We, residents of W. Lafayette Avenue and adjacent blocks in Bolton Hill, request that appropriate parties – Bolton Hill Community Association, Baltimore Department of Transportation, and Councilmember Eric Costello --  investigate strategies to calm traffic and reduce unsafe driving practices around the Lafayette Avenue corridor.

Background: W. Lafayette is one of two streets that allows through-traffic all the way across Bolton Hill, from Eutaw Place to Mount Royal Avenue. Many cars, some using GPS directional tools like Waze, cut through Bolton Hill from Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. to I-83 (and vice versa). Bollards added at W. Lanvale and Mount Royal Ave. were intended to reduce this cut-through traffic, though we suspect some of that traffic now uses Lafayette and McMechen instead of Lanvale. While we applaud recent traffic calming installations along McMechen (speed humps) and the bottom of John Street at Howard, we fear these may have side effects of inducing more cut-through traffic to Lafayette.

We witness and hear cars speeding across Lafayette frequently, often not fully stopping at stop signs. This corridor includes a college dormitory, an elementary school and a nursery school each within one block, two churches, and many pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. Reports from Baltimore and around the country suggest that there has been more widespread reckless driving during the pandemic, with pedestrian and cyclist injuries increasing despite fewer cars being on the road.

Solutions: There are many traffic calming tools in the transportation planner’s arsenal. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) demonstrates many of them, with graphics and descriptions, here: https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/street-design-elements/

We request that neighborhood and city officials consider some of these interventions to improve the safety of neighborhood residents.