Montgomery County planners say redevelopment in White Flint is a prime opportunity for a network of nine protected bicycle lanes needed to create a low-stress bicycling environment on some of the county’s busiest stretches of road.
Planners working on the Bicycle Master Plan on Friday revealed their proposal, a 20-page document detailing where the bicycle lanes should go and why buffered bike lanes— as opposed to more conventional bicycle lane markings— are necessary.
The plan comes almost a year after the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) finished the county’s first ever cycle track, a 1,500-foot-long two-way bicycle lane on Woodglen Drive in White Flint that’s separated from a vehicle parking lane by white posts.
The Woodglen Drive cycle track is set to be extended from its terminus at Nicholson Lane north to Marinelli Road as part of the planned redevelopment of the Metro Pike Shopping Center.
Planning Department's proposal for a network of separated bicycle lanes in White Flint, via Montgomery County Planning Department
County planners said opportunities to incorporate new bicycle lanes with development in White Flint is one of the reasons the area is ripe for such a network. The Bicycle Master Plan isn’t expected to be finished until fall 2017.
“Due to the pace of development in White Flint, the Planning Department is advancing work in this area of the County so that meaningful opportunities to construct segments of the preferred bike network are not lost before the Bicycle Master Plan is completed,” read the White Flint proposal.
Planners said building the proposed network should be made easier because all of the lanes can be built within previously recommended right-of-way rules.
Planners also said the new bicycle lanes “will have little, if any, additional impact on vehicular traffic in the White Flint area.”
Planners rated four protected bike lanes as the highest priority: Nicholson Lane from Old Georgetown Road to the CSX railroad tracks, Old Georgetown Road from Rockville Pike to Nebel Street, Marinelli Road from Executive Boulevard to Rockville Pike and Marinelli Road from Rockville Pike to Nebel Street.
Nine proposed separated bicycle lanes for White Flint ranked by three priority levels, via Montgomery County Planning Department
Some of the protected bicycle routes would be upgrades to existing unprotected bicycle lanes, such as on Marinelli Road west of Rockville Pike.
Other protected bicycle lanes would be a lot more difficult to build, perhaps none more so than Rockville Pike.
The six-lane, 40 mph road is controlled by the State Highway Administration (SHA). In a 2013 SHA study, 50,500 vehicles a day passed through the stretch of Rockville Pike that runs north-to-south through the middle of White Flint.
Planners envisioned a protected bicycle lane along the road stretching from Edson Lane to Montrose Parkway. It was put on the third of three tiers in terms of importance.
Planners will take public comments on the proposal at their previously-scheduled Bicycle Master Plan meeting set for 7 p.m.-9 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.
