On October 14, officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, ceremonially opened a new protected bike lane in downtown Silver Spring, a fast-urbanizing part of the 1-million-person county near Washington, D.C. Like many local government events, this one featured a ribbon-cutting, short speeches, and leaflets spread out on tables. But there was a novelty: “Color Your Stress Away,” a table sign urged. Beside it were jars of colored pencils and stacks of coloring books, with plain, line-drawn scenes of urban cycling waiting to be filled in.
The book, “Enjoy the Ride,” was the idea of Bridget Schwiesow, the communication manager for the Montgomery County Planning Department. Since 2015, county planners have been working on a bicycle master plan to increase local cycling rates. Reducing the stress experienced by cyclists and would-be cyclists on busy, high-speed suburban arterial roads is a particular focus of their efforts. “While about 70 percent of the roads in the County are already low-stress, they are often surrounded by high speed and high volume roads, effectively creating ‘islands’ of connectivity,” reads a preliminary report on the plan.
