The Montgomery County Planning Board approved plans to widen Snouffer School Road near Gaithersburg but asked Public Works to ensure that visual and sound barriers prevent traffic noise and headlights from bothering neighbors to the south.
Commissioner John Robinson also asked the Department of Public Works and Transportation to consider separating new bike lanes from traffic lanes with plastic bollards or other markings.
A 1.1-mile stretch of Snouffer School Road between Centerway Drive and Maryland Route 124 will be widened from 59 to 69 feet, but will still carry traffic along four lanes and a center, left-turn lane. In addition, the road will include a 5-foot bike lane and off-road sidewalk bordering the residential neighborhoods to the south.
But residents said bike lanes would only encroach on their neighborhood, cutting out trees and landscaping that shield them from road noise.
“I think that’s insanity,” Bob Gould told the board. “Nobody uses those bike paths.”
Gould, who represents the Overlook Homeowners Association, asked for a 10-foot earthen berm or a concrete or brick wall to cut down on road noise.
The project is still is in the planning stages and final cost estimates are not yet available.
