Montgomery County bike projects moving slowly

With the Bradley Boulevard bike project having recently been presented, it joins a growing list of future bike projects in Montgomery County. But only one project has money budgeted for it so far. That's the MacArthur Boulevard Bikeway project.

The project will include an 8-foot-wide shared-use hiker/biker path running parallel to MacArthur on the south side, Miller said. The shoulder of the road will also be widened to provide a 2-foot shoulder on each side of the road for faster cyclists.

The project has been divided into three segments due to cost concerns, Miller said. The middle 13,800-foot segment from Oberlin Avenue to the Interstate 495 underpass will be constructed first. The segment will cost $8.7 million, and construction is expected to start as early as July, Miller said.

That's a few months later than we were told in February.

Meanwhile other projects are waiting for funding.

A hiker/biker path along Falls Road has been under design for several years but has been stalled since March 2008 because of budget concerns

Additionally, a hiker/biker path along Seven Locks Road in Potomac is still in the facility planning phase needed to justify the project,

Miller said that hiker/biker projects can get stalled in land acquisition, and they also face delays from allowing time for community feedback as well as the overarching funding problems facing the entire county.

"The budget crunch — it's affected everything; it's not just hiker/biker paths," Miller said. "It has hit road programs, it's hit maintenance projects — everything.  It didn't discriminate."

Jack Cochrane has some opinions about the order in which things get done and why they're important.

Even though they are further down the queue, Cochrane believes the Seven Locks Road and Bradley Boulevard projects are of a higher priority than the Falls Road project, because they would help serve as main arteries for cyclists traveling between major parts of the city.

For Cochrane, funding biking improvement projects is vital to solving traffic congestion in the area.

"I think there's frustration in the pace of projects," Cochrane said. "I don't think we're so concerned that each project takes so long, it is that it takes so long between projects."

The budget issues are unfortunate. If only there were some federal program to get people back to work by investing in America's infrastructure while creating jobs. If only.

Comments

[Wayne Phyillaier]

Not mentioned in the article - completing the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Montgomery County. It has been moving at a snail's pace.

[Geof Gee]

This sentence should scare everyone.

The shoulder of the road will also be widened to provide a 2-foot shoulder on each side of the road for faster cyclists.

That is what drivers on MacArthur Blvd. will expect. Does anyone else think it's hypocritical to accept and support substandard shoulders for faster cyclists when demanding that AASHTO standards be met elsewhere?

[Barry Childress]

Re: "The budget issues are unfortunate. If only there were some federal program ..."

LOL I love sarcasm! But seriously every Federal fund program that can be used to support cycling is underutilized in Maryland. We have $25M in TE alone just looking for projects but to make this money go further MD requires the highest match in the nation.

How is it going further if it's unspent? If you don't spend Federal money they ask for it back. For the life of me I don't get why the state thinks it has such a great policies.

We have serious funding problems but there is no public outrage from the cycling community.

[Barry Childress]

Geof, I agree. Unfortunately the locals are playing with the width of bike lanes for traffic calming. A seriously misplaced endeavor IMHO.

If they want traffic calming lets talk traffic circles, partial road closures, raised crosswalks, anything. But no, near highway characteristics for cars are being maintained/improved at the expense of cyclists.

I wish I had more time to be involved with MacArthur Blvd as its seriously abused by cars and really needs to be a model complete street.

[Barry Childress]

I just had a crazy idea for MacArthur Blvd. Take the 4' of "bike space" and make a center median out of it. This could in theory facilitate cars passing cyclists. Just a thought.