Long-debated bicycle lanes and sidewalks planned for a stretch of Bradley Boulevard still face opposition as Montgomery County readies to present plans for the project on Monday.
The county’s Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is in Phase II of its Bradley Boulevard sidewalk and bicycle facility project and is hosting a public workshop on Monday to detail its progress.
MCDOT wants to build an eight-foot shared-use path on the north side of Bradley from Wilson Lane to Glenbrook Road. It also hopes to install a five-foot sidewalk on the south side of the stretch and five-foot bicycle lanes in the shoulders on both sides of a slightly shrunken down roadway.
Once planning is finished this summer, MCDOT and county elected officials will determine if it should be included in next year’s capital budget.
It’s a project with a long history.
The county first studied improvements to the stretch in 2009, spurred by a 2003 request from the South Bradley Hills Civic Association to build a sidewalk along the north side of Bradley Boulevard.
Area bicyclist groups and bicycle commuters, including MoBike and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, then asked the county to include bicycle lanes that are included in two separate master plans for the same stretch of road.
“There is absolutely no justification to spend money on discretionary projects such as the bike highway when essential services are being cut, and particularly in an environment where the county plans to borrow money for capital projects,” wrote Eric Schroeder, a resident opposed to the project. “Ike Leggett and the County Council need to take a long hard look at how spending priorities are being established in relation to the proposed reductions that are a result of the budget shortfalls. Removing the Bradley Boulevard project from consideration would be a good place to start.”
More than 50 people showed up and more than 80 written comments were received at MCDOT’s November 2010 workshop on the project.
In 2011, the County Council recommended widening the road shoulders from four feet to five feet and designing them with bicycle lanes, which would mean no more parking along Bradley Boulevard.
The shared-use path, sidewalk and a 15-foot drainage swale would be built within the 100-foot State Highway right-of-way around the stretch of road.
But opponents like Schroeder say those new features will damage property values.
“The impact study associated with the plans states that property values would not be affected, yet there is absolutely no documentation to support this claim,” Schroeder wrote in an email provided to BethesdaNow.com. “How could property values not be affected by bulldozing green space and replacing foliage with pavement? What evaluative process was used to determine that inflicting the liability of snow removal on the affected properties has no influence on value?”
MCDOT says the new features will fill a gap in Bethesda’s sidewalk network, improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety and bring drainage improvements that meet stormwater management requirements. MCDOT also it did an analysis of individual trees and investigated tree-saving measures “in order to minimize tree impacts.”
The meeting on Monday is set for 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of Pyle Middle School (6311 Wilson Lane.)
Via MCDOT
