Silver Spring was recently featured in Bethesda Magazine for a 16th Street bike lane project that moves forward with Planning Boards approval, bringing long-awaited safety and connectivity improvements to nearby neighborhoods.
The bikeway is designed to link downtown Silver Spring with the future Woodside Purple Line station, the Silver Spring Metro, Ride On bus routes, and the planned Capital Crescent Trail connection. See the Bethesda Magazine article below. To view the approved plan, click here.
State plan for bike lane on Silver Spring’s 16th Street rolls on with MoCo’s approval
Proposed two-way path will eliminate one northbound travel lane
By Elia Griffin February 2, 2026 5:20 p.m.
A state plan to build a half-mile bike lane along 16th Street between Spring Street and Second Avenue in downtown Silver Spring is moving ahead with Thursday’s approval by the Montgomery County Planning Board.
The 8-foot-wide, two-way bike lane to be built by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration would span .57 miles along the northbound lanes of 16th Street, a six-lane divided highway with three travel lanes in each direction and sidewalks on each side of the street.
The stretch of road is adjacent to the upcoming Woodside station for the upcoming light-rail Purple Line. Expected to be operational by late 2027, the 16-mile line will run from Bethesda to New Carrollton. The project site is also near Silver Spring’s Woodside and Rosemary Hills neighborhoods.
The board reviewed a mandatory referral for the project, dubbed MD 390 (16th Street) Bikeway, at its weekly board meeting Thursday. Mandatory referrals are plans submitted by government entities and reviewed by the board on an advisory basis. The half-mile bikeway is part of the MD 97 Montgomery Hills Project, a larger roadway improvement project planned by the State Highway Administration (SHA).
Marie-France Guiteau, an SHA project manager, told the board Thursday that the bike lane project is now fully funded and the agency is prepared to build the path after Purple Line construction at the Woodside station is complete. Construction could begin this year.
Sofia Aldrich, a planner at Montgomery Planning, told the board that adding the bike lane “makes so much network connectivity sense” for the area.
Aldrich noted that in addition to the upcoming Purple Line, the Silver Spring Metro and Ride On bus stops are near the proposed bike lane route. In addition, the proposed Capital Crescent Trail extension, which is aligned with the Purple Line, is designed to pass under the Spring Street Bridge and 16th Street and is expected to bring bicycle traffic to the area, according to planning documents.
Planning board members were generally supportive of the project and noted that they understood county planners’ recommendations to SHA to drop the speed limit of 16th Street from 35 to 25 mph. The change in speed was not proposed by the agency but they will consider that change along with other comments from planning staff, including the recommendation to widen the proposed sidewalk from 6 to 8 feet in accordance with the Complete Streets Design Guide.
The project also calls for improvements to the sidewalk next to the bike lane. The sidewalk next to the bike lane will be expanded to 6-feet-wide and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The sidewalk will be protected from motorists by the bike lane and a grass buffer.
Adding in the proposed bike lanes, wider sidewalks and buffers will require the elimination of one of 16th Street’s northbound travel lanes, according to planning documents.
During the public hearing portion of the meeting for the project, Juanita Hardy, a resident and member of the Woodside Homeowners Association, expressed support for the plan. She was the only person to speak about the project at the meeting.
“We are quite delighted about the benefits of the bike path,” Hardy told the board. She noted the association was working with SHA to resolve concerns regarding the duration of construction and potential impact on the properties that border the bike lane.
Aside from Hardy’s comments, planning staff received three letters from Woodside residents that were generally supportive of the project and its goal of providing safer passage for cyclists traveling in the area.
According to Guiteau, construction on the bike lane could begin as early as this summer and is projected to be completed by December 2027.