September 6, 2008
Watchdog
Catching bus is like navigating a minefield
This O'Donnell Street bus stop is behind a guard rail and adjacent to a highway ramp. (Sun photo by Jeffrey Bill / September 24, 2007)
THE PROBLEM // Commuters using a Maryland Transit Administration bus in Southeast Baltimore have to climb over a guardrail to reach their ride.
THE BACKSTORY // Using public transportation takes patience, but people who want to take the bus from Ponca and O'Donnell streets, near a Royal Farms store, have to put up with far more than delays and missing schedules. They have to fight an urban battlefield.
The stop on eastbound O'Donnell Street is located just past the entrance ramp to Interstate 895 South. To get there, one must cross four busy lanes of O'Donnell Street and in some cases the highway on-ramp, where there is no crosswalk. The median is a foot-wide raised slab of concrete that resembles a balance beam.
Commuters who safely make it across find themselves stranded on a worn patch of grass strewn with litter and sandwiched between O'Donnell Street and the ramp. The stop is marked by a small sign behind a guardrail, presumably to protect people from speeding cars. When the bus comes, riders must either climb over the rail or walk around it.
Related links
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Badly placed bus stop
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Watchdog is a weekly feature about problems in area neighborhoods -- potholes, broken traffic signals, incorrect signs -- that aren't being fixed in a timely manner. Click the map for other installments from this year and a map of previous problems.
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"I have called the MTA and I stopped at the State Fair booth to report the problem," writes commuter Cindy Ordes. "Nothing has been done to make it safer and pedestrian-friendly."
Rich Solli, a spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration, said transit officials agree that the stop "appears to be in less than a great spot. ... We don't want anybody to get hurt. We'll find an alternative location that is a better fit."
WHO CAN FIX THIS // The MTA's Charles Grant, who is in charge of bus stops, at 410-454-7120.
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