There is a pedestrian crossing (unpainted but with signals) right at the I-83 on ramp, which is all the more ridiculous. You have to negotiate vehicles accelerating to highway speeds.

Also around Penn Station, with the UB Law building being constructed, the sidewalk is now closed on the East side of Charles St south of the station, which FORCES you to cross westbound around W Oliver St with no legal way to do so. They should have planned a pedestrian walkway into that construction.

There should also be some sort of pedestrian signal on the St. Paul Street side of the station, or at least a "Yield To Pedestrians" sign and crosswalk.

Actually there is a crosswalk. It crosses at the stoplight for the 83-N ramp @ Charles St. I just noticed this crosswalk yesterday - not sure if its been there forever or not.

Mr. Nelson is correct though - most everyone tends to cross Charles where loop entrance from Charles begins (directly across from Univ of Baltimore). This is a gamble at best, esp during the afternoon. The city could make a mint catching speeders on this section of road.

Now that the rightmost lane on Charles is blocked due to construction work on the U of B parking lot, it's even more dangerous for pedestrians walking south of Penn Station.

Although, as a UB student, I often do just as the commenter states, and simply dart across N. Charles Street right by W. Oliver Street, there IS a light/crosswalk coming out of Penn Station, just a few yards up from the stub of W. Oliver Street, at the on-ramp for I-83. I figure the I-83 on-ramp is probably the reason there is no light at W. Oliver, and with one a few yards up the street, there probably isn't a need for one at W. Oliver.

There should be a painted crosswalk there with pedestrain crossing signs there to let both walkers and drivers know. The city really needs to go to the length of putting yellow warning lights embedded in the street that flash when people are crossing.

The current crosswalk drops you off at a small island in between the onramp onto 83 where traffice screams up Charles to prepare to merge onto 83. It is really an unsafe/stupid design.

If you are uneasy about crossing, you are likely safer crossing at the ramp since you only have to wait for one gap in the I-83 ramp traffic after crossing to the island with the green light. One other thing to note- part of what makes this area difficult is that no one enforces the numerous no stopping signs on the right side of charles street in front of the station. There are always cars stopping there for pickups and then merging back into traffic. This adds another thing to watch out for. The city police are busy with more serious issues but I would think the parking enforcement unit would be happy writing tickets each afternoon.

Good point James. Perhaps the Amtrak police could just wave people off as well. Or maybe they are too busy protecting us from the a potential terror attack on Station North.

Fine. The City will set up a special fund for county people when they convince their brethren to stop:

1. Driving monster SUVs/Pickup trucks all around the state while griping about gas prices.

2. Stop urinating/breaking glass bottles/throwing trash all over the city during weekend fun time, then going home and talking about how the city is "so trashy".

3. etc. See above every week.

The University of Baltimore and Department of Transportation are saying a light will be installed within a couple of months.

Jamie Kendrick, deputy director of the Department of Transportation, wrote today that "DOT has met on site w UB and their contractor, Whiting Turner. We have an implementation plan, but need to wait for WT to complete a little more utility work before we can proceed. I'd think that by the late Winter/early Spring, we would have this resolved."

Let's make sure this happens on schedule!