Crashes have killed nearly 500 people in Baltimore City over the past decade, and safety advocates say leaders have left tools on the table.
One morning last September, Erin Nutsugah turned onto Harford Road and got stuck in a backup on the bridge over Herring Run. Three years earlier, Baltimore City had transformed the road’s design after rebuilding the bridge: two travel lanes instead of four, a northbound pedestrian/bicycle lane separated by plastic bollards and rubber curbs, and a southbound bike lane protected by a bus lane. The idea was to make the road safer for all users, even if a little slower for drivers.
As Nutsugah sat in traffic, a sedan caught her eye. “He did what people do all the time,” says Nutsugah, 36. “He peeled out of the lane and went flying down the bus lane.”
Annoyed, she rolled her eyes. After a couple light cycles, she saw the sedan at the end of the bridge, stopped with its door open. She suspected a fender bender…