The Maryland State Highway Administration announced that it has completed a paint project on the new bike lanes along Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. Green paint and striping was applied to the lanes and intersections starting back on April 10. In addition to complaints about the loss of a lane in each direction, more recently, some drivers have raised concerns about new dangers the configuration has created at some intersections (i.e. southbound, between Tuckerman Lane and Democracy Boulevard) and interstate access ramps to the Capital Beltway and I-270.
Photos courtesy Maryland State Highway Administration
20 comments:
Your next post will be to report that the white poles will be made permanent. If anyone here thinks, for one second, that Old Georgetown will be restored back to how it was and should be, is smoking some of that funny stuff we're heard so much about in recent years. By the way, anywhere you go now, you smell that skunk weed. Great!
These lanes are great! I hope they extend them all the way into Downtown Bethesda.
Although selfish, I admit that as an ardent and avid 'senior' cyclist that this bike lake on OGR has dramatically improved my thrice weekly (sometimes more, but don't know how to so coolly to state it) round trip trip from DT Bethesda to Rockville.
I'd like to just remind my fellow taxpayers that remediating and PAYING for a pedestrian (and bike) friendly solution to get past Pooks Hill and the clover.leafs on Wisconsin would be millions of dollars . Look at the effort on Georgia to go over 495!
Remember that the Bethesda Trolley Trail parallels OGR, has no motorized vehicles and even its own bridge over the beltway.
This is nothing more than to make the commute on OGR so miserable during rush hours as a bow to the lefts climate agenda at all costs. Too bad leftists never understood science.
There is already a bike-friendly solution -- the Bethesda Trolley Trail that runs mostly parallel to Old Georgetown Road and is a dedicated path so no cars there either. Even safer. Why not use that?
Awesome news. We definitely need more bike lanes. Helps people to get active and not be so car reliant. Maybe they can build out the lanes all the way up to JAC’s front door!
8:09 - Asked but never answered. You would think that would be a novel solution. Nope. Let's waste millions of dollars and ruin roads. A lot of clueless people on here that don't stop and think about this. Tht price tag for these bike paths is in the millions already. And the green agenda is on display here. Get rid of the cars is that goal but it's being pitched as "share the road" or "bike-friendly".
6:13 gets it. Welcome to the revolution.
9:33 - Yet another Elrich voter folks. You know you're on the right track when you get called out on a blog or chat site. Anti-car not pro-bike. Wake up announced commenter.
It's weaving, dog walking, children learning to ride, inefficient, not very long in reality, and ends in a pretty crappy area.
8:09 - Cars still get two lanes each direction; I think they're fine. You're basically making the argument that OGR is completely unusable for cars now, and that's just not the case.
If you want to have an idea of what "sharing the road" looks like, have a look at MacArthur Blvd. That road is unsafe for cyclists, and aggravating for drivers. At least OGR is accommodating to everyone.
Not to mention that not all all bike riding is for recreation. I ride to-get-there, and get something done. I don't ride for pleasure. The Bethesda Trolley trail is inefficient and awkward. It truly is a recreational trail. Horrible for commuting.
@12:35 Yeah so take away 1/3 of a major commuting road so several people a day can get to Aldi. Take a look in the mirror sometime.
@8:40 I'm glad you've declared the commuters to be fine. Step back and look at the big picture: How many people does OGR serve versus how many people do the bike lanes serve? An honest answer is unlikely from any supporter of the road diet.
MacArthur? Perhaps the need to ride on the road versus use a lane dedicated to pedestrians & cyclists is the problem. You probably think that it's inconvenient to avoid walkers/joggers hence riding on the road is preferable. Drivers don't have that choice and those cyclists have just demonstrated their I'm-more-important-than-you stance. Look in the mirror sometime.
6:14 - there's actually a published report indicating that it's actually safer for someone biking to do so on the side of the road as you suggest and the way it's always been done. Ruin the roads, ban everything including soon your gas lawnmower and at the same time, go full steam ahead on trans, pot and more. This is upside down world run by clowns.
Boy isn’t this Great News. I’m sure the Leftists will be Celebrating !!!
Wrong again Robert. The project will reduce Little Falls Parkway from River Road to Arlington Road, so all four lane sections will be eliminated, eliminating bottlenecks.
https://montgomeryparks.org/projects/directory/little-falls-pilotproject/
8:38: Actually, I'm right again, as the Montgomery Parks press release confirms:
"The Montgomery County Planning Board approved the Little Falls Parkway pilot project with four votes for the project and one abstaining, at a work session on Thursday, April 27, 2023. The Board approved reducing the number of lanes between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue from four to two and incorporating turn lanes, shoulders, a median at the Capital Crescent Trail crossing, and a median between the travel lanes where feasible."
While very supportive of the project overall, some bicyclists have identified safety problems approaching Tuckerman, Rock Spring, and Democracy. The approaches to Tuckerman and Rock Spring, where the bike lane and right turn lane crisscross over each other, are especially dicey for inexperienced cyclists and could've been better designed. The southbound crossing of the first 270 ramp is poorly configured too -- cyclists have the right of way but must come to a complete stop anyway, long enough to carefully look back over their left shoulder to look for any cars that might turn right.
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