They appeared mysteriously just a few days ago: two large so-far empty flower pots on the curb near the intersection of Laurens Street and Park Avenue, where traffic from the I-83 exit ramp and North Avenue has been a long-running danger and irritation to residents there.
BHCA’s transportation committee has acquired and installed Telraam sensors to monitor traffic electronically from two strategically located buildings on Lauren Street, with additional sitings planned for Lafayette Avenue and near Bolton Hill Nursery and MICA locations, according to committee member Sam Getchell.
In an effort to decrease vehicular accidents and improve safety, automated speed enforcement cameras have been installed along the Jones Falls Expressway / I-83 within city limits. Enforcement locations have been identified along the JFX where high incidents of speeding and vehicular crashes typically occur.
Thanks to BHCA President Lee Tawney’s persistence, City DOT staff recently met with neighbors to talk about moving ahead on our longstanding challenges in the Laurens and Lafayette Street corridors, as well as North Avenue, the Park and North avenues intersection and Mount Royal Avenue.
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.
City council member Eric Costello says that, after years of petitions from Bolton Hill and his office, the city Department of Transportation will take several “traffic-calming” initiatives on West Lafayette Ave. and Laurens St.
The city moved forward in October on its long-term Complete Street program that tries to emphasize safety and alternatives to cars as transportation in the city.
In what optimists might see as a sign of progress, two officials from the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) last month came to Bolton Hill with and at the urging of city council member Eric Costello to investigate complaints about traffic dangers.
Last month, BHCA urged the city’s Department of Transportation to move forward on plans for a bike lane along Eutaw Place, but to take note of concerns of businesses and residents about the continuing need for car parking along the street.
Last month’s Bolton Hill Bulletin detailed separate efforts by residents around W. Lafayette Avenue and Laurens Street, in conjunction with the BHCA Traffic Committee, to persuade the city’s transportation agency to undertake efforts to slow speeding and reckless vehicle traffic.
