Fells Point guessing game as to what traffic fixes the city will do
Looking at the big picture to unsnarl traffic conflicts along Chester Street.
Above: A car passes through the troublesome traffic light at Chester and Bank, with Holy Rosary Church on the right.
A year ago, The Brew reported on Fells Point’s campaign to get the city Transportation Department to remove its newly installed pedestrian push buttons and restore regular “Walk” phases at traffic signals along Eastern Ave. and Fleet St.
The city relented on some of them, but not at the intersection of Chester and Eastern.
Now the Fells Prospect Community Association is complaining about speeding vehicles plowing into parked cars on Chester just to the north. This time, they’ve asked for speed humps, which the transportation department rejected.
City Councilman James B. Kraft is also weighing in. He has asked for two-way flow on parallel Washington and Wolfe streets in order to spread the traffic out and divert some of it away from Chester St.
Again, no action yet from the city.
The matter takes on added importance when you consider that Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and Holy Rosary Church are located on Chester between Eastern and Bank. The safety of children and parishioners are at stake, too.
Solving Only Some Problems
As the next step in this volley of “propose and dispose,” the community is considering whether to request the city to replace the traffic signal at Chester and Bank streets with stop signs. Will this proposal finally hit the bulls-eye?
If the city goes “by the book” (the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices), the answer is “yes.” Traffic volumes through the intersection of Chester and Bank are far too low to satisfy the standard warrants for a traffic signal, and have probably always been too low.
The rationale is that when signals are installed at intersections where traffic is too low to warrant them, they breed disrespect by motorists and pedestrians alike, resulting in rampant light running, speeding to “make the light” and jaywalking.
Unneeded traffic signals also increase the city’s electricity and maintenance bills. The city has been slow to replace its old traffic signals with newer energy efficient LED models.
But will Stop signs at this intersection really solve the community’s traffic complaints?
The fundamental problem on Chester St. is that it is a quiet, predominantly residential street that feeds directly into the western end of congested, heavily used Boston St. This means a high proportion of turning traffic at every intersection, which means lots of conflicts.
When Chester was made one-way north of Eastern several years ago to accommodate angle parking, this added to the problem. A block south on Chester, the end of Boston St. is poorly designed, requiring traffic turning left into Fleet St. to make an awkward “S” curve which forces them to encroach into both lanes.
Making Chester St. one-way northbound on both sides of Eastern Ave. (shown here) would allow simpler turning movements and less conflict. (Photo by Mark Reutter)
Seeing the Big Picture
So dealing with all these traffic problems one-at-a-time is not the best approach, as it seldom is. The city’s traffic professionals need to step back and look at the big picture. They should then realize that all the problems can be addressed together where they can’t be addressed separately.
The key is to reverse Chester St. to make it one-way northbound from Fleet/Boston to Bank, instead of southbound in the one block between Eastern and Bank.
This will allow simpler and fewer turning movements at the problem intersections.
Specifically:
• The two approach lanes at the end of Boston St. can be spread to keep them separate, so that left turns will no longer be “S” turns.
• The heavy northbound to westbound left turns at both Fleet and Eastern will no longer have conflicts with opposing through traffic.
• Since all northbound Chester traffic will no longer have to turn at Eastern, and left-turns would have their own lane, the regular pedestrian “Walk” phase across Eastern can be restored.
• Replacing the signal at Chester/Bank with all-way Stop signs will make even more sense, to control the transition from one-way northbound to southbound flow.
• Converting Washington St. to two-way south of Pratt St. will make even more sense, to provide an alternative southbound route to Chester St.
An added bonus of this plan: No need for those cumbersome speed humps.
– Gerald Neily was transportation planner for the Baltimore City Department of Planning from 1977 to 1996.