On Monday, Montgomery County’s second protected bikeway opened, doubling the number of lane-miles in the county where there’s a physical barrier between space for bikes and general traffic. It’s part of what will one day be an expansive network that will make bike commuting in Montgomery safer and more practical.

Nebel Street. Photo from MCDOT.

Actually comprised of two one-way lanes on either side of the road, the new infrastructure is on Nebel Street, a commercial and industrial street in White Flint that sees a lot of use. The lanes will eventually be part of a bike corridor that runs from downtown Bethesda to Twinbrook, in Rockville.

Protected bikeways are the wave of the future for Montgomery County, which has plans for a network of them in White Flint, the Life Sciences Center, and Silver Spring. In 2014, the county opened the protected bikeway on Woodglen Drive, which was one of the first of its kind in the nation for a place outside of a major city’s limits (and, different from this one, has two lanes that run in opposite directions but sit side by side).

The new bikeway runs from Marinelli Road to Randolph Road. At the southern end, they will connect to bike lanes planned for Marinelli Road, which will connect to Metro and eventually to the Woodglen Drive bikeway.

Nebel Street. Photo from MCDOT.

The new bikeway on Nebel Street brings the county’s total mileage of protected bike lanes to 0.8 miles, roughly the same number as Arlington County. The District has around six miles of protected bikeways.

Other projects to add to Montgomery’s total are underway now, and more are in planning. A separated contraflow bike lane on Glenbrook Road in Bethesda will be completed within weeks, and the county hopes to begin construction on downtown Silver Spring’s first protected bikeway along Spring Street in November, weather permitting.

Glenbrook Road nearing completion. Photo by MCDOT.

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett reaffirmed the county’s commitment to building a low-stress network of bikeways at the ribbon cutting Monday. The county has a long way to go, but is working quickly to build better bike facilities.