Baltimore County has a history of putting raised crosswalks in the wrong places and speed humps where they do not belong.
That’s according to a report released Monday by Inspector General Kelly Madigan.
The report also found that several speed humps were installed on a road near property in which the traffic calming program’s manager or members of their family have an interest. Madigan said that creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Madigan, in an interview said, “If you have a rule and a program that applies to everyone equally, it has to be enforced consistently.”
According to Madigan’s report, the manager retired in May.
The inspector general says the mistakes have cost the county more than $125,000.
One example of a misplaced crosswalk is one that was supposed to go in front of Victory Villa Elementary School in Middle River but was instead installed nearly one mile away, at the intersection of Compass Rd. and Cord Street.
That incorrectly-placed crosswalk created an Americans With Disabilities Act violation, according to Madigan, because there are no sidewalks or flat surfaces at the ends of the crossing.
“I’m not sure how someone in a wheelchair would go from one part of that raised crosswalk to the other,” Madigan said.
In a response to Madigan’s report, County Administrative Officer D’Andrea Walker said that cannot be fixed because of drainage issues on either side of the crosswalk.
The report also says the county put a raised crosswalk on a state-owned road and that speed humps were installed on roads that did not qualify for them.
The county says it’s updating its traffic-calming policies.
According to Walker’s response to Madigan’s investigation, “Draft policies and procedures have been developed internally and reviewed by a third-party consultant” and an updated program manual is expected by the end of the year.