All-ages riders group testing out the temporary bike lane on University Drive in Montgomery County. Image by Alison Gillespie, used with permission

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) plans to install temporary combined bus and bicycle lanes on University Boulevard to speed riders and cyclists along and enable data collection for a future redesign. In the longer term, the corridor will get a comprehensive overhaul with bus rapid transit (BRT) planned (but not funded) as well as possible dedicated bus lanes and walkability enhancements as part of the University Boulevard Corridor Plan.

The pilot lane will serve buses, bicycles, and emergency vehicles; cars will be allowed in only to turn right. Giving buses their own lane to zip past traffic is the gold standard for advancing transportation equity, attracting new riders, and lowering congestion. In the next several years, Montgomery County plans for a substantial portion of its projected BRT network to meet this standard. Currently, only the Route 29 line has been built.

The University Boulevard pilot is the largest of MCDOT’s bus priority projects, and will extend over 2 miles from Amherst Avenue to Dennis Avenue. It will carry the C2 and C4, bus lines with the highest ridership in Maryland and among the top 5 or 6 in the Washington region, according to Gary Erenrich, special assistant to the director, MCDOT.

An MCDOT survey found that 34 percent of respondents would use buses on the corridor if they are given their own lane. On the C2 and C4, “reliability is poor, and it’s a long route,” said Erenrich. “It’s important that people become more confident that buses will come when they’re supposed to.” Dedicated bus lanes will improve service in the most effective way, likely drawing new passengers, according to Erenrich.

The future one-mile Georgia Avenue project, from Wayne Avenue to 16th Street NW, will also serve a well-traveled route. Two shorter separated bus lanes are already in operation in Germantown, where they serve the limited purpose of getting people in and out of the traffic-challenged transit center. In a separate project, the Flash BRT’s Route 29 service has begun design for additional dedicated lanes.

These projects use signs and red paint to warn cars to stay out of the bus lanes — more effective, but also more expensive, than employing limited white paint and signs, according to Erenrich. Police may or may not choose to ticket offending drivers, and camera enforcement is not allowed by Federal Highway Administration rules, he said, so red paint is the agency’s best tool to keep cars out.

Relief for bicyclists, but how much?

Unique in Montgomery County, for the University Boulevard project bicycles will share the bus lane. This is largely due to the unusual history of this project: it will employ lanes previously dedicated to bicycles during a half-year pilot in 2021. According to Erenrich, the separated bus lanes received strong pushback from a community group that faced delays turning at Arcola Avenue when shuttling their children to and from school, and the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) ended the pilot in early 2022.

Although it had a short run, the bike lane pilot showed that taking a lane of traffic only minimally delayed cars. Erenrich said the experiment was key to easing acceptance of the bus lane pilot. Plus, Erenrich said the new combination bus and bike lanes will be engineered so that delay at the Arcola Avenue turn does not happen, which should reduce opposition to future changes. Alison Gillespie, a local bicycle and safe streets activist, argued that irate motorists wanted to add back a slip lane “literally right next to Northwood HS” that encourages high-speed turns, which endanger pedestrians.

A combined bus and bike lane is controversial — some worry it will impede both modes, with buses slowed by bicycles and bikes delayed by the start-and-stop action of buses. However, Erenrich said there may be 500 or 600 cars an hour on University Boulevard versus a bus every five minutes or so, which makes it much safer for bicyclists to share a lane with the latter. Plus, buses can move into the next lane to maneuver around bikes, he said.

Gillespie questions the efficacy of the design. “I don’t know why you would purposely set up a temporary solution that is only going to cause conflict and aggravation,” which might harm support for future changes, she said. Combining buses and bicycles works best with numerous bus stops, such as on I Street in DC, Gillespie said. Once BRT arrives, buses will be going longer stretches without stopping, and will pick up too much speed to be compatible with bicycles.

However, Erenrich cited the “need to do something now” because the timeframe for future improvements is long and uncertain. “University Boulevard BRT does not have current funding to advance the project planning and design,” Erenrich said.

Until then, this project provides relief for both buses and bikes, and the lanes will “help lay the groundwork for BRT” by allowing MCDOT to observe service frequency, operating efficiency, and ridership, he said. Currently, Erenrich estimates four to five bus stops an hour, which slows them enough to make the lane comfortable for many bicyclists.

One analog to the bus lane pilot is Ride On ExtRa, two limited-stop express bus routes, one of which gave some relief to the Route 29 corridor while it awaited BRT. The remaining express route, 101, is currently aiding bus passengers, myself included, on the 355 corridor while it awaits its own BRT. These buses do include transit signal priority and other amenities, but do not have their own lanes.

While awaiting a full redesign, bicyclists who don’t feel comfortable on University Boulevard are advised to choose another route. However, due to the way the surrounding road network was constructed, typical of suburban sprawl, bicyclists have few options, said Gillespie.

A better corridor is possible

The University Boulevard corridor is choked with fast-moving cars that can be deadly to bicyclists and people walking, but thanks to the University Boulevard Corridor Plan, comprehensive solutions may be in the works, although the plan is in the early stages.

“We knew that road was overbuilt, we had data from long before Covid,” Gillespie said. Many in the neighborhood “have complained about high, high speeds; it becomes a raceway particularly at night,” partly because there are “too many lanes.” She pointed to insufficient sidewalks, with telephone poles in the middle that block bicycles, wheelchairs, and strollers.

Fortunately, changing University Boulevard to a complete streets model, with greater walkability, bikeability, bus access, and safety is called for by a number of Montgomery County policy documents and frameworks, including Thrive Montgomery 2050, Vision Zero, and the Bicycle Master Plan. By removing the current median, Gillespie said University Boulevard should have room for BRT, improved walkability, and the pocket bike lane the Bicycle Master Plan calls for.

It could be a long wait. Currently, the University Boulevard Corridor Plan is still providing opportunity for further community input. “Meetings will be ongoing for the next year or so,” said Gillespie. “People can and should weigh in as much as possible.”

As E-bikes and cargo bikes draw new bicyclists, Gillespie said the need is only growing for a comprehensive network of lanes to connect destinations. A multimodal University Boulevard could be one part of a comprehensive solution to the county’s transportation woes — and its environmental ones. “We can’t keep adding more and more cars,” said Gillespie. “We have a climate emergency.”

University Boulevard’s eventual design will hopefully offer more safe, pleasant as well as sustainable bus, bike, and foot trips along a corridor now dominated by cars.

This article has been updated to reflect that the University Boulevard bike lanes are a project of the Maryland State Department of Transportation, not Montgomery County. We regret the error.