With our crowded roadways, taking away a lane of traffic would, intuitively, seem to cause enormous delays for drivers. And resistance to change seems baked into the human condition.

So it’s unsurprising that the installation in December of 2022 of separated, buffered bike lanes along two miles of Montgomery County’s Old Georgetown Road, while removing lanes for cars, spurred virulent opposition. Yet statistics from the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) show virtually no change in driving time due to the changes, but a plunge in fatalities and a tripling of bicycle traffic.

I think it’s easy for a driver in traffic to see an empty bike lane and think “if only I could use that lane I wouldn’t be stuck in this traffic,” but the truth is the only reason that lane is clear is because it’s denied to cars. If it were another car lane, it would be just another lane full of cars stuck in traffic.

Also, it only seems clear of users because bicycles are so much more efficient at moving people through space than cars. As the article notes: bicycle traffic tripled with the bike lanes.

I came across this article through Strong Towns.