A temporary bike and pedestrian path is changing the street design game in Baltimore.
"Last August, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT), working with a local bike advocacy group called Bikemore and a national group called PeopleForBikes, installed a rather unusual mobility path using only water-filled traffic barriers," according to an article by Alex Holt.
The Big Jump, as the multi-modal trail is called, is located along a 1.4-mile stretch of Druid Park Lake Drive, 28th Street, and Sisson Street in North Baltimore. The trail also has proven "incredibly popular," and could provide a model for street design in the future, according to Holt.
The article provides additional historical context for the trail's popularity (mostly centering on the construction of the Druid Hill Expressway, which cut working class neighborhoods from Druid Hill Park) and also details the process that produced the popular final product. Next steps for the Big Jump include converting the trail to more permanent forms of infrastructure and landscaping.
Read the full story: Baltimore’s “Big Jump” path aims to bridge highways and historic wrongs
Protected Bike Lanes, Vehicle Lane Reductions Cause Stir in Baltimore
Residents and business operators say they weren’t warned about a road diet planned for a major thoroughfare in Baltimore. Planners and advocates say the changes have been a long time coming.
Baltimore Could Reallocate Police Funding to Public Transit
Baltimore is taking steps to divest from policing and makes decisions about where to invest $22 million in reallocated funds. One proposal: use the money to support public transit.
Bikeshare Launches in Baltimore
It took six years and two returns from the dead, but Baltimore now has its own bike share system.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority