Will the 15th Street bike lanes get kicked to the curb?

The federal government announced plans last week to remove the bike lanes that go through the National Mall along 15th Street.

The National Park Service and the Department of Transportation said it’s part of an effort to ease congestion ahead of the Cherry Blossom Festival and the nation’s 250th anniversary events.

The Federal Highway Administration said it’s about “returning common sense to city planning.”

Not surprisingly, cyclists don’t see it that way. Colin Browne with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association said the government’s own data shows that, since the bike lanes have been in place, travel times are down and the area is safer.

“Crashes overall for all modes — that’s people biking, people driving, people walking — were down 40%. Crashes for people on bikes were down 90%,” Browne said.

Hoping to delay, and potentially stop, the removal of the bike lanes, the association filed a lawsuit Monday.

Like many recent lawsuits against government agencies, this one rests on what the plaintiffs see as federal agencies acting unilaterally and without following proper, established legal procedures — especially when transparency and public input is required.

“We briefly hoped that the involved agencies might follow the process, but the East Wing of the White House provides some pretty clear evidence that without legal intervention that probably wouldn’t happen,” Browne said.

He added there is a “well established way that you go about making this sort of change, and just sort of unilaterally deciding that you’re going to tear out a piece of infrastructure is not the way forward.”

Demolition of the bike lanes is scheduled to begin March 30.

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