In one of her final official acts as mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh on March 29 all but sealed the fate of Roland Park’s controversial cycle track when she announced its removal, deeming it “just not a good bicycle facility” that needed to be taken out. Officials had been considering a pilot plan to test out a lane reduction with an expanded bike lane, but that plan died with Pugh’s announcement.

The city’s announced removal and re-working of the contentious Roland Avenue cycle track will begin April 29, according to dozens of temporary tow-warning signs now peppering the northbound side of the road weaving through one of Baltimore’s most affluent neighborhoods.

Less than a week after city officials announced plans to remove the divisive Roland Avenue cycle track, board members of the Roland Park Civic League have voted to ask the city to temporarily hold off.

After years of modifications, heated community meetings and, more recently, plans to test out a “road diet” in Roland Park, the city has instead decided to remove the neighborhood’s two-way protected cycle track altogether and replace it with the old design of a painted bike lane situated alongside traffic.

Roland Park may be going on a road diet.

As part of efforts to address safety hazards and other issues stemming from the installation of a divisive cycle track on Roland Avenue, city officials are proposing to conduct a nearly month-long “road diet” experiment that would involve reducing the number of lanes for vehicular traffic from two to one during the test period.