Feared Traffic Increase From New Bike Lanes Failed to Materialize

Statistics from the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) reveal “virtually no change in driving time” on Old Georgetown Road in Montgomery County, where the installation of separated bike lanes last December spurred local opposition and fearmongering about added congestion. The data also shows “a plunge in fatalities and a tripling of bicycle traffic,” reports Ethan Goffman in Greater Greater Washington.

Goffman notes that “Most controversial has been removing a lane of traffic from each direction and adding five-foot bike lanes protected by an additional five-foot buffer, along with plastic bollards, from Nicholson Road in the north to just south of the Capital Beltway.” A petition against the bike lanes claiming a 39 percent reduction in traffic capacity was signed by over 9,000 people.

“Contrary to intuition, meanwhile, overall traffic flow has been unaffected: ‘In the northbound AM and PM peak directions, travel times along the entire corridor increased by about 60 seconds since implementation of the bike lanes,’ said the Maryland SHA spokesperson. Southbound, ‘travel times initially increased, but have since reduced to the levels before the bike lane project.’” The project also had no significant impact on bus travel times.