Considering that the Beltway and I-270 are where a great number of drivers are coming from in the morning, and trying to reach in the evening, this is going to create an incredible bottleneck. Anyone who drives the road during rush hours is aware of just how bad the traffic jams are now. Often a person can walk faster than the cars, a phenomenon also found on Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda.
Incredibly, the SHA is claiming you can currently drive from Cedar Lane to the Beltway in 3.7 minutes during peak evening rush hour. Under the road diet, they claim it will now take 4.9 minutes. I've repeatedly sat in traffic there for longer than 4.9 minutes as it is now, although I've largely given up and try to avoid using Old Georgetown at all costs during rush hour in the affected directions.
There's no doubt we have a bicycle safety problem. But that problem is not the fault of the beleaguered citizens trying to get to and from work each day in their cars. Remember, this is a route that went from bad to worse with the expansions at NIH and Walter Reed over the last decade. This is simply not the right solution for this road.
If the concern for bicycle safety is so genuine and sincere, why aren't the SHA and County making the heavy lift of widening the road and narrowing the median to add a separated bike lane without punishing drivers who pay their salaries? If the concern is honest, why in politicians' and SHA's view, do cyclists only deserve protection between Cedar Lane and the Beltway? Of course, this is just the beginning, as pending plans for lane elimination on Veirs Mill Road and University Boulevard show.
Sometimes real solutions are expensive, not cheap. Delivering a world-class road system that is as safe as possible for all modes of transportation using it is never going to be cheap.
Rendering by Maryland Department of Transportation
