Old Georgetown Bike Lane Ride
Please join WABA, MoCo Families for Safe Streets, and the Action Committee for Transit to bike and walk along the Old Georgetown Road bike lanes on April 13th.
Many of you will recall that we joined together to ride on the Old Georgetown Road bike lanes on January 8, 2023 to demonstrate our strong community support for them. We had well over 100 walkers and riders join us and we received significant media attention. We need to continue to show our neighbors and elected officials why these lanes are essential to protect against pressure to remove them. We will be inviting our local elected leaders to join us for this walk/ride.
These lanes were constructed to prevent the deaths and serious injuries that have all too often occurred on Old Georgetown Road. Over the past several years, two teenagers were struck and killed while biking on Old Georgetown Road’s narrow, unbuffered sidewalks, joining an already long list of life altering injuries and traffic fatalities on this busy road. In response to these crash deaths, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) repurposed both curbside traffic lanes for protected bike lanes on a 3.1 mile stretch of MD-187 in Bethesda. In the 15 months since the lanes were installed, there have been NO pedestrian or bike injuries.
Bottom line – these bike lanes have been a tremendous success and are doing just what our local policymakers intended: save lives, prevent injuries, and minimally impact travel time for those in vehicles.
Rain date (April 14) – In case of inclement weather on Saturday, we will ride and walk on Sunday. If you do not hear before 8:00am Saturday April 13 that the ride is canceled and moved to Sunday, we are going ahead with the ride on Saturday April 13!
Event details:
Meet other cyclists at the Medical Center Metro at 10:00am to ride to West Cedar Lane and Old Georgetown Road. Cyclists will leave from West Cedar Lane and Old Georgetown Road at 10:30am!
Those walking will gather at Tuckerman Lane and Old Georgetown Road to step off at 10:45am to walk to Edson Lane and back. Ride is 6 miles in total on flat terrain.
Everyone can gather back at West Cedar Lane and Old Georgetown Road after the ride to schmooze and plan future steps. Parking is available near West Cedar Lane and Old Georgetown Road.
Additional Details:
Include things like: ride length, is it open only to women? Does it contain challenging riding? Age restrictions (if at a bar, eg)? Parking? Dress code? Any additional information about the location? This is public facing. Please use complete sentences.
Co-hosts, partners, and sponsors:Montgmery County Families for Safe Streets (https://mocofamiliesforsafestreets.org/), Action Committee For Transit (http://actfortransit.org/)
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