Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Thursday, November 16, 2023 7:00 pm Hybrid Meeting Held at College Park City Hall and Via Teleconferencing through Zoom Committee Members: In- Absent Person Mark Shroder, Chair X Dan Behrend X Kyla Erman X Parisi Fida X Meaghan Hart X Donald Hayes X Jeff Lemieux Josue Lemus X Sam Slowinski X Erik Valentine, Staff X Liaison Steven Halpern, City Engineer Jacob Hernandez, Council-Elect, District 1 Brendan Wray, Public X 1. Call to order – Mark Shroder Mr. Shroder called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. 2. Approval of Agenda – Mark Shroder The agenda was approved by consensus. No motion called. 3. Approval of Minutes from August, September and October Meetings A motion was made by Mr. Hays and seconded by Ms. Hart to approve the minutes from the August, September and October meetings. The motion carried 6-0-0. 4. Discussion of Bike Boulevard Report – Steven Halpern, City Engineer Mr. Shroder gave an overview of this presentation. This report was delivered in 2016 and looked into which parts of the City could have bike boulevards. There were four priorities:  Edgewood (west of Rhode Island)  Edmonston BPAC minutes November 16, 2023  Knox Road  Guilford Drive (west of Hartwick) Mr. Halpern said the bike boulevard concept is a bike lane/shared lane mix. The four streets in the report have the highest stress and volume. Mr. Halpern discussed each of the street priorities:  Edgewood to Rhode Island to Rt. 1 – there is plenty of room on that road. It is a good candidate. There are 7,400 cars a day, riding between parked cars. You end up at 47th Place, sharing lanes to Rt. 1. It will work if you are an experienced cyclist.  Knox Road, west of Rt. 1 - established share lanes up to Terrapin Row new development and at that point had them put in the bike lane to Guilford Drive.  Guilford Drive, west of Hartwick – we have sharrows there now. Parking is on one side. The recommendation said to eliminate the parking, but recommendation came out before the new development parking, so you can’t eliminate street parking and the parking will stay as a shared lane.  Edmonston did a complete green street. We have 11-1/2’ lanes and that’s a candidate, but there is nowhere to put an exclusive bike lane, as there is no way to separate this from the roadway. This would be a shared lane. Mr. Halpern added the City has created shared lanes because the existing geometry of the City streets are 26’ wide with parking on both sides and 11’ through lanes for two-way traffic. You can’t put sharrows on the road with signage, as we had done before to caution motorists to be aware there could be cyclists. Mr. Halpern doesn’t like the idea of a stencil that says it’s a boulevard. Mr. Halpern stated that putting bike lanes on Edgewood after the repavement is in his work plan. 5. Report on Chosen Accident Clusters/Intersections – BPAC A. Mr. Shroder reported on the cluster in the vicinity of Greenbelt Road, University Boulevard and Rhode Island Avenue. Mr. Shroder indicated the intersections where he would like to see like to see white tubular markers. Mr. Halpern said the City has no authority on state roads but does on Rhode Island Avenue. The next three slides showed a complicated intersection (northwest corner of University Boulevard and facing south) that has two bike lanes and two travel lanes and the suddenly at the end of the intersection there are four travel lanes, plus a protected turn lane and two bike lanes, which doesn’t fit that area. Mr. Halpern said the State recognizes this intersection as hazardous. The State has not funded it yet, but it does have a preliminary plan to address the concerns. Mr. Halpern would also like to move the bus stop. Mr. Shroder stated that was excellent news to hear they have a plan. Mr. Wray brought up the intersection of Greenbelt and Rhode Island. He would like to see blinking pedestrian lights there. This would need State action. 2 BPAC minutes November 16, 2023 B. Ms. Hart spoke about the Knox Road Crash Cluster and presented pictures. The main issue is that there are so many pedestrians. She said there was good signage at the crosswalks but the sharrow transitioned to an unprotected bike lane. There are a lot of hazards in bike lanes; one photo showed a dumpster. She realized there was construction there, but it is frustrating. She also provided an overview of the Veo Ride Report–Q3, 2023. It reflected personal micro mobility vehicles. These are used a lot in the crash cluster as showed by the purple color on the map. The data is available and should be used to make decisions. To protect the pedestrians, her recommendations are to install raised crosswalks or speed tables at the pedestrian crossings. She also said she’d want the bike lane to be protected going up hill, where Mr. Shroder stated the protection going downhill was where the hazards were. C. Mr. Lemieux’s cluster was Hollywood Road and Rhode Island Avenue. He was concerned about cars turning right into the bike lane to turn into streets. This seems to have stopped now due to floating bus stops and flex posts and wanted to get the City’s view of this. Mr. Halpern said it was doing what it was intended to do, but they still have work to do in that area. They are planning on widening the bike lane near Lackawanna and will be adding more flex posts, which will make it harder to turn. D. Mr. Hays addressed the cluster study for Edgewood and Rhode Island Avenue. To mitigate the problem until crossing guards are hired, Mr. Hays offered the following pedestrian recommendations. 1) bulb corners, 2) consider no turn 24/7, as the current hours you can’t turn aren’t enforced, 3) extend the island (east/west Edgewood), 4) exclusive pedestrian phasing, 5) leading pedestrian intervals, 6) making the corners full 90 degree turns, and 7) automated pedestrian signals. He also had recommendations for cyclists’ safety: 1) solid green marking to make lane explicit to drivers and 2) flex posts delineates biker’s space. Mr. Halpern said to make the request, and they will do the study. E. Mr. Slowinksi addressed the cluster at Trolley Trail/Campus Drive. His experience is that you can push buttons for the red light signal to stop cars, but recently the wait time is very long, so pedestrians/cyclists don’t wait and cross without the benefit of the light. His recommendation is to have it go back to having the light turn red when it pushed. Mr. Shroder said Campus Drive is a State road. Mr. Halpern will provide information on how to report these matters to the state. Mr. Valentine reported that a bus waiting area will be added to Campus Drive at the northwest quadrant once Discovery Point goes in. 3 BPAC minutes November 16, 2023 Mr. Shroder asked Mr. Valentine to prepare two packages with recommendations and complaints for the City Council and Public Works review by the next Committee meeting. F. Mr. Behrend reported on the cluster crash site of College Avenue (Rt. 1 to Rhode Island Avenue). College Avenue is a marked bike route that has sharrows on the road and bike route signage. The road is wide 37’ by the commercial space and 31’ in the residential space. There are no recommendations/complaints to add to the list Mr. Valentine is preparing for review. 6. Letters of Support – Dan Behrend Mr. Behrend drafted two versions of letters of support regarding the Purple Line crossing Adelphi Road near the campus. Mr. Behrend made the motion to send the two letters to the Council, and they could, in turn, send them to whomever they saw fit to send to. Ms. Hart seconded. The motion carried 6-0-0. 7. Discussion on US DOT’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Program – Dan Behrend Mr. Behrend recommends that the Committee look at these grants (Planning and Demonstration and Implementation Grants) and apply. These grants align with the Committee’s charge and would help to achieve several goals (prepare a City Bikeway Master Plan, promote bike pedestrian safety, identify opportunities for grant funding, and review opportunities under new federal infrastructure funding). Applications are due February 2024. Mr. Valentine said the City has a grants staff person and has a matching fund budget, which they will need to increase since they will be applying for more grants. They will report back to the Committee with their findings at the next meeting. 8. Discussion of Lighting Strategies at Pedestrian Crossings – Donald Hays Mr. Hays presented an email from a mid-80-year-old gentleman expressing concern over crossing the street by Rhode Island Avenue and said many of our elderly citizens find it difficult to cross the streets. Based on a 2022 traffic study, about 80% of the cars don’t stop. Many drivers don’t know legally that pedestrians have the right-of-way and drivers are obligated to stop. The gentleman suggested red blinking lights instead of yellow. Mr. Hays’ recommendation is to put a speed table at major intersections causing drivers to slow and, hopefully, see pedestrians. Another recommendation is that this road should be 25 miles per hour. Ms. Hart recommended to have cars make forced stops at common crossing points that transition to yellow and once cleared, cars could go. Basically, pedestrian operated controls. Mr. Halpern asked for particular locations and the group came up with 4 BPAC minutes November 16, 2023 Greenbelt Road, Rhode Island Avenue, Muskogee, Hollywood, and Blackfoot. Mr. Halpern explained this would need to be studied, especially traffic flow, and funding. Mr. Shroder asked Mr. Valentine to add this to the list of items to present to the Council. The committee discussed the speed limit on Rhode Island Avenue. 9. New Business/General Discussion/Future Agenda Topics - BPAC Mr. Shroder discussed the need to have a December 14th meeting. It was agreed the next meeting would be held in January 2024. No other new business was discussed. 10. Adjourn In the absence of an objection, Mr. Shroder called the meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lori Jarman, Contract Secretary Janeen Miller, City Clerk 5