
When resident Sebastian Ruhs was taking his two-year-old son by bike to Bolton Hill Nursery School one morning last month, a speeding driver nearly hit them at the intersection of W. Lafayette and Park Aves. This same intersection has been the site of numerous incidents—including one four years ago in which Ruhs was actually hit by a driver who did not stop at the stop sign—as well as a MICA student hit by a car, and another resident nearly hit while walking her dogs.
Lafayette is one of two streets for which Bolton Hill residents have spent years doggedly requesting traffic calming from Baltimore’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to little effect. (Residents of Laurens St. near Sumpter Park have also banded together to request relief from the city; the Lafayette and Laurens camps have worked together.) Both Lafayette and Laurens – as well as Park – see an extra volume of cars, in many cases speeding and ignoring stop signs, cutting through the neighborhood between Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and Howard St., and the expressway exit ramp at Mt. Royal Ave.
After hundreds of petition signatures, scores of 311 requests, dozens of emails to Councilmembers Eric Costello and James Torrence, plus a survey of residents’ preferred methods of traffic calming conducted by BHCA at the request of DOT and a site visit by an agency engineer earlier this year, DOT finally announced a plan.
It was minimal: to paint parking lines on Laurens on both streets and install 2 flex posts at Linden and Laurens. This was a far cry from the speed humps (like those on McMechen), curb extensions, raised intersections and more effective interventions favored by residents. Moreover, for reasons it did not explain, DOT stopped its minimal parking line treatment at Bolton St. – a block west of the intersection where Ruhs and his toddler were almost hit. DOT has not explained why it omitted the Bolton-to-Mt. Royal section of W. Lafayette, despite this being the site of numerous crashes and near-hits.
BHCA’s Transportation Committee, alongside citizens on Lafayette and Laurens, have tried to work with DOT – to minimal avail. Councilmember Costello expressed frustration with DOT’s too-limited approach earlier this year. This recent near-tragedy has highlighted the cost of DOT’s lack of action, accountability or communication of its process.
After the Ruhs incident, BHCA President Lee Tawney contacted the City and, even then, had to explain to DOT that this was more than a 311-level incident. After several weeks, DOT is finally proposing a meeting to hear more. But it shouldn’t have come to this.
The time is overdue for DOT and its director, Corren Johnson, to provide timely answers and concrete action. Sooner or later, a “near tragedy” is going to be a real tragedy, and fault will lie squarely with the lack of accountability and competence of DOT and the Scott Administration.
–Amy Sheridan leads, and Drew Dupuy serves on BHCA’s Transportation Committee