Montgomery County Has a Bicycle Stress Map Now!

[creadinger]

Very interesting and a pretty cool idea. It seems like it needs some tinkering in the hinterlands though. Peach Tree Rd out near Poolesville is high stress? I don’t think so. And Big Woods Rd? Moderately high stress? I’ve seen less cars on that road than the number of times I’ve ridden on it (3).

Most of River Rd is either High or Very high. I could see it being moderately high, but it’s one of the only useful routes west in MontCo and there’s a lot of bike traffic on it.

[americancyclo]

If you click on the metro stations, you get a map and a number for “Percent of Dwelling Units Connected to Station on Low-Stress Bicycle Network” I think that feature is pretty cool and shows where the county can do work to make transportation a bit more attractive. There’s no indication of the distance, though.

Wonder if they have the same data for the MARC stations as well.

Station % Connected dwellings low-stress
Takoma 54
Glenmont 53
Medical Center 46
Forest Glen 29
Twinbrook 28
Grosvernor-Strathmore 26
Silver Spring 4
Friendship Heights 4
Bethesda 4
Wheaton 1
Rockville 1
White Flint 0
Shady Grove 0

[KLizotte]

Unfortunately the map also highlights the fact that if you actually want to get out of your neighborhood you forced to ride a moderate or high stress route at some point. Most of the blue and green routes are cul de sacs or circles within a residential neighborhood. An example of unintentional consequences of suburban street design.

[creadinger]

@KLizotte 138038 wrote:

Unfortunately the map also highlights the fact that if you actually want to get out of your neighborhood you have to ride a moderate or high stress route at some point. Most of the blue and green routes are cul de sacs or circles within a residential neighborhood. An example of unintentional consequences of suburban street design.

It’s the big problem with the suburbs and sprawl right? I see this all the time as I try to design bike rides around the area. Neighborhoods are never connected to each other on small, back roads. Always highways. It’s really frustrating. Thus the need for planners to make bike routes on or next to them.

[dasgeh]

Did anyone else click on the videos? “Low stress” is biking on a sidewalk. “Moderate-low stress” is a door zone bike lane that even shows a car door closing right in front of the cyclist and partial bike lane blockage.

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 138094 wrote:

Did anyone else click on the videos? “Low stress” is biking on a sidewalk. “Moderate-low stress” is a door zone bike lane that even shows a car door closing right in front of the cyclist and partial bike lane blockage.

I like that they have video examples, although I think you differ with them on their opinion of stress level.

[scoot]

@americancyclo 138095 wrote:

I like that they have video examples, although I think you differ with them on their opinion of stress level.

Also note that within each infrastructure type, the examples are cherry-picked:

– the “high-stress” bike lane segment is shot right after a traffic signal lets the herd loose
– the “low-stress” sidewalk has no conflict points with turning vehicles, nor any pedestrians
– the “no-stress” trolley trail segment includes no interactions with joggers / children / dogs / etc.

[Tim Kelley]

Please add your comments and critiques here. I looks like the BikeArlington team will be chatting with the Montgomery team about comfort maps and I’d like to share feedback.

[creadinger]

@scoot 138099 wrote:

Also note that within each infrastructure type, the examples are cherry-picked:

– the “high-stress” bike lane segment is shot right after a traffic signal lets the herd loose
– the “low-stress” sidewalk has no conflict points with turning vehicles, nor any pedestrians
– the “no-stress” trolley trail segment includes no interactions with joggers / children / dogs / etc.

The high-stress isn’t even that bad given that you DO in fact have a bike lane and some space. High stress for me is climbing a hill on a high speed, 2 lane road with little to no shoulder.

[Crickey7]

I could definitely quibble with their classifications. River Road, for example, gets the highest stress designation inside the Beltway. I ride that every single day. Most of it has a very wide shoulder and is not at all stressful.

What it does show, and I agree with, is that nearly all the roads in the County that actually go anywhere are not pleasant for casual riders.

[Tim Kelley]

Any other comments to add? Meeting with Montgomery tomorrow!

[mattotoole]

@KLizotte 138038 wrote:

Unfortunately the map also highlights the fact that if you actually want to get out of your neighborhood you forced to ride a moderate or high stress route at some point. Most of the blue and green routes are cul de sacs or circles within a residential neighborhood. An example of unintentional consequences of suburban street design.

This is what I found hardest about living in Potomac, near Rockville (closest Metro). Nothing is connected.

Along Rockville Pike between Rockville and Grosvenor, there are no parallel alternatives for shopping. And not enough connections across 270. I always had to navigate the Montrose interchange, with fast merging traffic and a hill.

It would be great to put a bike-ped tunnel under 270 from the end of Tilden Ln. to the Cabin John shopping center. People along Tilden could access the Cabin John Creek open space and trails, and ultimately the regional park and Montgomery Mall, without detouring out onto Tuckerman. From the other direction it’s a straight shot on quiet streets to the White Flint Metro, Pike & Rose, etc.

Don’t get me started on putting trails under the powerlines, connecting many key points in MoCo… #CompleteCorridors

[eminva]

Sorry I’m late, Tim!

@KLizotte 138038 wrote:

Unfortunately the map also highlights the fact that if you actually want to get out of your neighborhood you forced to ride a moderate or high stress route at some point. Most of the blue and green routes are cul de sacs or circles within a residential neighborhood. An example of unintentional consequences of suburban street design.

I was focusing on Takoma Park and the close-in parts of Silver Spring, near where I used to live, and this is definitely not true there. They are older suburbs on a grid pattern and are fairly designated as low stress with reasonable access to Metro, shopping or other amenities. I think this is true of other communities in the south part of the county.

HOWEVER . . . there are some formidable hills in Takoma Park and a novice cyclist would be severely challenged getting to the Metro from, say, the Sligo Creek area.

My comments to the Montgomery planners would be as follows:

Glad they designated Carroll between Ethan Allen and Tulip as moderate-high; I consider the bike lanes there a total failure. I say that as a WABA LCI (I took a class of City Cycling students through there and they concurred).

I didn’t realize, until studying this map, that there are a ton of stream beds throughout the county — these could be sites for trails that could provide no stress cycling routes for a lot of the folks hemmed in by higher stress roadways.

Liz

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