Bicycling can be a safe, healthy, and affordable way to travel to school or work. More people are choosing to bike to the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, perhaps a hundred or more each day, and the University is supporting them in many ways (expanded bike parking, hiring crossing guards, a visible traffic safety campaign, etc.). Now we need the City of Baltimore to do their part and paint bike lanes on streets leading to Johns Hopkins Medical Campus to better protect students, faculty and staff.

Madison and Monument Streets are popular bike routes to reach Johns Hopkins Medical Campus.  From 2002 to 2011, there were 30 reported bicycle crashes on Madison and Monument Streets between the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus and downtown; some crashes involved injuries, while countless other crashes and near misses go unreported. A 2012 study by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health researchers found that streets in Baltimore with bike lanes are safer for bicyclists than streets without bike lanes (Love et al. 2012 Accident Analysis and Prevention (48):451-6).

Bike lanes are planned for Madison and Monument St (2012 Baltimore City Bike Master Plan), however, these projects could take years to begin. We need action today to support the growing number of people who bike to Johns Hopkins Medical Campus. Road paint is cheap, lives are valuable.