The latest in the campaign by cyclists and walkers for safer passage along Greenbelt Road? A web page.Greenbelt NASA Trail.org about the need for a bike lane between Eleanor  Roosevelt High School and NASA Goddard, and a wonderful video covering a public event to publicize the need.

The “Greenbelt Trail Walk” event attracted such key luminaries as Nicole Williams (a state delegates representing Greenbelt), Mayor Emmett Jordan, Mayor Pro Tem Kristen Weaver, bike-safety activist Jeff Lemieux (who’s also on the editorial board of this website), representatives of the Maryland State Highway Administration and the East Coast Greenway Alliance, and regular riders and walkers.

The video is by John Campanile, board member of Greenbelt Access Television and videographer-about-town whose works I watch not just for the content but for videography tips.

Another part of Greenbelt Road (along Beltway Plaza Mall) is getting a lot of attention from cyclists, almost all of it critical of the newly painted bike lanes. A member of the Greenbelters Facebook group wrote “My opinion: It looked like a death trap for cyclists before; it looks like even more of one now” and many cyclists responded in agreement.

I haven’t dared cycle along there myself but I found it confusing as a driver. Eventually, with the completion of Beltway Plaza’s major upgrade, that strip of Greenbelt Road will be improved but in the meantime, I wonder if a different paint pattern would help.

Bike Lanes for Thought

I was downtown this week and cycling along C Street N.E. made me appreciate this clearly marked, wide-enough bike lane.

Down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, where traffic is greater and faster, actual barriers make the lanes even safer.

Pennsylvania Avenue photo credit.