What this Routine Bike Trip Says about Urban Bicycling

I ride my 50 year old city bike for errands and meetings on almost a daily basis, in almost any weather and mostly in an area of about 2-3 miles around my office in downtown Baltimore.

Turning left here is the easiest from the sidewalk but even that
isn't without risk (photo: Philipsen)

This is generally an enjoyable thing to do and it gets me to places faster than any other mode. Yet, these trips are also full of challenges and hazards. I figured it would be interesting to compare bike policies and progress with facilities in Baltimore along one of my very typical routes, which I am sorry to say, is devoid of any bike accommodation. A rather short trip but frequent trip is the one to the branch of my bank, thanks to the somewhat archaic American banking system where one still receives paper checks in the mail that require hand deposits.

The trip is shorter than a mile, takes no more than 5-7 minutes, but requires negotiating a number of the busier arterials. I decided to describe the route and its dangers in some detail to illustrate the perils of urban bicycling and why many cities still have trouble to attract more riders.

My bike sits in my office and I can easily take it to the ground level via ADA compliant elevator and get it out the front door without difficulty. My office faces Eutaw Street, less than a mile north of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It is best for me to just ride down on the eastern sidewalk for the 3/4 block before turning east on Mulberry Street which would be not so easily done from the southbound lanes of Eutaw Street. This leads to finding #1:

Depending on traffic and number of lanes, it is nearly impossible 

for a bicyclist to move into left lanes for a left turn. A work around is the use of sidewalks or at least crosswalks, although doing so is technically illegal.

At Mulberry, which is US Route 40, there is usually no opportunity to just merge into eastbound traffic, because the incessant flow on its three lanes of traffic is too heavy and fast. So, I wait for the signal to turn and use the crosswalk to then merge into the right lane of Mulberry Street. However, the crosswalk isn't without peril either, even with the walk sign: Cars turning left trying to beat oncoming traffic by the smallest of margins will pay little attention to people in the crosswalk. Just recently I saw a young lady lying injured in the street next to this same marked crosswalk after she had been hit by a car. Once eastbound on US 40, I am trying to use the lull in traffic occurring because eastbound traffic is stopped at the light I had just gone through to advance to the next signal.  Because the upcoming light is red, too, this usually means I have to pass stopped traffic on the right.  Sometimes I have to dodge cars coming out of a parking garage there which block my space. This gets us to finding #2:

People who complain about bicyclists passing stopped cars or advancing through red lights when cars are stopped have no idea how menacing it is to move with a platoon of cars that starts up at a light. The idea of queuing behind a stopped car as if one were a car is really preposterous. Instead, we bicyclists prefer to move along the blocks when the cars are stopped and when it is much safer. That is the main reasons why we cut through lights when no cross traffic is in sight and no pedestrian is in the crosswalk..

Mulberry isn't a bike friendly street with three busy
travel lanes (photo: Philipsen)

At this next signal, Howard Street crosses Mulberry, and its southbound lanes are reserved for light rail trains, which I will use since I can't wait to leave the ghastly three lane Mulberry Street. So I turn right onto the transitway, carefully cross one rail to then travel between the embedded tracks. There are no trains approaching from behind because they would now be held at that signal I had just passed. I ride this one block to Saratoga Street where I want to turn left again. At the intersection I can see only train and pedestrian signal heads but they tell me if I can go, especially the train "go" phase, which gives comfort because it stops cars in all directions, allowing me to complete my left turn with full attention to the tracks and

So like to escape onto the transitway for a block, although
one has to be careful with those tracks
(photo: Philipsen)

and pedestrians in the crosswalk. Finding #3:

Transitways or streetcar tracks embedded in the roadway present a unique challenge for bicyclists and occasionally an opportunity, however, generally it cannot be recommended to ride on a transitway

Saratoga Street is a pleasant small urban street lined with small shops, continuous parking on both sides and one lane of traffic in each direction. The problem here is that there are several bus lines on the street and buses are too wide to safely pass a bicyclist in the one oncoming lane, plus, they want to pull to the curb to 

This not so buys street lined by small shops presents a
challenge from parked cars and narrow lanes
(photo: Philipsen)

load or unload passengers. Just when one decides as a bicyclist that it would be safe to pass the stopped bus it usually pulls away from the stop. This can make for scary moments. In Maryland drivers have to pass bikes with a minimum of three feet distance, not an easy feat on a 10' travel lane and so cars zip by with much less space. To make matters worse, they often pull right back to the right side preparing for a right turn or stop to back into an open parking space. It appears that drivers immediately forget the person on a bike they had just passed, or assume unrealistically it has since dissolved into thin air. That, too can make for gamy moments. In the summer when I have a chance to address those drivers through their open windows they usually respond with obscenities when I ask why they 

to pass the bus or not? Always a challenge for the bicyclist
(photo: Philipsen)

had to pass so closely only to now have to wait at a light. Observations #4 and 5:

Riding on streets where local transit buses frequently drive is very challenging even if there are bike lanes because buses and bikes tend to travel at the same average speed with the bus being faster in between stops. The result is an ongoing cat and mouse game that is annoying for the bus operator and dangerous for the bicyclist. There seems to be no good solution to that except protected bike lanes that pass behind bus stop waiting areas, a very rare configuration.

Those two-way one lane each way streets with parking on both sides, much beloved by urbanists are not easy for bicyclists unless there is room for a designated bike lane. Drivers are not likely to be so patient to ride behind the bike in the same lane and are prone to squeezing by with minimal side distance. That combined with the danger of being doored or run down by pedestrians darting out between parked cars makes a pleasant street much less so for the bicyclist. 

 So far I have travelled about half the distance to my bank branch. The next fun part comes in the

Steep downhill but watch for those cars coming from the
garage (photo: Philipsen)

shape of a steep downhill on a section of Saratoga Street that allows no parking. This one block has all the characteristics of Seattle or San Francisco, i.e., it is really steep but it is also bumpy from many utility repairs, and there is a treacherous driveway exiting from a garage with drivers eagerly scouting for a gap to shoot out. I always establish eye contact with those drivers before I dare to roll past them. Then there are the cars that think that even downhill they must beat a bike and are trying to squeeze by from behind. The light at the bottom of the hill is always green in sync with the one on top of the hill so that downhill emergency braking is usually not necessary. But I have to turn right, and I do so cautiously, because I immediately enter the zone in front of a hotel

Hotel entrances are often clogged with limos and taxis, at this
moment only a Brink truck blocks a travel lane
(photo: Philipsen)

where the rules of taxis, limos, delivery trucks and tour buses are in effect, i.e. no rules at all, except that of convenience for those folks. That usually means that at least one if not several of the right travel lanes are blocked with suddenly opening doors almost a certainty. Observation #6:

Hotels and big apartment buildings with limo service are hazard zones because of the cabs, mini buses, limos and all kinds of delivery vehicles stopping any which way with doors open left and right. Somehow hotel employees and guests represent a class of street users in their own right. Usually not local, they have the attitude of privileged guests and usually have little more than scorn for the plebs on a bike.

The designated right turn not recommended for the bikes  

Additional garage exits add excitement when I approach an acute angle intersection where two spurs of southbound Light Street merge and intersect with Lexington Street. If I keep an eye on cars that may want to do a sharp right turn I can elegantly merge into the six-lane section of Light Street, but the curb-lane is right turn only. Although I am now almost at my bank, there are five lanes of traffic between me and the bank which is on the left side of the street. Going across all lanes is here even more impossible than at the beginning of my trip. But even for the already mentioned trick of using the crosswalk to get to the left, I have to first get past this darn right only lane and somehow move slightly left between the cars that want to turn right. Here it would really help to have a marked bike lane guiding from the curb to the left half of the right turn lane. Finding #7:

Right turn only lanes in a downtown setting are a nuisance. Where they exist they need to have marked lane space for bicyclists that want to go straight that prevent crashes between right turn vehicles and bikes.

Finally on the far side of the intersection I head for the crosswalk landing to safely cross all the lanes together with pedestrians when the light turns. But here lurks additional danger in the shape of not one but two oncoming turn lanes from Fayette Street into southbound Light Street. Drivers in those two lanes compete eagerly to make their turn with pedestrians in the crosswalk just being in the way and easily overlooked unless they walk in groups too large to ignore. Having to keep an eye on two lanes of turning cars is extra challenging, whether one has a bike or not. #8:

dual turns into a crosswalk should not be allowed while
pedestrians have the walk signal
(photo: Philipsen)

If a city allows double turn lanes pedestrians in the crosswalk need a separate signal phase. Two turn lanes will never yield properly to pedestrians or bicyclists in the crosswalk.

Finally I arrived in the same block in which my bank branch resides and can roll down the sidewalk to their front door. Of course, there is no bike rack and nothing to lock the bike to. But the branch manager likes to stand right behind the doors to greet his customers and keeps an eye on my bike parked with kickstand on the sidewalk. #9:

Too many businesses don't offer bike parking or bike hoops or racks. The large office building in which the bank resides has bike parking in its garage. But that is not feasible for a quick hop into the bank or for a bike messenger that has something to deliver to one of the tenants. There always must be on street or on sidewalk parking at least two times per city block on each side of the street.

It is a relief to bike back across Center Plaza

Naturally,  I have to ride back to the office again, and with Baltimore being a place of mostly one way streets, that gets me on a very different route, one of mostly right turns, though, which makes this journey much easier. Smaller roads and traffic free zones allow an almost pleasant ride back. It must be noted, though, that the particular system of one way streets here make it nearly impossible to use this route also for the way to the bank. This leads to the final observation #10:

One way streets present blockages for bicyclists that make it often impossible to reach destinations on the most direct way or even on the safest and most pleasant routes. Major roadways should have counterflow bike lanes to eliminate that problem. Counterflow lanes are also safer in many ways than travel with the flow.

Postscript:
I am an experienced bicyclist and got my training by biking to school for over 10 years in any

low volume Lexington Street is also safe
to ride

weather. The route went through the downtown of a smaller city without any bicycle facilities, but back then many students rode their bike to school and bicycles were a common sight on German city streets.

Some of the above problems are easy to solve, some others less so. In recent years several prominent bicycling advocates and experienced bicyclists were killed while bicycling in the Baltimore metro area, due to grave car driver error. This hasn't fully discouraged me yet from riding my bike, but makes me nervous and quite aware of the dozens of close calls I have already experienced, some due to my own inattentiveness, most, though, because drivers around me do the wildest things, especially professional drivers such as taxi drivers and bus operators. The problem of pedestrian and bicycle safety in US cities cannot be solved by not walking or biking anymore. To the contrary, only when even more people do this on a regular basis will they be able to put themselves into the shoes of those weaker partners in urban mobility and react to them in the way it needs to be, with respect and caution and the courtesy we should show towards anybody who is more fragile, vulnerable and weaker. It is simply a matter of civility. But even with civility, people on

Back on Eutaw, this car is likely to turn right from the left
lane cutting the bicyclist off
(photo: Philipsen)

bicycles need some designated signals, marked crossings, lanes or wait boxes at signals to make it less hazardous to do what is such an eminently reasonable thing to do, use a bicycle for short trips.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA
edited by Ben Groff

Related articles on this blog:
21 Ways to Improve Pedestrian Safety
Are two-way Streets really always better?
The Machine that Transformed Everything
Complete Streets

External Links:
Baltimore Bicycle Masterplan

the amount of space between parked car and moving traffic
left for the bicyclist is minimal.
(photo: Philipsen)