Months after hearing testimony from dozens of city residents and stakeholders on a plan to overhaul Baltimore’s transportation-design framework, the City Council is set to reconsider the bill with some amendments tonight.
The measure, sponsored by Councilman Ryan Dorsey (D-3rd District) would require the city to adhere to Complete Streets guidelines catering to pedestrians, cyclists and public transit, rather than primarily cars, and invest in roads and transit infrastructure in neighborhoods that need those improvements the most. It would also set new transparency requirements for the Department of Transportation, essentially making it clearer how the agency decides to undertake projects in the first place, and require DOT to craft its own road-design manual with input from communities.
“The goal is to ensure that we have equitable access for all users in all places,” Dorsey said on a phone call Monday morning. “That’s gonna require prioritization on the basis of need. Right now, there’s no transparency about how need is defined. You could have two roads in similarly bad condition, and there’s no clear understanding of why one gets chosen for resurfacing and the other doesn’t.”
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