Progress continues on the Bethesda Bikeway project in downtown Bethesda. Now under construction is the Montgomery Lane segment of the cycletrack. Concrete islands that will protect the bikeway from automobile traffic have been installed by the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. As you can see, the actual surface of the future bike lanes is still torn up, with sewer manhole covers sitting up higher than ground level. This bikeway will connect to the Montgomery Avenue segment across Wisconsin Avenue, and extend down to Woodmont Avenue.
Nice to see the bus stop incorporated into the separated bike lane design.
ReplyDeleteBREAKING NEWS: "Amazon HQ2 construction put on hold" Still wishing/whining over that being in MoCo?
ReplyDeleteUnlike old Georgetown Road, this one obviously will be permanent. When it's completed and fully opened, you'll be guaranteed to very rarely see a pedestrian or cyclist use it. The absolute insanity of this type of governance. Welcome to Mark Elrich land. Congratulations voters!
ReplyDeleteI'm a cyclist but see how 'knee jerk' this has all become, the new bike lane labyrinth at the CCT trail head is a convoluted caricature of what it should be. Curves, curbs, confusing uneven surfaces, edge traps, it's borderline ridiculous.
DeleteTho I do think OGR is absolutely necessary and will be better traveled come real Spring.
Is there anything in the universe that doesn't trigger you, JAC? What a depressing way to spend your twilight years.
ReplyDelete"Mark" is the only politician standing in the way of spending $82.5 million to add the CCT bike tunnel. You're so filled with hate and ignorance you don't even realize you're attacking the one politician you align with. Classic JAC.
ReplyDeleteIs that quality concrete tho', or Soprano no show inferior Silver Spring transit station material?
ReplyDeleteThey are moving the Capital Crescent Trail to Little Falls Parkway so that the current CCT can be used for the extension of the Purple Line to Westbard, Sumner Place and Tysons Corner.
ReplyDeleteI've always fantasized about a monorail from Tysons to Tenleytown metro (at Wisconsin Ave and Albemarle St in DC).
DeleteSpeaking of Old George, on Tuesday evening, March 1st, at evening rush I was driving in from Democracy --closer to crawling, given the government-imposed road diet-- and saw a total of *THREE* bicycles between the Beltway and NIH, TWO of which were on the sidewalk. I kid you not. They were clearly not traveling together, but that evening two-thirds of the cyclists traveling that route while I was out were avoiding the dedicated space our county seized from motorists and repurposed for exclusive use of bikes, opting instead to share the sidewalk with pedestrians.
ReplyDeleteI already see quite a few bike riders using the new bike lanes at Bethesda and Wisconsin Avenue, and well as at Bethesda and Woodmont Avenue, and many with young kids. I bet once the entire separated bike lane network in downtown Bethesda is complete, and the CCT from Bethesda to Silver Spring and Purple Line are open, we will see quite a few more users. Once the two story high, 425 space bike parking deck under the Elm, and the tunnel under Wisconsin are complete, I imagine the downtown Bethesda area will see even more cyclists using the network.
ReplyDeleteI align with Comrade Elrich? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteSo JAC does think $82.5m should be spent on the bike tunnel? Color me surprised.
Delete1:20 - no, just government overreach and such a strong adherence to the Green ideology that all roads will be ruined.
ReplyDelete9:36 AM - Actually a Tenleytown to Ballston route would be optimal.
ReplyDeleteCombined with a Bethesda to Tysons route.
During my travels on old Georgetown rd I’ve seen a total of 2 cyclists- both ran red lights. One of them was not wearing a helmet. Good going cyclists!
ReplyDeleteWas the intersection otherwise clear? Could the cyclist see everything from his vantage point? Let me tell you that the alternative is VC, that stands for Vehicular Cyclist, if you're not aware. You, as a driver, do not want that. That means bikes in any lane, like real motor vehicles. Until every cyclist gets that obnoxious and LEGAL, (since you think they're motor vehicles, anyway) count your blessings and worry about yourself and your driving. A cyclist vs yiu has no chance. Btw, if that seems counter intuitive to you, so is the fact that helmets are not statistically the big safety item most think. You very well might be the hazard.
DeleteCyclists are not special. Obey the rules of the road and stop being so entitled!
Delete@9:36 AM Extensive plans for a monorail from Frederick through Montgomery County (running along the I-270 corridor) have been proposed. From what I understand, the local jurisdictions already own the land on which the monorails would run, which would help contain costs. I think it's a fantastic idea!
ReplyDeleteSome feasibility and economic analyses have already been done, and they seem to suggest a lot of pluses, including generation of significant economic benefits for the region.
https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/ac-cn-tns-maryland-monorail-2021306-20210306-szi2rj3hzjakddcjgw5qw6sq7m-story.html
https://ggwash.org/view/72451/what-we-know-so-far-about-marylands-i-270-monorail-proposal
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/monorail-montgomery-frederick-maryland/2020/10/29/452d8388-1967-11eb-aeec-b93bcc29a01b_story.html
If a bike runs a red light the worst case scenario is the biker gets killed. If a car runs a red light worst case scenario is the other guy gets killed. Those two things are not the same. In leftist parlance that is a "false equivalency". I will never understand the bike hatred so prevalent in MoCo. The way I look at it is every bike is one fewer car on the road. And the one thing I learned from my time in MoCo is hell is the sight and sound of other people's vehicles speeding past my house.
ReplyDelete@2:11 A thoughtful, well-reasoned, practical, conservative answer to the problem of traffic congestion along the 270 corridor. Or not. I'll give you this: you are indefatigable in your service to the building trades and property developing interests of the region, no matter how shamefully insincere your arguments.
ReplyDeleteWere it deemed necessary to expand capacity to that stretch of interstate, rapid bus would be infinitely preferable to such a nakedly preposterous suggestion as monorails. Dedicated bus lanes win on scalability, cost, timeline, and convenience. Additional vehicles/capacity can be added to the route as needed, changing from hour to hour or day to day as conditions warrant (like Covid removing a large portion of the workforce from the ranks of daily commuters), which can't be done with a monorail. Dedicated bus lanes operate at a fraction of the construction and maintenance costs, and are completed and operational *YEARS* sooner than would be a monorail. In October, 2020, when the 14-mile, $40 million Rt 29 bus line went operational, it cost 1/50, TWO PERCENT of the 16.2-mile, $2 Billion PL. (By the way, that is a 2020 cost estimate; in 2023 PL construction costs have been revised to $3.4 Billion,, making the Rt 29 even more attractive for tax payers.) The Purple Line's obscene, nakedly grifty cost and time overruns speak overwhelmingly against ever again falling victim for such massive, gratuitous transportation boondoggles. If it is determined that I-270 needs to supplement the current configuration for some type of mass transit system, rapid bus route is the only logical, cost-effective choice.
@3:22 PM You could have made your points without insulting @2:11, who wasn't the only one who said they were interested in monorails.
ReplyDelete4:31 - And JAC also thinks that the Purple Line is one of the biggest tax payer funded boondoggle ever and is not alone. They never should have continued. This will go down exactly the way that all the other light rails have, a huge failure that the tax payer will have to prop up forever.
ReplyDelete@2:04, your benightedness will be the death of you, perhaps literally. Your inveighing against an earlier poster, advising "worry about yourself and your driving," betrays your profound ignorance of the foundation for responsible motor vehicle operation: each driver's obligation to worry about all the vehicles --internal combustion- or human-powered-- (as well as pedestrians, weather, and everything else,) on the road around him. Judging by your remarks you will find this concept alien, but defensive driving means being aware of and anticipating what any of the other people in one's area might do, including you. In other words, it is the antithesis of your apparent you-do-you,-I'll-do-me approach to vehicle operation. Many is the vehicle operator who fails at defensive driving, but the concept endures as the model best addressing how to minimize the risk of accidents. Your disdain of a driver's concern for bike riders flouting traffic control devices --which, in Maryland, cyclists are required by law to observe-- informs your arrogant sense of entitlement, a potentially lethal sanctimony if you encounter an SUV or pickup operated by someone whose self-absorption matches your own. Darwinism, perhaps, but it would still be traumatic for your family --grief being perhaps another concept alien to you, as it exists somewhere in the universe beyond the end of your nose.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost 70, ride mostly everywhere all the time since elementary school, probably had a helmet on for about 100 hours total under duress, have caused zero accidents, been in a few mishaps, of course. I can expect close calls from horrible drivers within a block.of home, I aggressively stay away from cars because no copwill ticket errant drivers. I'm on the road, on the sidewalk, go thru parking lots, zig zag thru pedestrians. But I bet you're 100 times more dangerous than I.
DeleteBikes don't activate the street sensors to change lights, when do you get out if your car to push the pedestrian buttons, ever see a cop ticket a driver for endangering a cyclist? I never have either.
DeleteWhen I get a ticket as a motor vehicle is the day I ride in any lane, anytime. You don't know how much aggressive bikers make your trip actually easier! No bunching up and seeing the cyclist at every light. I bet you're 100 tomes more dangerous than I, plus you assume that everyone is as challenged as you appear to be, you worry about your skills.
Hey 4:36 there's no getting through those pre-conceived notions of your's is there? Do you obey every traffic law when you get into your vehicle and drive somewhere? No? Didn't think so. Because literally no one does.
ReplyDeleteHey 725. Yes I do. And I’m a courteous patient driver-always. Even with cyclists ahead of me in my lane. What’s your excuse for being obnoxious?
Delete7:25 Most motorists understand that if they break the law, they are subject to being ticketed and getting points on their license. (Jawando is a exception) This curbs dangerous behavior. Cyclists do not have this concept.
ReplyDeleteLearning
@JAC, we've bickered pointedly about some other topics, but on the Purple Line you and I stand united. That project is the very definition of boondoggle; no amount of lipstick will ever beautify that pig.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing to worry about, maybe they aren't using the same standards and concrete they used for the SS bus transfer station.
Delete1:32 - It sure is and there's no way that their ridership estimates, which are very sunny, are accurate. Rick Scott in FL scuttled the one they were proposing at the time and we should have learned from that. Some argue that we couldn't because of all the federal money. Bull. That was an excuse. Hogan should be nuked it.
ReplyDeleteI have the Solution to bike lanes and the county using existing car lanes as bike lanes. We know they will next take a lane of Tuckerman between Wisconsin and Old G'town for bikes. But that's only 2 miles or so. What about the rest of Tuckerman all the way to Falls Rd? I HAVE THE ANSWER!! If you really want proper bike lanes, take a 20 foot swath of every homeowner on each side of Tuckerman all the way to Falls and make real bike lanes on EACH side!!!
ReplyDeleteSame thing on Old Gtown and any other road they want bike lanes on. DO it, and be done with it!
No one in the 20s and 30s (maybe later, too) ever dreamed OGR would ever be this wide! Eventually, maybe a generation, there might be two more lanes!
Delete6:02 - Your post is tongue and cheek at least I hope. Here's a solution: Keep roads for what they were designed for at least in the modern age, automobiles. CCT, trolley trail, etc are all perfectly suited for bikes and pedestrians. There's actually a legitimate study that suggests, with data, that riding a bike on the edge of an existing travel lane, which has always been done in the past, is safer than a dedicated bike lane. No, if Elrich & Co have their way, and they likely will have, many, many more roads will be forever altered. You can't go back to normal on Tuckerman after ripping it apart. It's not just taking a lane out there. They are going to take an entire side of that roadway out like they've done, and now facing legal action, on Little Falls Pkwy adjacent to the Kenwood neighborhood. Some are in support of these measures clearly but not nearly the majority.
ReplyDeleteJAC - it's not tongue in cheek - let them really try and make real bike lanes and you will see how fast those people are against it. In Denmark, they have the type lanes I suggest. Better yet, why doesn't the County put up the bike lane question to referendum? Street by Street. Why? BECAUSE IT WILL GET SHOT DOWN. And Tyrants gotta tyrant, ya know.
ReplyDelete5:29 - Ah, ok. I'm with you then 💯. Yes, put this to the voting public and it will fail. The problem I see, and said here before, is that certain roads are going to be forever altered quickly and purposely. So, if there's lawsuits or enough push back, they'll say it's too difficult, expensive, or impossible to put back right. It's a mess. You cannot do this and yes, clearly, elections have consequences. Blair I believe never would have destroyed these roads this way. He's a business guy. How does reducing road capacity help commerce? I'd like to see that bloated socialist answer that question.
ReplyDelete