Residents Invited to Discuss Granny White Bike Lane Options

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The City of Brentwood will hold a public informational meeting on Thursday, February 20 to discuss the possibility of adding bike lanes along both sides of Granny White Pike.

Later this year, the Brentwood Public Works Department will pave the road, so as part of this project, the City is taking the opportunity to explore adding bike lanes along Granny White Pike between Foxland Drive and Brentwood Academy. City Manager Kirk Bednar said, “given the heavy pedestrian use of the existing sidewalk, bike lanes would allow cyclists safer access to the schools, parks, and commercial areas along or adjacent to this corridor.” The addition of bike lanes along Granny White Pike was a recommendation from the Ad Hoc Bike and Pedestrian Committee and is consistent with the 2030 Plan which includes a policy that all neighborhoods within one mile of a school should have safe bike and pedestrian access to the school.

In the fall of 2019, the City authorized an agreement with engineering firm Kimley Horn to explore the feasibility of implementing on-street bike lanes from Powell Park to Granny White Park. Over the past few months, engineers have evaluated traffic and recently presented their findings to the City. The firm is proposing three options, all of which would be accomplished by adjusting the lane striping within the existing curbs and no new construction.

The bike lane options under consideration are as follows:

bike lane proposals for granny white pike in brentwoodOption 1 – Provides for four-foot-wide bike lanes with a three-foot-wide striped buffer area between the bike lane and the vehicle travel lane. Vehicle travel lanes would be 11 feet wide. This option would eliminate the center turn lane along most of the corridor, but left turn lanes would still be maintained at all intersections. At the intersections where turn lanes are provided, the buffer area would be eliminated, and the bike lanes would be reduced to three feet in width.

Option 2 – Provides for three-foot-wide bike lanes with no buffer area between the bike lane and the vehicle travel lane. This option would keep the center turn lane and intersection turn lane but reduce the vehicle travel lane widths to ten feet.

Option 3 – The third option would be to keep the road striping the same as it is today, with no bike lanes added.

The February 20 open house will be an informal and drop-in style meeting to review the proposed options and voice your thoughts on the plans. The meeting will be from 6-8pm at Brentwood City Hall located at 5211 Maryland Way in the annex room on the second floor. Residents are encouraged to drop in at their convenience and discuss the plan with City engineers, engineers from Kimley-Horn and other staff. If residents cannot attend the meeting and want to voice their thoughts, please email the City at [email protected].