Join the fight for a safer Old Georgetown Road

In 2023, Maryland State Highway Administration placed buffered bike lanes on a 3+ mile stretch of MD-187, Old Georgetown Road, responding to the two deaths of teenagers Jacob Cassell and Enzo Alvarenga, who were killed when biking on the narrow sidewalks along the road. The immediate impact of these lanes was to make the sidewalks safer for walking and biking. As reported by MoCo360, “data collected by the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) shows the bike lanes along a two-mile stretch of the road have caused very little change in driving time but have actually reduced fatalities and tripled bike traffic.”

We can make this safer streets facility even safer and more useful. The physical barrier between car traffic and those using the lanes and sidewalks can be enhanced by placing hard-rubber curbs or other solid barriers in addition to the plastic bollards already there. The intersections of the lanes with the entrances and exits to I-495 and I-270 can be made much safer also. In addition, the lanes can be extended southwards into downtown Bethesda to directly connect to the network of protected bike lanes on Woodmont Avenue and East-West Highway.

More about Old Georgetown Road

In response to a series of fatal crashes along the corridor, and sustained pressure from WABA, Montgomery County Families for Safe Streets, Action Committee for Transit, and other grassroots advocates, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration installed three miles of protected bike lanes on Old Georgetown Road (MD 187) in North Bethesda.

The lanes proved effective: in the 15 months after they were installed, there were no pedestrian or bicyclist injuries on the corridor. Despite this safety improvement, the project continues to face some opposition as a result of misconceptions about its impact on car traffic.

More about Complete State Roads: Montgomery County

WABA’s Complete State Roads initiative aims to remake state highways in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties as complete streets, boosting safety and mobility for people who walk, bike, roll, or use transit as well as for drivers and their passengers.

The Complete State Roads–Montgomery County report is available at waba.org/stateroads and you can watch a presentation delivered about it at WABA’s 4th Great Montgomery County Bike Summit in 2023.

As part of the Complete State Roads initiative, WABA backed the development of legislation for introduction in the 2024 Maryland legislative session.

More about Complete Streets

Complete Streets are streets designed to accommodate all users, and that prioritize historically underinvested modes of transportation like transit, walking, and biking. An incomplete street might lack adequate sidewalks, low-stress bike infrastructure, or safe and comfortable access to transit.

Effective Complete Streets policies change the way a jurisdiction plans and builds transportation infrastructure—sidewalks, low stress bike infrastructure, and transit should be included in any new or rebuilt street by default, rather than as an add-on when there's space or demand.

While most regional jurisdictions have a Complete Streets policy of some sort, they lack teeth and permit transportation departments to continue to build streets that put cars first and squeeze other modes into the margins.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.