Help prevent part of Monument Ave cycletrack from being removed!

[M H]

Hey! They apparently are planning to remove part of the monument bike cycletrack near Central Ave and I just called our councilman's office and mayor's about it to make a complaint >>> please help out take a few minutes to call them!!! 410-396-4900

https://www.bikemore.net/news/monumentremoval

Please do the same!

Lots of reasons not to remove parts of the cycletrack:

Removing parts of the cycletrack and forcing cyclists onto the sidewalk is unacceptable and also a BIG safety issue for both pedestrians and cyclists, particularly because the sidewalk is part of Dunbar High Football Field, and especially during games on the weekends the sidewalk can have many pedestrians, which means there is no space for us to actually ride our bicycles on the sidewalk. It also goes against NACTO recommendations to separate bicycles from both vehicles AND pedestrians.

In addition, riding on the sidewalk poses many major safety hazards. Sidewalks are not designed for the speed of bicycle travel. Particularly, it is very dangerous to ride on the sidewalk where vehicles are not expecting bicyclists and they are likely to make left or right turns that can crash into us. Particularly, going east on Monument in the same direction of travel as the cars, it is not possible to constantly look over our right shoulder while navigating a sidewalk with hazards to see if there are cars at every intersection who might make a left turn into us.

The purpose of a separated cycletrack is to give bicyclists a highly visible, safe, and designated space to ride. I know that DOT has made excuses about needing 13 parking spaces, but this section of Monument Ave which is slated for removal is just west of Central Ave, is not all that close to Johns Hopkins, and there is SO much potential for street parking on any of the streets in the neighborhood OTHER than Monument Ave. PLEASE do not compromise the safety of a critical east-west corridor for safe bicycle travel for the sake of 13 parking spaces. Not to mention Baltimore just spent our tax dollars putting in nice bike infrastructure -- I do not want to see the work and money that has been done to make this cycletrack be thrown in the trash.

I and many others use the cycletrack for commuting between neighborhoods like Mt Vernon and JHMI!! It's a lot faster and less crowded than the shuttle.

[Rose Weeks]

Thank you for posting about this. I saw some construction vehicles parked in the lane this week and worried that they were undoing the beautiful cycletrack. I will call tomorrow.