Streetscape and Pedestrian Planning

West North Avenue Streetscape Conceptual Master Plan

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One of many community workshops. Photos by Matt Roth.

One of many community workshops. Photos by Matt Roth.

A large-scale effort to reimagine a neglected, high-traffic corridor into a safe, inviting pedestrian streetscape.

Upon invitation from the 7th Baltimore City Council District, Reservoir Hill Improvement Council, Druid Heights CDC, and Coppin Heights CDC, the Neighborhood Design Center facilitated an 18-month streetscape visioning process in 2014 and 2015 with dozens of volunteer and staff designers, community core stakeholders, and hundreds of resident stakeholders.

3 Miles in the Heart of Baltimore City

The resultant conceptual master plan addresses three miles of West North Avenue from Howard Street in the center of Baltimore to Hilton Parkway on the far west side.

The process was in coordination with the Baltimore City Department of Transportation and other city agencies. It was the subject of a 2015 Baltimore City Health Department health impact assessment.

Community Goals

INCREASE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY & ACCESSIBILITY

The most frequently mentioned goal was increasing pedestrian safety and pedestrian accessibility along West North Avenue.

CREATE AND MAINTAIN A CLEAN, ATTRACTIVE STREETSCAPE

Many aligned priorities expressed by community members can be summarized as a desire for a clean, beautiful streetscape.

CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT RIPE FOR DEVELOPMENT

The other priorities contribute to this overarching desire to increase public and private development along West North Avenue.

RESPECT AND CELEBRATE THE IDENTITIES OF NORTH AVENUE

Development should not come at the expense of the identities of the surrounding communities, and celebrating those identities should help promote development by establishing West North Avenue as a unique opportunity for investment.

Some of the Highest Priorities

Maintain/upgrade all sidewalks to ADA standards for accessibility, including level surfaces and ramps at intersections
Conduct a traffic study to determine feasibility of signaling proposals
Repaint all crosswalks to a standard of “high visibility”
Install pedestrian timers at every stoplight
Apply “pedestrian lead” programming at intersections, where pedestrians get the walk signal seconds before the parallel green light for vehicles, to enable pedestrians to begin crossing before cars start right or left turns
Install curb extensions at every intersection to increase pedestrian visibility, shorten crossing distances, and visually narrow the roadway
Add consistent street trees and pedestrian-scale lighting to every block
Add more waste cans, with a waste-removal strategy that accommodates the actual disposal rate of trash in the waste cans
Every bus stop should have at least a bench and a waste can

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