Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will sign two bills today that will help make Baltimore even more bike friendly.
One bill mandates that storm drain grates that run parallel to traffic be replaced with bicycle-safe grates that run perpendicular to the roadway and won't catch a bicycle's front wheel.
The other measure imposes a $75 fine for motorists that park in a bicycle lane. The website MyBikeLane.com, in which users document bike lane infractions worldwide, shows that St. Paul Street near Penn Station is Baltimore's trouble spot.
Both bills are strides in the right direction. The next step, it would seem, would be to improve the conditions of some of the existing bike lanes. Baltimore has 58 miles of bike lanes and most are in great shape. But, as anyone who drives in Baltimore knows, some streets are in need of major repair. Too often, the bike lanes mirror the road conditions, yet few commuter bikes have the suspension to absorb the bumps and potholes. Roland Avenue (pictured), between Cold Spring and Northern Parkway is a primary corridor for many cyclists heading into and out of the city. It is also has one of the worst surfaces for biking on anything other than a mountain bike.
There are more out there. What is the worst stretch of your bike lane? And please, if you have a favorite bike lane, let me know about that one also.