Some of the most despised Bethesda, Maryland, bike lanes may not be slowing down traffic as much as drivers feared.
Travel times going northbound on Md. Route 187/Old Georgetown Road from just south of Interstate 495 toward Rockville during morning and afternoon rush hours have increased by about a minute total, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA).
This after the six-lane roadway was redesigned to two lanes in each direction, along with the addition of northbound and southbound protected bike lanes.
While the move may have frustrated some drivers who commute on that road, travel times have seen little change.
The SHA told WTOP that the southbound slowdowns that originally appeared with the redesign of the road, no longer exist.
Old Georgetown Road was redesigned after a series of high-profile and serious, sometimes deadly crashes. The SHA said that between March 15 and July 26 this year, there were no such wrecks recorded.
Last year, the same four-month time span saw one person killed and four others injured along that roadway.
The SHA said it had also seen a rise in the number of bicyclists using those lanes on weekdays. However, the total number of bicyclists using those lanes is still a small fraction compared to the number of vehicles still driving on Old Georgetown Road.
A full report on the impact of the protected bike lanes and the redesign is expected to be released later this month, according to a Maryland State Highway Administration spokesman.
The Greater Greater Washington website was the first to obtain and publish the data.
