College Park and University of Maryland SGA leaders are calling on the Maryland State Highway Administration to add protective features to bike lanes along Route 1.
College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir, the College Park City Council and Student Government Association legislators said protected bike lanes will increase cyclist and pedestrian safety.
The SGA passed a resolution on Oct. 30 that supported adding protection such as plastic bollards, which are bendable traffic posts, to bike lanes stretching from College Avenue to University Boulevard on Route 1, according to Malcolm Maas, the resolution’s co-sponsor.
The SGA plans to send the resolution to the State Highway Administration, the junior physics and atmospheric and oceanic science major said.
Earlier last month, Kabir, with the council’s support, sent a letter asking the Maryland Department of Transportation to “strongly consider retroactively protecting the bike lanes that have already been added to Baltimore Avenue.”
“Lots of our community members, especially students, do so much biking,” Kabir told The Diamondback. “So it is important to have that protection.”
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The SGA resolution stemmed from student concerns that the bike lanes on Route 1 are “unsafe and frequently obstructed by parked vehicles.”
Sophomore finance major Akhil Sethukarthy said a driver once stopped in a bike lane in front of him on Route 1, forcing him to leave the bike lane to go around the car.
“Luckily, the road was basically empty because it was nighttime, but I feel like it would be kind of a hassle if it was busier,” Sethukarthy said.
Freshman psychology major Sydnie Steinberg said she tries to avoid Route 1 while riding her Veo scooter because she feels unsafe. Steinberg would use her Veo on Route 1 more frequently if there were a barrier between the road and the bike lanes, she said.
City Council member Stuart Adams said as micromobility use increases, it is important to think about “the approachability and accessibility” of bike lanes.
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According to Adams, parked vehicles and vehicles with their hazard lights on often block access to the bike lanes on Route 1.
To address these concerns, the SGA resolution proposed the State Highway Administration retroactively protect the 5-foot-wide bike lanes recently created on Route 1. The lanes were added in the first part of a nearly $57 million project that began in spring 2020 to improve safety on Route 1.
The State Highway Administration project also included a raised median, sidewalks compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, resurfacing, enhanced lighting and fresh pavement markings and signage, the State Highway Administration wrote in a statement to The Diamondback.
In addition to increasing safety, protecting and improving bike lanes would further the state’s sustainability goals, Kabir wrote in his letter to the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Adams supports protecting bike lanes, but said it is important to balance safety for cyclists with ensuring emergency vehicle access.
“Emergency egress and ingress for ambulance, fire trucks, police is always top of mind,” Adams said.
University president Darryll Pines told The Diamondback he supports adding safety measures to bike lanes on Route 1. The university’s campus already has protected bike lanes, he said.
Senior staff writers Irit Skulnik and Natalie Weger contributed to this story.
