Montgomery County adds separated bike lanes to Nebel and Glenbrook

Back in October (remember then?) Montgomery county completed two separated bike lanes, one on Nebel Street in White Flint and another on Glenbrook Road in Bethesda. 

The lanes on Nebel Street were completed first.

The half-mile stretch includes 6-foot-wide bike lanes in both directions of Nebel that are separated from traffic with flexible white posts. To create the bike lanes, parking was removed from the west side of Nebel and relocated to the east side. The road’s travel lanes were also reduced from a little over 15 feet wide to 11 feet.

The project cost the county $135,000 and was built while Nebel Street was resurfaced. The project is part of a network of bike lanes that will one day connect major commercial and residential areas in North Bethesda, according to county officials. The plan is known as the White Flint Separated Bike Lane Network.

The lanes, built between Randolph Road and Marinelli Road, are intended to be part of a larger network tying all of White Flint together and connecting to the Metro.

The Glenbrook lane was finished shortly thereafter. It features a separated, contraflow bike lane on one side and a sharrowed lane on the other.

The bike lane was added because many cyclists were riding against traffic on Glenbrook, which is a one-way street, to use the Capital Crescent Trail

The 0.2 mile, 5-foot-wide lane runs along Glenbrook from Bradley Boulevard south to Little Falls Park.  The county removed some parking spots on the short stretch of roadway to complete the $55,000 project, which also included traffic-calming measures and green pavement markings at intersections.

Comments

[SJE]

I'm currently living in N. Bethesda and have gotten badly lost twice trying to use the Bethesda Trolley Trail to get to the CCT. Signage and clear paths would do a lot, and might explain why people are riding against car traffic to get places.

Also, the BTT going along Wisconsin also has some gaps with unfinished construction. Here, finishing the job would make it safer.

[Crickey7]

I'm in Bethesda, too, and have never been able to figure out the route of the BTT. Not that I tried too hard.

I imagine remove street parking on Glenbrook wasn't too controversial. It would be considered tres gauche to park on the street, and likely only contractors did.

[Brett Young]

The BTT is vastly improved from a few years ago.
Kudos to Patricia Shepard for improving much of Montgomery County's bike paths

[Smedley Burkhart]

The Glenbrook lane, which I now use every morning is a lovely thing and works well with the button for the signal at Bradley, which is on the east side and placed, such that one can punch it without unclipping.

However, it also removes the slightest reason for commuters to take the left, wrong-way, shoulder of Little Falls from the CCT to Glenbrook, instead of crossing at the trail head and using the right shoulder or taking the nearly empty left lane right to this fine new facility.

I come down that southbound shoulder, or the bordering lane, during the evening rush, fast, often in the dark, with motor vehicles right beside me, and have to avoid these oncoming riders. Drivers aren't the only ones playing the potentially fatal negligence game out there.