Bikemore endorses Zeke Cohen for City Council President, Bill Henry for Comptroller, and in select City Council races

Bikemore is launching our #IBikeIVote2024 campaign with our endorsement of Zeke Cohen for City Council President, as well as endorsements for Comptroller and in select City Council races.

Over the past four years, legislation critical to Baltimore’s ability to compete with peer cities and deliver access to opportunity for its residents has languished in City Council, failing to be heard while time has instead been spent on political grandstanding.

Addressing Baltimore’s transportation failures can not be placed in a queue behind other challenges, but must be seen as a solution to addressing them. Zeke Cohen gets this, and we are confident he will not only allow, but champion an evidence-based legislative agenda.

Bikemore is also endorsing the following candidates:

Bill Henry, Comptroller
Ryan Dorsey, 3rd District
Paris Gray, 8th District
John Bullock, 9th District
Zac Blanchard, 11th District

Bikemore will make a decision on mayoral endorsement after our Mayoral Transportation Forum on Thursday, April 11th.

Read the full questionnaires from candidates for Council President and City Council by clicking below.

Action Alert: City Council Bike Lane Hearing Scheduled for March 7th

On January 22nd, City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton announced yet another hearing on bike infrastructure, requested by the Fox45/Sinclair backed Anti-Complete Streets group.

The hearing has been scheduled for 4:00pm on Thursday, March 7th in council chambers. The public can attend in-person or virtually at this link.

The individuals calling for these hearings have been very clear: they want a moratorium on new bike lanes, removal of existing bike lanes, and repeal of Baltimore City’s Complete Streets ordinance.

Please send an email to City Council serving as written testimony for this hearing. Customize it with your own story of why increased investment in safer bike infrastructure is important to you as a resident and taxpayer.

Another Council Hearing Against Complete Streets and Bike Lanes

On Monday, January 22nd, City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton is announcing yet another hearing requested by the Fox45/Sinclair backed Anti-Complete Streets group, who are using this momentum to try and repeal Complete Streets, halt bike infrastructure construction, and rip out existing bike infrastructure.

Send an email to City Council now telling them enough is enough. Please customize it with your own story of why continued investment in Complete Streets and all-ages bike infrastructure is important to you.

Full Details

Across the nation and in Maryland, fatal crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists are on the rise. Here in Baltimore, they're dropping, evidence Baltimore's Complete Streets ordinance and the investments being made in traffic calming our high-injury network are working.

Baltimore is also in the top 10 cities for growth in bicycling since 2019—seeing a 56.4% growth in ridership—thanks to our city's investment in all-ages bicycle infrastructure. 

These statistics are gaining national attention, with the federal government recently awarding the city tens of millions of grant dollars to double down on these investments, increasing access to opportunity and reducing injury and death.

Despite these obvious successes, our City Council leadership continues to cave to a small group of Fox45/Sinclair Media backed individuals, hosting investigatory hearings on Complete Streets and Bike Lanes.

The opponents calling for these hearings have stated they want bike lanes and bus lanes removed citywide. They want Complete Streets repealed. 

City Council Vice President Sharon Green Middleton is introducing yet another hearing at tonight's council meeting. 

We're asking you to send an email saying you're tired of this nonsense, and that you want your elected officials to spend time and resources on implementing proven Complete Streets and bike infrastructure treatments, not opposing them. 

Please customize the email. Tell them why this is important to you.

Proposed Sharp Street Bikeway Violates BCDOT's Own Guidance

Take action today by sending an email about this unacceptable design. Scroll down to read the full details.

Separated bike lane extension under the Convention Center

On June 8th, Baltimore City Department of Transportation presented plans for the Sharp Street Bikeway Rapid Enhancement Plan. Construction is funded through a Maryland Bikeways grant awarded in FY2022.

The project makes a connection from the end of the Maryland/Cathedral cycletrack through the Convention Center to Conway Street with a separated bike lane. This is a major improvement over current conditions, and should be celebrated.

After that, it becomes sharrows—just painted bike symbols—in the road.

Baltimore City Bicycle Facility Selection Criteria Table

Baltimore City has not followed its own codified guidance on the corridor, which can be seen on page 54 of the Baltimore Complete Streets Manual.

Proposed “sharrows” as the only treatment on Sharp Street south of Conway

The proposed design is sharrows with a yellow centerline. Baltimore City Complete Streets guidance only permits bicycle boulevards on two-way streets without a centerline, and treatments required for bicycle boulevard designs like speed cushions are not proposed for this project.

At minimum, traffic calming curb extensions and speed cushions must be installed along with bicycle wayfinding sharrows for this design to comply with city ordinance. Speed cushions can be designed to allow bike, truck, and emergency vehicle traffic to navigate normally while slowing down personal automobiles, as the latter have a narrower track width.

A fire engine demonstrating speed cushion spacing that allows trucks and bikes to avoid the cushions while slowing cars, as they have a narrower width tire-to-tire.

The best and safest option would be replacing parking on the west side of Sharp Street with a separated, two-way bike lane and concrete curb stops.

A separated bikeway would be the safest option for people of all ages and abilities.

Contrary to statements made at the meeting, parking utilization is low on this side of the street, as it fronts the Federal Reserve impacting no residences directly.

This design would realize the adopted Baltimore Green Network Plan goals for the corridor, which calls for it to be a "Community Corridor" with elements such as "bump-outs and traffic calming, improved sidewalks, protected bikeways or multi-user paths, and improved and new trail connections," by directly connecting the Maryland/Cathedral cycletrack to the East Coast Greenway, Baltimore Greenway Trails Network, and Reimagine Middle Branch at Solo Gibbs Park.

"Security Concerns" about having a separated bike lane along a Federal Reserve Branch are preposterous when that same space is currently occupied by car parking. Bikemore surveyed all Federal Reserve headquarters and branches, as well as US Mints, and found that a majority have dedicated bike infrastructure directly adjacent to their properties.

We encourage Baltimore City Department of Transportation to follow its own adopted guidance in designing bicycle infrastructure for all-ages and abilities, and rectify this substandard plan.

Big Jump Extension: Support Alternative #1 with Parklets

The Greater Remington Improvement Association, with a letter of support from Baltimore City Department of Transportation, was awarded a $50,000 Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development in 2022 to create a road diet on 28th Street, expanding The Big Jump to directly connect to the Maryland Avenue cycletrack.

The grant was specifically written for a design like the one shown in the streetmix above, and included provisions to maintain existing community parklets like the one at 28th and Huntingdon, serving Mount Royal Soaps and Café Los Sueños. The grant timeline included an install schedule of March 2022.

Last night, the 1st of March 2023, Baltimore City Department of Transportation held their first public meeting on the project. While they included the above design as one alternative, they also provided a second alternative that would not comply with the awarded community grant. And, in the first alternative, they claimed it was necessary to remove the community parklet to increase level of service for cars. This would also not comply with the awarded community grant, and is completely inconsistent with Complete Streets.

You can see more information on the BCDOT project page here. Public comment is open until March 20, 2023.

Bikemore endorses Alternative #1, with retention of the existing community parklet and no turn lanes. Send an email to BCDOT: