Commuting for work – Silver Spring to Bethesda

[Terpfan]

@musa1348 113201 wrote:

Hi,
What’s the best route to take from Silver Spring to Bethesda:

I live near: Route 29 and Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905

My work location: Near BCC High School, 4301 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, MD 20814

ike up by Paint Branch HS? I haven’t been up that way in some time, but does the ICC portion up there have the path alongside it like it does at other portions? If so, I would probably take that west and then weave my way down to the Sligo Creek Trail (I think you have to cross the creek over Randolph and then there are some connecting paths to SCT in Wheaton Regional Park, but it’s been so long that I’m the wrong one to give advice on those). Then right past the Beltway take the first street right and then it becomes Seminary at Georgia Ave. Briefly on Seminary to the top of that little hill and go left onto Brookeville Rd into that industrial sort of area. Then left onto the road by Appliace Builders brick company building and that connects you to the Georgetown Branch Trail, which you can take all the way to Bethesda. There isn’t an exit off it for EW Highway, but I think just past it you can get off onto a small road that connects to Montgomery Ave right before it meets EW–just a block or two from BCC.

Note, anyone who rides it more regularly can give more precise directions. I’ve only really ridden that area a handful of times, usually cutting off by Wheaton Regional at the furthest.

[musa1348]

Okay, I’ll just have to see, would love to connect with someone that can meet up near the SCT near wheaton.

[sethpo]

@musa1348 113201 wrote:

Hi,
What’s the best route to take from Silver Spring to Bethesda:

I live near: Route 29 and Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905

My work location: Near BCC High School, 4301 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, MD 20814

There’s actually a Downtown Silver Spring Coffee Club that meets on Wednesdays.

These are the people to talk to about that and probably about your route question as well.

https://twitter.com/bikeeveryday/status/584841275314176000

[Crickey7]

Map of the ICC Bike path segments now open. Sad, really.

http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/ICC/pdf_files/ICC_Bike_Trail_map_Nov2012.pdf

[jrenaut]

Pretty much everything about the ICC is sad.

[mstone]

hey, don’t you understand that bike trails (that run next to 6 lanes of interstate highway) are bad for the environment? and that the only solution is to get rid of the bike trail (but not the 6 lane interstate highway)?

[Terpfan]

Yah, the more I look at it, the more I realize your real issue is getting from Paint Branch HS area to Sligo Creek Trail. From there, it’s very easy. But since the ICC path is so bizarre, it doens’t help matters.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/create/

Using this will help you to see the elevation changes and where they think MUPs, etc exist. Really, the issue is getting across the NW Branch (map shows it as called NW Branch of Anacostia, but I always thought it was a creek) and/or New Hampshire Ave. The map does show a bridge for the Rachel Carson Greenway Trail, but I don’t remember any bridge back there and I also think it’s really a dirt path type of trail. Given the ICC doesn’t have a trail there (really, what idiots designed it), it leaves your options of 29 (by that dam), Randolph, or going the northern route to Bonifant Rd. Randolph Rd may be your best bet over to Kemp Mill. Having driven those roads all the time growing up, I would not want to ride on most of them–certainly not 29 and arguably not Randolph either, but if I remember it right, Randolph does have a semi-decent sidewalk there.

Definitely go to the coffee club and consult some local cyclists. Most of my cycling from yesteryear was restricted to Olney-area and Rock Creek Park. Plus, back then there was didlysquat for cycling infrastructure. Then again, I see MoCo putting up cycling signs on odd places on Georgia Ave, so I’m not sure they quite figured it out yet.

[jopamora]

Take a look at the Strava heatmap. Any route looks like it’ll mostly be on roads and unfortunately a few 6 lane roads. The few times I’ve ridden that way involved Old Columbia Pike, Randolph Rd, neighborhood streets, some trails and Kemp Mill Rd. Good luck.

[musa1348]

Yes, thanks for the advice everyone. I’m thinking I may have to do 50-50. Drive about 6 miles to Kemp Mill and then ride the bike in 6 miles from the Sligo Creek Trail and connect over to Georgetown Branch Trail over to Bethesda.

[Crickey7]

@musa1348 113483 wrote:

Yes, thanks for the advice everyone. I’m thinking I may have to do 50-50. Drive about 6 miles to Kemp Mill and then ride the bike in 6 miles from the Sligo Creek Trail and connect over to Georgetown Branch Trail over to Bethesda.

That sounds like a good plan. I hate to tell anyone that a particular route isn’t doable by bike, but there’s also no point making yourself supremely unhappy.

[PotomacCyclist]

They should take one of the underused ICC road lanes and convert it into a wide bike path. That would be awesome.

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/September-October-2013/The-Intercounty-Connector/

[skins_brew]

I have done this a few times.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7482872

A tad hilly, but it isn’t that bad. The climbs where the route crosses various streams are….interesting. Gear down!

From Lockwood to Lanark, I would just ride on the sidewalk on the Northbound side of 29. You could legally ride on 29, but that is virtually suicide.

[Author]

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