Leggett Live Chat Transcript Posted

Leggett's Live Online Chat from 2014-12-11 (Dec 11th, 2014) is now posted.  He discusses transportation, energy tax and housing.

www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/news/Discussion/PIOTrans.asp?schdID=66

Good News, Bad News. Will Montgomery County Ever Get it Right?

The Good:  A new cycletrack going in on Woodglen Dr.  However, I am curious how the two way cycletrack will work at intersections, especially those with bike boxes.  Will cyclists know to look out for opposite flow cyclists?  Will drivers watch out for contraflow cyclists before making right turns across the cycletrack?   (http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/dot/pressrelease/PR_details.asp?PrID=14129)

The Bad: The loss of the Bethesda tunnel is typical of bicycle infrastructure in Montgomery County Maryland.  (http://www.waba.org/blog/2014/10/no-tunnel-for-the-capital-crescent-trail/)

Even Copenhagen has realized that "ridiculous detours" (theguardian.com) don't work and is now building bridges to interconnect their bicycling infrastructure.  

What's most disappointing is hearing promises from County Council Members as they broadcast their support for needed bicycling infrastructure throughout Montgomery County but time after time, this is what I see as the result:   "In a closed session several weeks ago the County Council, at the recommendation of County Executive Ike Leggett, decided not to move forward with this attempt." (from WABA article linked above)   It's time to prioritize bicycling infrastructure.   The cost is certainly minimal compared to most other county initiatives and the wins (saftey, reduced congestion) are well documented in other jurisdictions implementing separated cycling infrastructure.

Add Bicycling Infrastructure -- We Know it Works!

Here we have another data point articulating what we already know, separated bike lanes improve the movement of people via all modes of transportation.   In the article When Adding Bike Lanes Actually Reduces Traffic Delays from CityLab, NYCDOT describes how they took a five car-lane road and reconfigured it with four smaller motor vehicle travel lanes, adding a parking, and a buffer and finally a six foot bike lane and actually improving travel times.