention that BBC is opposing establishing protected bikeways in Baltimore City."

How did this "come to your attention"?  What is the source for your erroneous belief that the BBC board is opposed to Bike Traks?  Did you get email from some person or some group that said the BBC was opposed to Bike Traks?

or did you just misread the discussion in the Forums?

thanks

ed

Hi Kim

The BBC executive board has voted to support the Baltimore City Bike Master Plan as it stands, without the amendment proposed by Bike More.

The Master plan has bike tracks as an integral part of it.  The Master Plan includes the wonderful Maryland Avenue Cycle Track.  The BBC board is NOT against bike tracks.

Everyone in the BBC should read the Bike Master Plan or at least look at the power point summary of it. And if they care about these issues--as they should--should submit a comment on the bike master plan while the comment period is open.  The plan, the power point summary of it and the place to submit comments on it is here: 

2015 Baltimore City Master PlanOffical Link to 2015 Master PlanOfficial Link

The issue between Bike More and the BBC is whether the default Bike lane—on roads where the speed is over 25mph—should be the bike lane or the bike track. Or as I see it, the issue is whether to proceed towards bike tracks in a slow, conservative way (BBC board) or in a more speedy (radical?) way (Bike More.)

For those interested, the Bike More group's suggested amendments are to be found here: 

Bikemore's Suggested Changes

I found Jeffry’s "humble" defense of the conservative approach quite moving:

In my humble opinion,  the current Bicycle Master Plan is balanced and includes improving secondary streets for bicyclists.  The Plan also includes Cycle Tracks.  And yes the plan includes conventional bikelanes for experienced cyclists.  Let's see how the Cycle Tracks do before replacing all the bikelanes with Tracks. This is a work in progress, and I want to give the City flexibility to determine what works best,   While Cycle Tracks can offer inexperienced cyclists some comfort, what happens when the Cycle Track ends?  Cyclists need education.  The BBC spring cycling instructional series is a good opportunity for beginners to learn how to ride safely on the road... 

I can’t tell, really can’t tell, whether you misunderstand the BBC’s position or genuinely believe that a more conservative approach to bike tracks is the same as being against them.

(If anyone on the BBC board disagrees with my interpretation of their position, please correct me on this.)

Ed Hopkins

If you wish to post comments on the 2015 Bicycle Master Plan, you should use the following link:

Offical Link to 2015 Master PlanOfficial Link

Do not post on the link Janet gave if your intent is to comment on the Bicycle Master Plan. Janet's link will allow you to post comments on  Bikemore's proposed amendment to the Master Plan. Such comments will never go to the DOT (Department of Transportation) which is collecting comments on the master plan.

This is an important matter to comment on so make sure your comments go to the official site so that they have a chance of making an impact.

and I do agree with Jeffry's defense of the standard location of bike lanes.

we will be doing the 40 mile loop: Beckleysville to Spooks.  Weather looks good.  (Steve's ride is not until Wednesday this week!)

Ed Cahill wrote:

I did hear one person (after they both finished laughing at our predicament) ask his buddy if he was okay.

I can't tell from the woman's description whether this dog was on a lease.

It sounds like the cyclists did NOTHING to agitate the dog other than ride by on their bikes.  Hence they were not behaving badly. They were just cycling. The dog was entirely the problem.

And it sounds like they were kicking at the dog in self defense.  How close was that dog to the cyclists? 

My guess is that this self-agitating dog will eventually bite a cyclist and the police will be brought into the picture.

I think you should be talking to the woman about controlling her dog better not searching out "badly behaved" cyclists.

(I agree that kicking out at a dog is a dangerous maneuver: you would do better to just let the dog bite you than crash on the hard road.)