Cute of them to believe anyone uses those stop signs.

I'm a fan, it's somewhat less chaotic than it used to be

Anyone have a before picture?

I guess my question is what’s the difference between “traffic calming” and better marking/wayfinding for drivers? My primary beef with this interesection beforehand was that it was a navigation mess for drivers. Which is to say, the design of the intersection made it harder for them to understand and use, this made it more dangerous for everyone else. Perhaps it’s all the same — that’s fine.

I think part of the idea is that by creating a mildly complex obstacle for drivers, they are forced to slow down.

Lol, yeah, kinda seems like a more appealing way to say "lets install a bunch of signs & bollards"

E: kinda looks like this would be a perfect spot for a roundabout, actually.

I think in this instance, it is really both. The traffic calming aspect is using the marked bump-outs to narrow the lanes and reduce the amount of extra pavement available to drivers. This makes people slow down because it feels less safe to speed. It also helps prevent cutting corners and gives pedestrians some extra space for safety.

But all of these bumpout markings also provide opportunities to more clearly mark the lanes, turns, stops, etc. which is especially helpful at a convoluted intersection like this one.

As an aside - I think the biggest downside to these is that once one big truck has run over a flex post, many other people will feel comfortable driving over it too. So the DOT needs to either make an effort to regularly replace flattened flex posts, or put in something more solid like the planters in this photo.

It clarifies and shortens crossing distances for pedestrians is the main thing, I think. It's not just (or even primarily) for drivers.

Not exactly the same angle, but you can get the idea -

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3205884,-76.620904,3a,75y,114.38h,88.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4c-e9sQPWUDDG60d5x7UkQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I really appreciate these quick build installs around the city, especially the bump-outs on the corners. Turning this mess of asphalt into a a couple of simple T intersections makes navigating as a pedestrian much easier.

But my big question with all these installs is when do they become permanent? When are the bump-outs going to be sidewalk height? When are the flex posts going to be steel bollards? The paint is going to fade and the flower pots will be crashed into and the flex posts will be flattened. What happens then?

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Honestly not even sure the planters will help. I'd expect them to get quickly plowed over, too. Ideally they filled them up about halfway with large rocks, but even still... I'd be surprised if they didn't need frequent replacing.

I have these same questions about this as well as our bike lanes and the Big Jump too. Flex posts only go so far if a driver doesn’t give a shit about running them over.

Like others mentioned, it's more about pedestrian safety (I think). It's likely a part of the strategy for the city's Vision Zero initiative (a nationwide effort being implemented locally around the country)

https://transportation.baltimorecity.gov/toward-zero

What? Better urban planning in Baltimore? WOW

yeah, walking through that intersection feels way less like a stress-test for my health insurance policy than before

I want them to paint lines up and down 28th and 29th so bad (delineating that the sides of the street are for parking).

Studies have shown just having solid lines on the sides of the street away from traffic slows people down and helps avoid collisions with parked cars. I am biased as I live on 28th though.

I thought the whole point was they get run over and are easy and cheap to replace.

But yeah the big jump was supposed to be temporary and it's now been the same for what 3 years?

I like it. Stuff like this just needs to be maintained to prevent it from having the opposite effect down the road.

That may have been the point but it doesn’t seem like a good longterm solution. Eventually you will end up spending more money on constantly replacing these things than just installing something sturdy that you may have to do upkeep on once a decade.

Additionally, the fact that they are so cheap and replaceable makes for very ineffective protection and traffic calming. I have watched people in all manner of vehicles simply run them over or even park right on top of them.

How did you all get this done? I have just been pumping requests in to 311. Want it done in Hollins/Union

It’s wild how much Remington has changed in the past 10-15 years.

I would love to see more paint and fewer pylons for narrowing streets.

The flex posts are not rigid because busses and other long vehicles need to be able to run them over.

Buses shouldn't need to run them over. AFAIK, the only flexposts that are meant to be permanent are there for emergency vehicle access (which itself shouldn't be necessary, but BFD isn't a fan of smaller trucks in general).

Not enough traffic for a roundabout, I don't think? (not sure there ever is when traffic flow can be effectively handled by stop signs)

Also given how BCDOT ripped out the roundabouts in Barclay/Harwood not too many years ago I think they're not a fan of them in general.

I guess, if those pylons at R House were rigid, a lot of busses and trucks I've seen would be totalled.

https://instagram.com/grahamprojects?igshid=ZDg1NjBiNjg=

I’d try reaching out to this guy. He’s does a bunch of these around the city.

Trucks and other buses in cities across the globe can navigate turns like that. Why can’t we?

The local neighborhood association lobbied hard for these. I was at some of the first meetings about these measures which were literally 6 years ago. So... I guess do what you can but don't expect it to go very quickly. Better late than never, I guess.

Thanks. The new layout is a million times better. That turn where it's blue paint now looked awful before. Can't imagine the close calls and accidents there with a sharp blind turn like that.

They got rid of one of the roundabouts at Guilford and 32nd, but there are still two left at 24th and 22nd. Half the drivers still go around the wrong way to make a left, if they don't drive right over the middle.

First I should say that as long as the person in the opposite lane of the road I'm turning onto stops at their stop line, I have no trouble making the turns in my personal vehicle. To your question about busses, the right turn from 29th onto Remington has a corner radius ~5' and an effective turning radius, including the use of the southbound lane, at ~15.' Busses apparently need 21.5' or more inside turning radius, implying these intersections were designed for busses to drive over the pylons when turning. An interesting note is that at 15' radius and the minimum given side friction factor, I get 8.5mph as the design speed for that turn.

I love these. Making drivers actually slow down to make a 90 degree turn has done wonders for pedestrian safety. Now we just have to prevent people from parking directly in the crosswalks, sometimes I've had luck with 311 but it's spotty to get it enforced. Hope one day we can de-pave and plant more trees here.

Apparently the flex posts will never be bollards because of concerns from the fire department about their trucks turning.

The Google street view history switch from 2014 to 2017 look like different cities.

It goes back as far as 2007 - https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3208359,-76.6211006,3a,75y,144.84h,94.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sH-ZPP6SLF6G6bC9HYkIcKw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

That's exactly what I did, and what prompted my comment! Back in ~2010 Remington was Paper Moon Diner, the Dizz, auto body shops, and fenced-in pavement lots. At least that's what it seemed like to me, not spending much time there... then over the course of like 5 years it transformed into multi-family and mixed use spaces. Makes perfect sense for the location, near JHU, but yeah it's unrecognizable from many angles. Makes me feel old! The developments in Remington, Harbor Point, maybe a couple other spots still register as 'new' in my head.

I know they have some at Calhoun and Lombard, where else is it bad? What we really need out here is some protected bike lanes that run to Cathedral St.

Gosh that's gorgeous, can we start putting in bike lanes when it happens though?

Honestly looks like this intersection could use conversion to a roundabout? I think it would fit. Getting people to yield for pedestrians around roundabouts can be hard, especially in "rules are for other people" MD drivers.

Isn't this near the R House or whatever it's called?

Love to see it!

I think they should use angled mountable curbing. The fire trucks/bud can make the turns, but the average car would not enjoy the experience.

wow that looks way different now compared to when i used to work at anderson

I'm near 28th and I'd like more of both. People with small cars, motorcycles, and dirt bikes often drive through the pylons, so solid barriers closer together would be nice.

Way better than Pigtown’s attempt at painting Washington Boulevard for traffic calming purposes! Over here, our paint looked faded from the outset and then BGE came and spray painted over much of it. Some large wooden flower boxes were added that have been crashed into and damaged. And everyone is still speeding…

Throw in some 311 tickets and email Darian Closson (darian.closson@baltimorecity.gov). I’ve been working with her on getting these tickets pushed through the system. I’m sure if she sees more email traffic it may create some urgency. PM me if you have any questions.