Bike Denton

In today’s “Bicycle Retailer and Industry News” feed, there’s a little story explaining the positive economic impact of bike trails in Dallas.  Although lacking in figures like Portland’s $90 million & 1,000 job bike-conomy, the article still makes a positive correlation between bike path creation, ridership, and economic benefit.

Storeowners in central Dallas can thank the local bike paths for much of their business success. Retailers visited on the last day of the Dallas Dealer Tour reported strong sales of fitness hybrids that they attributed largely to the popularity of the Katy Trail, the White Rock Lake loop and the White Rock Creek path.

Since you can’t thank a bike path (being inanimate, and all), I’d like to publicly thank Eric Van Steenburg for his 7 years of hard work, and anyone else who helped him see the Katy Trail to fruition. It’s increasing ridership, and for that folks are healthier, bike businesses profit, and jobs are created.  There’s even more benefit than this article hints at.  Real estate that brags of close trail proximity says a lot about property values near the trail.  Eric is a doctoral Business student at UNT now, and he writes an editorial column in the Dallas Morning News, where you can find hard-truth articles like “Our Growing Highway Addiction.”