Politics & Government

Planning Board Recommends Moving Forward With Bradley Boulevard Bikeway Design

Project would bring an eight-foot shared use path, a five-foot sidewalk and bikeable shoulders to Bradley Boulevard.

The Montgomery County Planning Board recommended Thursday that the proposed for Bradley Boulevard move into a detailed design phase.

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has been soliciting public feedback on several design alternatives for the bikeway, which has run into stiff opposition. 

The alternatives DOT has been studying also include a no-build option.

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The project is aimed to improve  traffic flow and pedestrian and bike access along Bradley Boulevard between Glenbrook Road and Wilson Lane. The one-mile stretch currently has sidewalks only for 800 feet on the north side and 500 feet on the south side, according to a Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning staff report.

Last week, the planning board heard details on DOT’s recommended alternative, which includes an eight-foot shared use path along the north side of Bradley, four-foot bikeable shoulders, and a five-foot sidewalk on the south side of Bradley.  The recommended design alternative would also feature left-turn lanes on Bradley Boulevard at Wilson Lane and a drainage swale.

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Opponents, many of them residents of Bradley Boulevard, have raised concerns about a lack of demand for the bikeway; potential conflicts between bikers and residents entering and exiting their driveways; bicyclists traveling at high speeds along the shared-use path and the impacts on trees. According to M-NCPPC, preliminary studies indicate the project will mean the removal of as many as 153 trees, including three to four “specimen” trees above 30 inches in diameter. The project will also add about .7 acres of additional impervious surface, according to the staff report.

At the hearing, planning board members and residents discussed details of the project. Planning board members wondered whether the shared-use path might be bumped up in width from eight feet to ten feet. One resident who testified preferred wider bikeable shoulders.

“Four-foot bike lanes are a bit narrow…if you could have five feet, that would be much better for the cycling community,” said John Wetmore, a pedestrian advocate and resident of Bradley Boulevard.

Wetmore also advocated for pedestrian islands along Bradley in his testimony.

Peggy Dennis, of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, advocated for left-turn lanes along Wilson towards Bradley to reduce the traffic bottleneck in the area. She also encouraged a strong focus on the environmental aspects of the project.

“There are so many fine, mature trees being lost in this project, I think there should be top priority from the environmental and streetscape points of view put on planting new trees in those bio-retentive swales,” Dennis said.

The planning board’s recommendation will now move to the Montgomery County Department of Transportation and the Montgomery County Council to determine whether or not the project will move forward into the next phase of design.

A video recording of the hearing is available at the Planning Board’s website, and more details on the project are also available in the project’s staff report.


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