OCEAN CITY – The State Highway Administration is proposing a new six-lane Coastal Highway with several options to change the bus/bike lane and add new medians that will deter pedestrians from crossing mid-block.
On Tuesday afternoon, the State Highway Administration (SHA) presented the MD 528, which is Coastal Highway, Community Safety and Enhancement Project.
“We are here today because over the past several years we have been working on a pedestrian safety campaign headed by SHA Assistant District Engineer Dallas Baker … we want to take it one step further and we have been working on what we call a ‘road diet’ for over the past year,” SHA District Engineer Donnie Drewer said.
The design team out of the SHA Office of Highway Design in Baltimore was in attendance to make the presentation.
John Webster of SHA Office of Highway Design presented the purpose of the project is for SHA to partner with the Town of Ocean City and local businesses and residences to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists along Coastal Highway, balance pedestrian needs with vehicular needs, develop aesthetic treatments and strengthen local identity.
The need for the project is due to existing sidewalk widths being insufficient for the pedestrian volumes and to bring sidewalks, entrances, pedestrian ramps and signals up to current ADA standards.
Also, many pedestrians currently cross Coastal Highway at undesirable locations. A Pedestrian Safety Study resulted in 27 percent of pedestrians crossing mid-block. There is a high level of pedestrian-related incidents along this section of the highway. From January 2008 to August 2012, there were 47 pedestrian accidents, one of which was fatal.
Currently Coastal Highway is an eight-lane roadway consisting of three, 11-foot travel lanes and a 14-foot bus/bike lane with a five-foot sidewalk on each side that contain several obstructions such as utility poles, signs, benches, fire hydrants and trash barrels. The median is 14 feet wide consisting of brick pavers and some plantings that do not discourage mid-block crossings. The median allows for a 10-foot left turn lane at intersections.
The project limit is from Route 90 to Convention Center Drive on Coastal Highway, which is approximately 1.4 miles. Within this section, there are 10 signalized intersections with two pedestrian crossing intersections on 49th Street and 54th Street. There are 59 entrances with 38 on the southbound side and 21 on the northbound side.
The road diet proposes Coastal Hwy. be a six-lane roadway consisting of two 11.5-foot travel lanes, a 12-foot outside lane and a five-foot bike lane with 10 -foot sidewalks on each side, and the median remain to 14 feet with a 10-foot left turn lane at intersections.
A couple options were presented in how the outside lane should be designated starting with a bus/right turn lane, which would restrict the outside lane to buses and right turning vehicles as it does today.
The pros to this option are it will minimize delays to the bus schedule, reduces the traffic volume adjacent to the bike lane and minimizes through traffic stopped behind buses at bus stops.
The cons to this option are it excludes through traffic reducing capacity of the roadway, and there are potential conflicts between buses and bikes at bus stops.
Option two would make the outside lane a through/right turn lane that would open the outside lane to through traffic.
The pro to this option is there would be no enforcement needed, while the cons are buses may be delayed due to traffic congestion, there would be more traffic adjacent to the bike lane, and a potential conflict between buses and bikes at bus stops. As well as, there could be an increased risk of accidents as buses will be stopping in a through lane.
The presentation asked if the bike lane should be placed against the curb or in a pocket lane between the outside lane and travel lanes.
“Some feel with the younger bike riders they prefer to have them toward the outside and away from the heavy traffic,” Webster said. “Whereas typically SHA uses more of a pocket lane because experienced riders like to go faster and not be interrupted with the right turn of traffic.”
The presentation also asked how the buses should approach the bus stops with a dedicated bus lane against the curb. Options include a bike table, which is a peninsula that provides bus riders to walk across the bike lane to meet the bus in the bus lane, a pocket lane where bikes would not interact with the bus lane or have the bus pull through the bike lane.
Next the presentation explored different options in how to deter pedestrians from crossing the median mid-block.
The first concept was to install a decorative fence down the median that could be combined with plantings to soften the look as done in Atlantic City, N.J. or with special lighting be more visible at night.
The pros to decorative fencing is it is the most effective method to discourage pedestrians from crossing the median, but the con is if a pedestrian does choose to cross at mid-block they become trapped, as well as it creates a “caged effect” for motorists.
The next option is to have raised planters in the median such as along Route 40 in Harford County. Raised planters can also be decorative and create a boulevard effect while creating additional stormwater management credits but would have to be fairly tall to prevent pedestrians from crossing that would obstruct the view of the other side of the highway.
Another median treatment could be a landscaped swale that would also increase stormwater management credits as well as help with drainage along the highway. However, existing landscape swales have not discouraged pedestrians from mid-block crossings further south on the highway.
The final option would be dense plantings in the medians. Currently, dense planting in the median exists near 25th Street but pedestrians have created a “ghost path” for crossing.
The presentation went on to review existing emergency access points in the median and asked if those should be retained or relocated. Also, it reviewed different stormwater management options such as using porous pavement for the sidewalks. Design challenges when it comes to the storm drain system and existing utilities were also discussed.
Webster acknowledged what is being proposed is a large project and suggested the town create a task force to provide feedback.
The next steps are a public meeting will take place in January or February for feedback. The preliminary design is estimated to be completed by February and the design team would return to the Mayor and City Council by spring to present the design.
The project schedule has the final design being completed by December of 2015 with construction starting in fall of 2016. SHA is estimating it would take two seasons to complete construction. However, currently the project is only funded for design only.
According to Webster, the total budget for the project would come to about $15 million to $25 million depending on what options are chosen.
As far as for preliminary thoughts, Mayor Rick Meehan asserted the median needs to be transparent.
“People are here on vacation, not on I-95 and they need to be able to see through to what is on the other side of the road. Otherwise, you will have a concern from the local businesses,” the mayor said. “You have done a lot of work and the appropriate thing to do is to forward this to the appropriate committees, and also go to the public because you don’t want to get too far with too much when the dollars are so important. There are a lot of expenditures that can be made on that highway to improve it. Let’s make sure to look to those that are feasible and possible to have a short range and long range effect.”
Councilman Dennis Dare, a former city manager, has followed the concept of a road diet for the past several years and was impressed with both the bike table and median swale.
“A pocket bike lane, I don’t know how well that would work in Ocean City. There is an ongoing problem we have now with the buses going over to the curb and the bikes being blocked … so the bike table is appealing,” Dare said. “The median swale would address storm drainage. When SHA designed the original project, the road is elevated and not crowned so everything flows towards the bay. Effectively the median becomes a dam because draining Ocean City is like trying to drain a pool table. There are eight pockets but it is not downhill to any of them.”
Dare furthered median lighting with any option is important.
Dare made a motion to forward the proposed project and all its options to the newly formed Transportation Committee to discuss and provide feedback. The council voted unanimously to approve