Can we get a link to the text of the resolution?

This morning I was startled to see bike lane markings in place on Lanvale Street near the train station. The reason for my shock is that Lanvale is one way in the opposite direction of the way the lane markings were laid out. Believe me, having bikes traveling the wrong way on a one way street (seemingly with an official imprimatur) is a recipe for disaster.

@Jack P - believe me, contraflow bike lanes are an established practice in many cities; DC has recently installed some and I haven't heard of any disaster there.

"Critical conflicts between motor vehicles and bicyclists in the one-way direction are more frequent than with bicyclists in the contraflow direction....[Severity of crashes] was no worse for contraflow bicycle traffic...than for bicycle traffic traveling in the one-way direction."
http://www.bikexprt.com/research/contraflow/gegengerichtet.htm (Describes a study in Germany, but it was the most academic article I found on the subject)

Mark T: Thanks for the citation. My worries are (1) that there is no signage, other than the lane markings, to indicate this contraflow bike lane has been established (2) there are parking places right where the lane is and (3) a bicyclist was killed by a truck last year about one block from where this lane was installed.

Huge, heavy trucks from a construction company on Falls Road cross Maryland Avenue where Lanvale begins and, believe me, those guys will not expect to see bikes coming at them.

What I don't understand is, if bicyclists are supposed to obey traffic laws, why are they being told to travel the wrong way on a one way street?

Here's the link to the bill. It's just a resolution, so it doesn't hold the force of law, just a statement of policy from the City Council that it hopes/expects the Executive Branch to follow. On the other hand the bike parking requirements (which need some refinement) will have the force of law.

http://legistar.baltimorecitycouncil.com/detailreport/?key=4613

Jack - Fair points. I'm not familiar with the area and I haven't checked out the new lanes there. There may well be safety issues with the implementation here - I was responding to the more general sense of your comment.

My understanding of contraflow bike lanes is that they're intended to recognize that one-way street systems penalize cyclists more heavily than drivers (greater time and effort to navigate blocks out of their way). To prevent the unsafe situation of cyclists riding (illegally) against traffic, it creates a (comparatively) safe and legal way for them to get where they're going efficiently, without taking away a whole lot of road space to do it. The examples that I've seen (mostly from DC cycling blogs) included plastic poles with reflectors to create some physical separation, which also makes the lane more obvious to drivers.

I would view the Lanvale St lane as an experiment in progress, and you can probably expect to see additional signage and other improvements as DOT becomes aware of the need. Hopefully the changes will be proactive, not reactive. Over on the Brew they wrote about the parking issue - a resolution to that seems to be on the way, so at least DOT is (appears to be) paying some attention to user feedback. As for the previous accident in this area, in my mind that's an argument in favor of the bike lane, as it will raise drivers' awareness of cyclist (especially if better marked as you suggest).