You know that raised lane on Avenue C on the UNT campus? First, it was a bidirectional bike lane, a very advanced design for Texas, and the only known cycletrack in the region. Then, it suddenly became a loading zone. Now, the formerly expensive cycletrack will become even more of a loading zone. This raised facility is now considered to expensive to build, even if you wanted it, and now it’s going away. We urge you to contact the representatives below and voice your opinion.
In an administrative announcement this morning, UNT explained that the city will remove the elevated bike lane on Ave C to replace it with a loading zone for cars. If you spend time on the UNT campus, you perhaps already noticed the existing loading zone for the Music building, just around the corner from this one. Now there will be two loading zones, and no bicycle facility, unless the engineers announce otherwise.
We hope that the city traffic engineers include bicycle facilities in the replacement design, or this invaluable cross-campus route will be lost. At the recent bicycle facility meetings, the engineers hinted at bike-lane installations on Eagle and Welch. We think a similar trans-campus route like Avenue C would compliment those routes quite well.
The City of Denton streets department will begin work on a new passenger drop-off lane on Ave. C, adjacent to the Music Building, beginning Monday, May 17.
As a result, Ave. C northbound between Highland and Chestnut, will be closed for approximately two weeks. This section of street will re-open when construction is completed.
Crews will remove the existing elevated paved lane on the east side of Ave. C between the west bridge entrance and the northern most entrance to the Music Building. They will install a new passenger drop-off lane. The new installation is designed to ease the flow of traffic on Ave. C during peak hours.
We know that the UNT Chancellor, Lee Jackson, wants the UNT Denton campus to become more bike-friendly and walkable. But does he know that unless replacement bike facilities are planned, we’ll lose an asset that would be extremely expensive to reproduce?
If you’d like to send polite comments to the relevant representatives, we suggest these folks:
Lee Jackson, UNT Chancellor, Lee.Jackson@unt.edu
Lane Rawlins, UNT President, V.Rawlins@unt.edu
Joe Richmond, UNT Transportation Director, joerichmond@unt.edu
Jim Engelbrecht, District 3 City Council rep, Jim.Engelbrecht@cityofdenton.com
Frank Payne, City of Denton Engineer, Frank.Payne@cityofdenton.com
[…] On the other hand, the UNT police response left us feeling ignored. With that experience and UNT’s intent to remove the Avenue C bike lanes, we couldn’t help but feel like UNT hasn’t moved forward with much of their Master […]
Dear all,
As a faculty member in the College of Music at UNT, please listen to me! Do not remove the cycle track on Avenue C. It is astonishingly wonderful. Protects cyclists and serves beautifully as a loading dock. All at the same time. It is an important safety measure on a crowded campus full of bikes and cars. LEAVE IT ALONE! It works for all needs. I have used it for both for 3 and 1/2 years. It needs to stay! What will ease traffic on Avenue C is getting the parking finished on Chestnut and putting some A spaces on Highland. The bikes ease traffic. Please do NOTHING that discourages biking, especially among faculty and staff!!!!
Jennifer Lane
Associate Professor
College of Music
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 776203
please don’t get rid of this lane. Respect bikers in the area. They matter, too.
[…] Avenue C bike lanes which UNT wanted to remove are up for discussion at tomorrow night’s Traffic Safety Commission meeting at City Hall in […]
[…] gets sharrows and signs In Denton on August 24, 2010 at 12:41 am After UNT announced plans to remove the Avenue C raised bike lanes, concerned citizens contacted UNT and the city, and the demolition was put on hold until recent […]