Judge Blocks Interior’s Removal of Bike Lane on National Mall

The Interior Department can’t pave over popular bike lanes across the National Mall in Washington, a judge ruled Tuesday, granting a group’s motion to block the removal scheduled to begin April 23.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia vacated and remanded the project, granting the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s motion for summary judgment against the Interior Department’s plan to remove the bike lanes. The lanes were installed in 2021 along 15th Street and adjoining roadways.

If the lanes are removed, thousands of daily cyclists will be forced to bike on sidewalks or in heavy traffic. Oral arguments in the case were held April 9.

Jackson ruled that the bike lane removal project is arbitrary and capricious, “because the record does not reflect that the defendants examined the relevant data and articulated a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.”

She ruled that it was also arbitrary and capricious for the Federal Highway Administration to claim that the bike lane removal was covered under a National Environmental Policy Act categorical exclusion because the agency paving over the bike lanes would have no significant impacts on public health and safety.

WABA claimed the bike lane removal without public involvement violates the Administrative Procedure Act in part because the Interior Department failed to undertake a NEPA assessment. In an amended complaint filed April 7, the group claimed the bike lane removal is arbitrary and will harm public safety.

The Trump administration argued in a court filing that the bike lane removal is essential to public safety and the Interior Department is within its rights to pave over the lanes. The National Park Service used a categorical exclusion under NEPA to approve the bike lane removal.

The Trump administration wants to remove the bike lanes to accommodate crowds for the America 250 celebration in July and to comply with President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order calling for Washington to be made “safe and beautiful.”

A District of Columbia Department of Transportation analysis shows that the bike lanes reduced all roadway crashes in the area by 46% and increased vehicle speed by 17%. However, the US Department of Transportation in a March 31 memorandum denied the legitimacy of that data, saying DC DOT’s methods were flawed and its conclusions were “mathematically unsupported,” and it’s “impossible to validate safety improvements” the bike lanes are responsible for.

The Justice Department filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, arguing WABA isn’t entitled to summary judgment and Interior is entitled to the court’s deference under the APA so long as the agency’s reasoning “may reasonably be discerned.” Jackson denied the cross-motion.

Covington & Burling LLP represents the plaintiff.

The case is Washington Area Bicyclist Assoc. v. Burgum, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-00988, 4/10/26.