Maps and directions » CycleMoco

Rockville Bikeway Plan available for public comment

Feb 202014

The draft 2014 Rockville Bikeway Master Plan is ready for public comment! For details, visit the plan update site or directly view the draft plan and map at these links: Draft 2014 Bikeway Master Plan Draft 2014 Bikeway Recommendations Map You can comment on the plan in person at a public hearing to be held on Wed. April 9th at 7 pm in the Mayor and Council Chambers, City Hall, 111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD, 20850. You can sign up to speak by calling 240-314-8200. Individual speakers get 3 minutes; those representing organizations get 5 minutes. Or you may provide written comments via email, via this form, or via regular mail (to bike coordinator Kevin Belanger, 111 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, […]

Bethesda route to be signed

Feb 082013

Montgomery County DOT has finished mapping out where bike route signs will go on its upper Bethesda route. Much of the work was just identifying the route. The county is officially calling it the “Montgomery Mall to Downtown Bethesda route”. They’ve already completed the design task for two other signed routes, running along the Georgia Ave. corridor and Rt. 29 corridor respectively, and signs are expected to go up this summer. These routes will likely get route numbers if the county adopts a bike route numbering system. Below is the list of turns, or see the map. Start at Bethesda Avenue/ Woodmont Avenue intersection (a block west of the Capital Crescent Trail) Head west on Bethesda Ave R on Clarendon […]

Bike route signs: a matter of format

Nov 032012

Montgomery County is preparing to post bike route signs along some long new bike routes like this one parallel to Georgia Avenue. The county’s Bicycle Action Group (MCBAG) is weighing in on the routes, sign placement and sign format. The routes will typically be 5 to 8 miles long. Please look at the wayfinding sign formats here on NACTO’s excellent website. It shows what other jurisdictions have done. Based on signs the county has already installed, we (MCBAG) are recommending the following basic format where each sign has up to three panels per post. Top Panel: Just a bike symbol and the words “BIKE ROUTE” Middle Panel: Big arrow(s) pointing along the main route. This panel is omitted if […]

What is the best Georgia Avenue corridor bike route?

Oct 212012

What is the best way to bike in the Georgia Avenue corridor from the Matthew Henson Trail crossing to Forest Glen Road? As with the proposed Rt. 29 corridor route, Montgomery County DOT is planning to post bike route signs along the best Georgia Avenue corridor route and is asking the cycling community for input. The goal is to sign a network of routes criss-crossing the county. The only route they’ve signed so far runs from Potomac to Colesville via Tuckerman Lane and Plyers Mill Road among other streets. Cyclists following the routes are expected to be comfortable riding on secondary streets or roads with shoulders or wide lanes. The county proposes two Georgia Avenue corridor routes, one connecting to […]

What is the best Rt. 29 corridor bike route?

Oct 142012

What is the best way to bike from MD 198 (at Rt. 29) to downtown Silver Spring? Montgomery County DOT is planning to post bike route signs along the best route and is asking the cycling community for input. DOT is posting signs along other useful bike routes too, to create a network of routes criss-crossing the county. The only route they’ve signed so far runs from Potomac to Colesville via Tuckerman Lane and Plyers Mill Road among other streets. The Rt. 29 corridor route will be the second route to be signed, and they also plan to do 2 or 3 more this year. The routes are arranged in part to serve transportation cyclists, and riders are expected to […]

Google maps: only as good as its user input

Sep 052012

Various trails around Lake Frank and the Meadowside Nature Center in Derwood are identified in Google maps. Google has them denoted as paved trails, including the segments I’ve highlighted in blue: Is the blue portion really paved? Last time I hiked it it wasn’t. The official trail map (as of August 2012) also says it isn’t: So it appears that Google Maps has some trail mistakes. What is their policy as far as showing natural surface trails? This trail isn’t merely unpaved. It’s a narrow and bumpy natural surface trail. Showing it on a map would only confuse cyclists. (Natural surface is not the same thing as unpaved; some crushed stone trails such as the Georgetown Branch Trail and C&O […]

A few spines short of a skeleton

Jun 242012

Montgomery County intends to put bike route signs along so-called “spine routes“, i.e. long routes for bikes that allow travel to other parts of the county as well as to key destinations like town centers or Metro. Each spine route will have a start and finish, a set of mileposts and ultimately a number or other designator (once we figure out a designation system). Rockville has a similar system of routes within the city limits, and has already posted signs along them. An original spine route concept for the county was developed by MoBike and MCBAG and includes many routes (probably too many). The routes are generally meant to be roadways or high quality trails (Capital Crescent Trail), but sometimes […]