Eight and a half seconds. At one of downtown Baltimore’s busiest intersections, that’s how much time pedestrians get to cross President Street’s eight lanes of traffic before cars on eastbound Pratt Street get a green light to turn left.
Most of the cars tend not to wait — the drivers typically expect those on foot to do that, despite laws that say pedestrians have the right of way in an intersection when the white “walk” signal is counting down.
Horns honk. Road rage goes from 0 to 60 faster than a Tesla. Every day, pedestrians must scamper across President Street or get caught in the median and have to wait an extra light cycle.
It happened to Kenya Shabazz, 21, of Northwest Baltimore on a recent summer afternoon — she and a friend had to wait for a second light cycle to get from the median to the safety of the sidewalk. She’d like to see more signs put up that remind drivers to watch for pedestrians and yield to them.
Is this intersection the worst of it, or are there others across Baltimore that feel even more dicey? she was asked.
“You could really say anywhere,” Shabazz replied.
Navigating Baltimore’s roads can get hairy — and quick. Cars and trucks run red lights. Pedestrians sometimes cross when they shouldn’t. But even following the rules at some intersections can put people in harm’s way. If there’s a crash, no matter who is at fault, pedestrians tend to lose.
State Del. Robbyn Lewis, who represents Baltimore City, takes pedestrian issues seriously. When she led a group of colleagues on a Baltimore transit tour last year, she made sure to give them a taste of what it’s like to walk around downtown. That included crossing the street at Pratt and President.
“It was miserable,” said Lewis, who encountered broken glass and the debris from a recent car wreck. “I have been more afraid walking the streets of Baltimore than I was walking busy streets in developing countries.”
And it’s not just around the Inner Harbor — the problem is typically worse in communities of color outside the city center, she said.
Baltimore’s transportation department is in the midst of a three-year project to retime most of the city’s traffic lights. Adjusting pedestrian crossing timing is also a part of that; traffic engineers are evaluating whether certain intersections need a longer pedestrian lead interval — the amount of time people have to begin crossing a road before a traffic signal for vehicles turns green.
Changes are coming for the downtown business district — including for Pratt and President Streets — within the next six weeks, a spokesperson for the city’s transportation department told The Baltimore Banner in response to questions about the intersection.
The interval is just 8½ seconds to cross President Street’s eight lanes of traffic and a wide median before cars start turning onto the street, which connects downtown with the Jones Falls Expressway, Interstate 83.
At another busy downtown intersection, Light and Lombard Streets, there’s half as much roadway to cross but double the amount of time. But that interval isn’t intended to allow pedestrians to completely cross the street before motorists from westbound Lombard Street get a green light to turn left, according to the transportation department — it’s meant to “establish their presence before motorists start turning, which increases the percentage of motorists who yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and can reduce conflicts,” a DOT spokesperson said. Drivers don’t always care, though.
“It’s a crapshoot,” said George Hearn, a Roland Park resident who crosses Light Street daily as part of his e-bike commute downtown. The traffic signal for the three left-turn lanes on Lombard used to hang overhead next to the main intersection signals, he said, but were recently moved to a lower spot. He said crossing Light Street has gotten harder since.
When motorists in the far-right lanes on Lombard get a green light, those in the left-turn lanes initially see red arrows telling them to stay put so that pedestrians can start crossing Light. Cars creep up. Horns start. One lane goes, another doesn’t. The driver of a pickup truck with the City of Baltimore logo emblazoned on the side honks at the driver in front of him; he lifts his arms up as if to say, “What gives?”
It’s a red light — that’s what gives. James Smith sees it happen everyday — he’s a security guard for one of the buildings at that corner. He’s seen city workers and police do it, too.
“It’s monkey see, monkey do,” Smith said — drivers see others make the left turn despite the red turn signal and decide to go themselves. “People will curse you out, people will go around this bend and give you a stare of death, some people make the threat to get out of their vehicle … and I’ll be here to calmly say, ‘It’s not your light, stop beeping your horn.’”
“Usually the second the light turns green, they’re honking at you as a pedestrian … it just doesn’t feel really safe,” said John Huebler, who gets off the bus every day on Lombard Street and crosses Light Street. He’s seen cars almost hit pedestrians there. He watches drivers run red lights throughout the city all the time.
“I just don’t understand why people are so impatient that they’d risk people like that,” Huebler said.
Sometimes, though, it’s the pedestrians who don’t follow the rules and take the risks. It’s not uncommon around Baltimore to see people enter the roadway even when oncoming traffic has a green light. Shabazz, who recently took her chances crossing President Street, said defensive driving is critical.
“It may not even be on purpose,” she said of drivers who get into near conflicts with pedestrians. “There are so many things to stay vigilant for.”
Paul Sturm, chair of the Downtown Residents Advocacy Network, remembers learning all about defensive driving back in his driver’s education course, but he said 17 years of living in Baltimore has taught him defensive walking. Even at intersections where he has the walk signal, Sturm said, he’s always aware of where drivers are and anticipating what they might do. He doesn’t trust them.
“The 40,000 of us that live downtown, just the basic act of crossing the street … we are actually risking our lives or risking serious injury because of how drivers are emboldened to drive,” Sturm said.
It speaks to a culture in Baltimore of motorists feeling empowered to drive as if they don’t share the road with pedestrians, Sturm said. Even when the walk signal comes on, Sturm waits a few extra seconds in case a driver decides to run a red light.
Walking downtown could feel different under one developer’s plans.
Developer David Bramble’s proposal to reimagine Harborplace would reduce the number of lanes on Pratt Street, putting a greater emphasis on transit and foot traffic. Pratt sometimes has the feel of an expressway now, with some 35,540 vehicles using a downtown section on an average workday in 2022.
It fits in with Mayor Brandon Scott’s 10-year “Downtown Rise” plan, which refers to “Baltimore’s Mobility Crisis” quite plainly: “Downtown was built for commuters, not for pedestrians.”
Scott wants to change that.
Sturm thinks that rhetoric needs more traffic enforcement to accompany it — police need to do more to enforce traffic laws, he said, because a culture change will only happen when people know there are real consequences.
Traffic enforcement in Baltimore plummeted at the start of the pandemic, part of a trend that was also seen in other cities, according to The New York Times. Roadway deaths spiked in Maryland in the same timespan.
Del. Lewis said there’s a role for enforcement, but added the city needs a portfolio of solutions. While changing the culture is important, she thinks road design is more effective. Things like narrower driving lanes, wider sidewalks, more trees — elements of the Complete Streets framework — can help “make it easier to do the right thing and recreate the norm,” she said.
Said Lewis, “Nobody wakes up wanting to hurt their neighbor, so we can make it easier to not hurt their neighbor.”
