Yea Baltimore City!

I’ve lived in Baltimore City for about 5 years now. Usually I find myself disagreeing with the decisions being made by the mayor, city council, or other city government representatives. Some examples are the city’s decision to build a Red Line train down the middle of Boston St. in Canton and the mayor’s current proposal to tax soda purchases. I’m happy to report that Baltimore City has done something right, that will save lives and improve the safety of those in my neighborhood. And all this without any financial benefit to the city. They made the intersection outside of my house into a four way stop. This might sound like no big deal, but my neighbors have been trying to get these stop signs put up for years.

The street I live on is a fairly main street. There is a traffic light one block down and another light two blocks up. But this doesn’t stop trucks and cars from coming flying down the street. This makes it very difficult to cross the street. At this intersection there had been only a two-way stop for those driving on the side street and either trying to cross or turn onto my street. It’s hard to navigate across the street due to the speed of vehicles traveling down it. Adding to this difficulty is the fact that the street parking here is not parallel. Instead it is slanted/diagonal parking. This makes it even harder to drive across my street since it’s hard to see around the parked cars to see any oncoming traffic. I’d constantly hear horns honking and tires screeching as accidents were narrowly avoided at the intersection. Several accidents have occurred in the two years that I’ve lived here. One that happened about a year ago involved an SUV that completely flipped over. My car was involved in an accident a few months ago when two cars collided in the intersection; one car spun around and hit my parked car.

I’ve already noticed such a difference since the intersection was made into a four way stop just three days ago. Cars are travelling at reasonable speeds. It’s much easier to cross or turn onto my street from the side street. Also, I’ve hardly heard any horns honking or tires screeching. Thank you Baltimore City for listening to your residents and making some positive change.