39th Street Traffic Calming

2024 Update

39th Street Calming Project (hopefully Spring 2024) A thousand neighbors cross the 100 block of 39th Street each day. Traffic needs to slow down.  TCNA approved a calming project 9 years ago.  The project still isn’t done.   The project spearhead by the Broadview Apartment. Phase 1 and Phase 2 have been finished and completely paid for by the Broadview. TNCA volunteers helped with the plantings on the median strip. Phase 3 planning was funded mostly by the Broadview, and TCNA donated $1600. The final phase of the project has been planned and is close to being done but a couple of obstacles remain. The Broadview needs the Developers’ Agreement #1820 to be approved by Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT). That approval still has not happened. Funding for this phase 3 will cost $87,000. $50,000 of funding for the project has been committed by the Broadview, Johns Hopkins University, Hopkins House, and the Woodcliff Manor. In 2022 state delegates Maggie McIntosh, Regina Boyce, and Elizabeth Embry earmarked $40,000 from State Capital Funds to go toward this project. In 2023, the Mayor and BCDOT decided to use the money for projects that were promised in 2018 and never done. So Phase 3 of the calming project currently has a shortfall of $37,000, (Phase 3 cost: $87,000 – $50,000 raised= $37,000 shortfall). TCNA has committed to help with the plantings in the 48 large planters and assist with the painting of the bump outs. The Broadview is committed to move forward as soon as the Developer’s Agreement is approved. Your help may be needed to make phone calls and emails to the Mayor to make this project happen. TNCA will keep you updated on the progress. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE 39th STREET

2023 Update

Speed humps will slow traffic along 39th Street, and three new crosswalks will connect the Broadview to Hopkins House and connect Cypriana to the parking lot across 39th Street. The Broadview Apartments has been spearheading this project since 2015 and financing the majority of the project. TCNA, the Hopkins House, Johns Hopkins University, and Baltimore City are also contributing financially to calm the traffic on 39th Street.

Thanks to our retired Delegate Maggie McIntosh and Delegates Regina Boyce and Elizabeth Embry for securing $40,000 in state funding to close the funding gap for the 39th Street Calming Project. Also special thanks to Councilwoman Odette Ramos for helping us get this project over the final few hurdles to get City approvals so construction can begin.

2022: Latest Traffic Calming Plan

The plans call for a four-phase project to incrementally improve safety and extend the high-quality landscaping on this stretch of roadway. There will be three new pairs of raised crosswalks, ADA-compliant ramps and sidewalks, landscaped curb bump outs to reduce crossing distances and slow traffic, and new delivery zones so that delivery trucks can safely park along the curb on both sides of 39th Street. Next step: An MOU for maintenance of landscaping and funding of various elements of the project is being negotiated by various stakeholders along 39th Street.

November 2021

39^th Street Improvements Progressing

In the coming years, it will be safer and more pleasant to walk along and across 39th Street in Tuscany-Canterbury. The Broadview Apartments has been working with The Traffic Group, a local engineering and design firm, to draw up plans for additional improvements to 39th Street that would slow traffic, add more visible and protected crosswalks at three mid-block locations, and extend the high-quality median and curbside landscaping along 39th Street between University Parkway and Canterbury Road. Thanks to generous donations from neighborhood residents, TCNA was able to cover its share of the costs of the design work ($1,600) with minimal impact on the TCNA operating budget.

TCNA has had several opportunities to provide input to the project design team as 39th Street improvements have advanced from concept to final design.

Phases 1 and 2 will immediately delineate three mid-block crosswalks with ADA-compliant curb ramps, spaced along 39th Street between University Parkway and Canterbury Road.

Phases 3 and 4 will involve more extensive improvements that will install high-quality, durable landscaping and materials throughout. All three mid-block median crossings will have raised crosswalks across the 39th Street travel lanes and stone pavers across the median, similar to the new patio and seating area in the median near Hopkins Deli. Landscaped curb bump-outs at all crosswalks will be filled with topsoil and sod or plantings where feasible, or they will be filled with attractive and durable cobblestone pavers.

The Traffic Group has been particularly helpful in improving the intersection of 39th Street and Stony Run Lane, reducing the width of the lane and installing a highly visible and well-signed crosswalk. Last but not least, the project will designate curbside loading and unloading zones for delivery trucks so that they can pull out of the roadway more safely pull out without blocking people driving, walking, and biking along 39th Street.

The next step is to send the final proposed design plans to Baltimore City Department of Transportation for review and approval. Property owners along 39th Street and the City are nearing completion on a long-term maintenance agreement and will continue to partner as the project advances into procurement and construction.

TCNA’s Streets Committee will continue to be engaged in the project as it advances to ensure the final implemented project meets the original objectives of making 39th Street a safer and more pleasant place to be, enhancing our community.

2018: Overview of Traffic Calming Plan for 39th Street

For several years Tuscany-Canterbury has partnered with the Broadview on a variety of projects to beautify 39^th Street and to calm the traffic between Charles Street and University Parkway. The neighborhood approved the overall concept in 2014.

During the first phase, the Broadview, working with TCNA, asked a local landscape architect (Mahan Rykiel) to develop a beautification plan for the median. We also asked a local traffic planning consultant (The Traffic Group) to develop a calming plan for 39th St. between University Parkway and Charles Street.

Originally TCNA wanted to improve the median but could not because of the City’s insurance requirements. The Broadview must maintain a broad range of insurance coverage, and was able to execute an agreement with the City to maintain and improve the median. Over the last couple of years, we completed the first portion of the landscape plan between University Parkway and the median break. The planting helps prevent pedestrians from crossing where they shouldn’t, and replaced very spotty grass with a much heartier, shade-friendly ground cover. Last month we reported that the Broadview is willing to add porous pavers and several tables and chairs in the median between the Hopkins Deli and the Broadview, where the crushed stone is presently in place. TCNA members were given the opportunity to review and hopefully approve this portion of the landscape plan.

The traffic calming plan for 39th St. between University Parkway and Charles St. went through several revisions in response to City and community comments. The revised plan was proposed to the new officials in the City’s Dept. of Transportation.

The Traffic and Parking Committee of TCNA has been renamed and combined with the Greening Committee – now called the Streets and Greens Committee. Chris Whitaker is the chairperson of this committee. As projects come forward, the committee will call meetings to get input from the community and discuss possible solutions. And then find ways to make it happen.

The May 2018 meeting reviewed the proposed median improvements and the latest traffic calming plan to help slow down traffic between the round-a-bout and  A final report was given at the Annual meeting on June 13. For more information: Chris at streetsTCNA@gmail.com.

Broadview_Apt_Approved_MOU_10262015

Fall 2014

Many residents believe that drivers are becoming more familiar with the Roundabout and that it has helped to reduce speeding at the 39th Street & Canterbury Road intersection. However, the Traffic Committee is continuing its effort to have the Department of Traffic do something about speeding on 39th Street between Charles Street  and the Roundabout and the Roundabout and West University Parkway.

An ongoing problem relates to the lack of proper drainage on the northwest “corner” of the Roundabout. The Department of Traffic and DPW have known about this problem for over one year, but nothing has been done to fix the problem. TCNA will continue efforts to get this problem solved before cold weather brings back the problem of ice build-up in the crosswalks at this corner.

Fall 2013

Traffic Circle

Jackie Macmillan , Traffic Chairperson

More than fifty neighborhood residents attended a meeting  on October 30, 2012 with officials of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) on July 12, 2012 to discuss their concerns about traffic on 39th Street from University Parkway to Charles Street. The meeting was facilitated by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke. In attendance were DOT director, Khalil A. Zaied, James Harkness, the acting director of Traffic, planner Mark Brown, and northwest transportation liaison Kohl Fallon.

The meeting was an outgrowth of residents’ concerns about pedestrian and bicyclist safety in the corridor, where speeding auto traffic is exacerbated by blind curves and where drivers are often inattentive to walkers and bikers. Attendees cited recent incidents in which a pedestrian was hit by a car near the entrance to the Broadview and a bicyclist was hit by a car at 39th Street and Canterbury Road.

The meeting also addressed residents’ questions and concerns about the planned traffic circle at 39th and Canterbury. Many people who live in the corridor had not attended the last year’s TCNA meeting at which the circle was proposed by DOT officials and endorsed by TCNA members. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to ask questions and comment.

By the end of the meeting, there was a general agreement that DOT should proceed with the circle, which the DOT officials assured residents would help in slowing traffic. The officials agreed to conduct a traffic study to determine what additional measures are needed to make the corridor safer. Remedies to be considered include speed humps and a speed camera. The TCNA Traffic and Parking Committee is in the process of preparing paperwork to initiate the study.

The Roundabout at 39th and Canterbury is scheduled to be constructed in late fall, 2012.

Fall 2012

Traffic Circle

Jackie Macmillan , Traffic Chairperson

More than fifty neighborhood residents attended a meeting  on October 30, 2012 with officials of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) on July 12, 2012 to discuss their concerns about traffic on 39th Street from University Parkway to Charles Street. The meeting was facilitated by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke. In attendance were DOT director, Khalil A. Zaied, James Harkness, the acting director of Traffic, planner Mark Brown, and northwest transportation liaison Kohl Fallon.

The meeting was an outgrowth of residents’ concerns about pedestrian and bicyclist safety in the corridor, where speeding auto traffic is exacerbated by blind curves and where drivers are often inattentive to walkers and bikers. Attendees cited recent incidents in which a pedestrian was hit by a car near the entrance to the Broadview and a bicyclist was hit by a car at 39th Street and Canterbury Road.

The meeting also addressed residents’ questions and concerns about the planned traffic circle at 39th and Canterbury. Many people who live in the corridor had not attended the last year’s TCNA meeting at which the circle was proposed by DOT officials and endorsed by TCNA members. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to ask questions and comment.

By the end of the meeting, there was a general agreement that DOT should proceed with the circle, which the DOT officials assured residents would help in slowing traffic. The officials agreed to conduct a traffic study to determine what additional measures are needed to make the corridor safer. Remedies to be considered include speed humps and a speed camera. The TCNA Traffic and Parking Committee is in the process of preparing paperwork to initiate the study.

The Roundabout at 39th and Canterbury is scheduled to be constructed in late fall, 2012.

Fall 2011

Fall 2010