'Disastrous Mess': Drivers Complain About Bicycle Lanes In North Bethesda

BETHESDA, MD — Drivers are criticizing the way highway officials added new bicycle lanes to Old Georgetown Road in North Bethesda, contending that the configuration has made driving along the stretch of road more dangerous.

An online petition calling for the bicycle lanes to be removed "without delay" has received more than 5,000 signatures since it was launched last week.

“If you want to know how the vast majority of those who regularly travel Old Georgetown Road feel about the bike lanes, go on nextdoor and read their outraged comments," the petition states. "Also check with the federal, state, and county officials who are receiving an overwhelming number of phone calls and emails complaining about this unnecessary, ill-conceived, disastrous mess.”

In the fall, the Maryland State Highway Administration hired crews to convert one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction into a bike lane, from the Capital Beltway to Nicholson Lane. Crews narrowed lanes, planted posts along the bike routes, and installed crosswalk markings at intersections.

For years, residents have been calling for safety improvements to the stretch of Old Georgetown Road.

In June, Enzo Alvarengam an 18-year-old student at the University of Maryland, was hit and killed by a cargo van on Old Georgetown Road when the bike he was riding veered off the sidewalk and into the roadway. Another teen bicyclist was killed after getting struck by a car along the same area of Old Georgetown Road in 2019.

A separate online petition, also launched last week, is seeking support for the Maryland State Highway Administration’s decision to add the bicycle lanes along the portion of Old Georgetown Road.

"Any action that reduces vehicle miles traveled is a net good for our county and the DMV. This change make being a pedestrian safer, makes being a bicyclist safer, and reduces car speeds and therefore makes being a motorist safer," the petition states. "We should applaud the action and support further action in more state highways in Maryland."

The petition contends that the drivers who are calling for the bicycle lanes to be removed along Old Georgetown Road "want to be able to drive faster and more recklessly down this road."

"Do your part and support the new bike lanes and encourage the SHA to continue to make changes to make our county and state a safe place to get around with or without a car," it says.

A supporter of removing the bicycle lanes said in a tweet Monday that he uses Old Georgetown Road every day and has yet to see a cyclist using the new bicycle lanes. "But there’s already been at least one car accident caused by them. Unreal," he wrote.

Another person responded: "How do you know the collision was caused by the bike lane and not speed, distracted driving, etc.?"

The Maryland State Highway Administration worked on the project after completing a Corridor Needs Analysis for Old Georgetown Road between McKinley Street in Bethesda and Tilden Lane/Nicholson Lane in Bethesda. The SHA said the changes were designed to make the roadway safer for motorists, bicyclists, walkers and those catching a bus along Old Georgetown Road.

Opponents of the bike lanes note that the six-lane major highway was reduced by 39 percent by removing two driving lanes and by reducing the width of the four remaining driving lanes.

"Reduced by 39% in driving capacity, the road now is consistently congested, with back-to-back traffic even in the middle of the day in good weather," the anti-bike lanes petition states.

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