TODAY! Community Meeting to Discuss Cycling in Montgomery County!

can you make this?
this issue is important to all of us...


Key Base Realignment Commission Meeting in Montgomery County This Week!

The State Highway Administration is redesigning several roads to handle more cars in preparation for the consolidation of jobs at the Naval Medical Center as part of BRAC, and the early word is that their plans are likely to make conditions worse for bikes -- and prevent improvements for bicycles in the future.

If you want to do something about it, you need to weigh in at a public meeting on Thursday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m. at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. BCC is located at 4301 East-West Highway (MD 410) just east of downtown Bethesda.

Anyone who rides a bike through the area near the Medical Center (and by near, we mean the area bounded by Old Georgetown Road on the west, Connecticut Avenue on the east, Cedar Lane on the north, and Jones Bridge Road on the south), has a stake in this project.

The areas targeted for widening or addition of turn lanes include Cedar at Old Georgetown, Cedar at 355 (Rockville Pike), Jones Bridge Road at 355, and Jones Bridge Road at Connecticut. SHA has not released its draft plan, but the early word is that they are not going to include the bike paths or lanes that have long been on the drawing board for Old Georgetown, Cedar, and Jones Bridge Road. In fact, the SHA plan may actually prevent future construction of these bike improvements by adding space for auto traffic and taking it away from bicycles and pedestrians.

In discussions with SHA staff, we have been told that SHA does not think the area affected by the BRAC transportation project has significant amounts of bicycle traffic. This meeting is your chance to tell them that cyclists need safe and efficient access to, from, and through the Medical Center, NIH, Rockville Pike, Jones Bridge Road, Rock Creek Park, Old Georgetown Road, and downtown Bethesda that would be compromised by adding still more auto-oriented infrastructure at the expense of cyclists.

Shady Grove Access Path Update

Thanks to the support of Mongtomery County Cyclists, the Metro Board vote to move forward with the construction of the Shady Grove Access Path with the assurance that the Metro access path will be constructed. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write the Metro Board in support of this key trail.