Bike lanes are coming to University Boulevard in Wheaton this summer
Bike lanes will soon be added a portion of University Boulevard between Arcola Drive to Amherst Avenue, thanks to an MDOT SHA pilot. Image by the author.
This summer, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) will install bike lanes along University Boulevard in Wheaton by closing one lane of traffic to cars on each side of the road. The temporary bike lanes will be marked by flex posts.
The bike lanes will go from Arcola Drive to Amherst Avenue, and advocates for “open streets” are hopeful this road diet could lead to both a transportation alternative for those who want to ride a bike, and safer sidewalks for those who walk or wait for a bus nearby.
MDOT SHA will host an online information session on Thursday, May 13 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Meeting registration information is available here.
A map of the multimodal shared streets pilot from MDOT SHA. 
Traffic engineers often shrink roads to reduce speeding in residential neighborhoods like this one, but this is a new kind of project for MDOT SHA. The project was initiated after a request from a coalition of local groups asked the state agency to consider opening 19 miles of road for alternative uses during COVID-19.
Residents have long noted that they feel unsafe walking, biking, and waiting for the bus along this stretch, and over the last few years, several serious or fatal crashes have occurred here. Even before COVID, data demonstrated that University Boulevard was overbuilt. The numbers, gathered during past construction projects, seem to indicate that closing a lane in each direction is not likely to cause significant increases in wait times at intersections.
An image of the proposed bike lane pilot from MDOT SHA. 
This temporary bike lane is part of a study funded by a federal transportation grant and will connect Wheaton to Silver Spring for cyclists via Sligo Creek Parkway. The Parkway is currently closed to vehicular traffic three days a week. Data will be collected on usership of the lanes, the sidewalks next to the road, and the speed of cars traffic in the other lanes.
The pilot bike lanes will be installed in June and be in place for up to six months. The arrangement is temporary but may be made permanent if data shows it increases safety and if it is used by enough people on a regular basis. Information gathered will also be helpful in evaluating other segments of state highways for similar treatments.