Bike Group Sues Over Trump’s Plan to Remove National Mall Lanes

The Trump administration’s plan to remove a popular bike lane across the National Mall in Washington is illegal because it’s moving ahead without needed environmental review and public feedback, a bicycle advocacy group claims in a lawsuit.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the National Park Service and the US Department of Transportation from removing the bike lane along 15th Street in Washington, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Interior Department and Federal Highway Administration said March 19 that removing the roughly mile-long bike lane, which was installed in 2021, is part of President Donald Trump’s plan to “revitalize” Washington.

Removing the bike lane “is essential to improve traffic flow for the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected in D.C. this year,” FHWA spokeswoman Melissa Braid said in an email. “Bike lane replacements must complement normal road activities, not compete with them.”

The Interior Department said in an unsigned email that the bike lane removal helps ensure “safe access for residents, commuters, visitors, and emergency services” during festivals and America’s 250th anniversary celebration this summer.

However, a District of Columbia Department of Transportation analysis shows that the cycletrack reduced all roadway crashes by 46% and increased vehicle speed by 17%.

“Without any apparent consideration of safety implications, and citing unsubstantiated concerns about traffic, the agencies—within days—plan to tear out the 15th Street bike lanes, as well as bike lanes along Ohio Drive, SW, and East Basin Drive,” WABA said in its lawsuit. “The law does not permit them to be so rash.”

The group claims arbitrary bike lane removal without public involvement violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

Covington & Burling LLP represents the plaintiff.

The case is Washington Area Bicyclist Assoc. v. Burgum, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-00988, 3/23/26.