Bike lanes are controversial, with passionate fans and foes arguing for and against them. This is true not only here in Montgomery County but also around Maryland — and other areas of the U.S.
A variety of factors constrain the ability of roads to accommodate all types of users. Those constraints include limited budgets, limited available road widths, and the needs of property owners and other stakeholders — such as businesses — located along roads.
Let’s sort out the facts from a few common misconceptions.
Gripe: Bike lanes are just a woke amenity for privileged adults who think they own the road.
Reality: Bike lanes ensure that taxpayer-funded infrastructure serves everyone by safely making room for both motorists and cyclists. Bicycling helps reduce the number of cars on the road, easing traffic and cutting air pollution while enabling commuters to get healthy and safe exercise.
Gripe: Bike lanes are dangerous and have no place on busy roads.
Reality: Cyclists outside of bike lanes are at constant risk of injury or death when motorists don’t maintain safe space while passing them, when cyclists err and get too close to motorists, and when infrastructure itself forces cyclists and motor vehicles into the same limited space. Bike lanes save lives when they are designed properly.
The bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road, for example, use plastic flex posts as a physical and visual separator. The lanes were installed after two youths lost their lives biking along the road in separate incidents: Jacob Cassell in 2019 and Enzo Alvarenga in 2022. Since the installation, state data shows “a tripling of bicycle traffic” and “virtually no change in driving time,” according to this analysis.
Gripe: Bike lanes aren’t useful unless they connect to a larger network.
Reality: This one is half right. Bike lanes help wherever they’re installed. But, yes, connecting them all together in a seamless network is vital. And that’s exactly what Montgomery County’s Bicycle Master Plan envisions.
Gripe: Cyclists sometimes contribute to safety problems.
Reality: Unfortunately, there’s some truth in this gripe as well. Just like drivers, cyclists’ skills and experience levels vary. Montgomery County is addressing that skills gap by offering adult bike training. Check out this flier for May and June classes.
“We have to recognize that there are no perfect solutions,” noted BTS Director Kristen Blackmon. “Multimodal transportation continues to evolve in downtown Bethesda as we strive to move more people — safely — using fewer vehicles to reduce congestion and pollution.”
