State officials told the public that the University Blvd. bike lanes were a 6-month pilot project to be dismantled on November 14, 2021. For 6 months, local residents and have patiently put up with delays from the blocked right turn lane from Arcola onto University Blvd and commuters have endured delays and congestion on University Blvd itself. During that time, residents have seen few if any cyclists in those experimental bike lanes.

Over the last 6 months, people have publicly opposed this project, in the listserv and on Facebook, by a ratio of over 10 to 1. Community engagement with this project has been very limited, and seems to have been dominated by one advocacy group. The only public hearing was on May 13, 2021, a few weeks before project implementation, which had already been determined without public input. 

There have been witnesses seeing a bicyclist repeatedly circle to trigger the electronic sensor monitoring bike use. In August, a Kemp Mill resident wrote the Project Manager about this attempt to falsify data. He has not received any response. 

There is another bike path, parallel and nearby, in Sligo Creek Park. Some residents prefer that government funds be used to improve that path instead. 

Many local residents enjoy riding bicycles, and would like to see more paths; but they must be safe and not obstruct existing traffic patterns, and the community’s opinions should be respected and taken into account. 

All of the state’s District 18 delegation (where the paths are) and all Councilmembers except Craig Rice and Sid Katz have signed onto a letter sponsored by Open Streets, a bike lobby, recommending that the bike lanes not be removed at their appointed time. 

We, the undersigned, petition that the bike lanes not be created on University Blvd.