At last Monday’s public input meeting, Denton Parks and Rec explained a general plan for the Rail Trail/288 bridge and solicited input from the twenty or so attendees.
Denton Parks & Rec invites the public to comment on plans for the bike/ped bridge over Loop 288, Monday, Sept 13 at 6PM, Denton Civic Center Community Room, 321 E. McKinney St. This is your chance, folks, to comment on this bridge that will parallel the commuter train bridge and link the rail trail across six lanes of highway traffic.
Two years ago, cyclists wrote letters urging the city to consider such a bridge. After some initial doubts, it was just recently approved by city council for funding. Eventually, this rail trail route is supposed to cross Lake Lewisville, according to DCTA and TXDOT.
The purpose of the bridge is to provide pedestrian and bicycle connectivity across Loop 288 to the DCTA rail station, located between Colorado Boulevard and Brinker Drive. In the open meeting, the public may review updated design concepts and provide comments or concerns. It is the intent of the City to analyze the gathered information for potential recommendations.
For more information, please contact Superintendent of Parks Planning Bob Tickner at (940) 349-8275 or by e-mail at robert.tickner@cityofdenton.com
We haven’t seen any preliminary designs, but we hope they incorporate stair ramps for bicycles, as we’ve seen in Austin on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway stairs.
We now have a description of the car that intentionally backed over a cyclist on Alice St on Aug 30: “White, Mazda 4-door, unknown model, driven by a middle-aged, white, male”
The description is vague, but it’s better than nothing, so keep an eye out, especially in the Alice/Egan area. This driver is obviously dangerous, so if you see him, avoid confrontation and call the police. That assault could have easily become murder, had the cyclist been fatally injured.
We still haven’t identified or heard from the cyclist who was hit, so email info@bikedenton.org if you have any tips.
Have you ever been stuck at a red light that won’t change? If so, there are a few Denton intersections that WILL change for bicycles now. When fewer cyclists run red lights, there are fewer accidents, fewer scofflaws (which enhance negative stereotypes), and cyclists get a better sense that the system is accommodating them. In towns all over the globe, inductive loop sensors are quite often adjusted too insensitive to detect bicycles and motorcycles. That exact topic came up at last month’s Traffic Safety Commission meeting, and we hoped some improvements would come from that discussion. Now we see some shiny new camera-detectors which should detect bikes and motorcycles. These are the tall cameras sticking up from the mast, and sometimes on telephone poles. These are not red light cameras, which would have to face backwards to get photos of license plates. These cameras are our friends, and it feels so wonderful and accommodating to trigger a light on a bicycle. Get out there and try it at these intersections:
Mulberry/Carroll: this light was legendary for not being triggered by bicycles. Additionally, the green phase was impossibly short to ride across. No more. There are video cameras for all 4 approach directions that trigger for bikes. The green phase seems longer, too. Now we don’t have to play frogger at Sycamore/Carroll or run the red light at Mulberry.
Hickory/Welch: this intersection gets many cyclists heading to/from UNT, and the red light has been run for decades. Now you can place a bicycle wheel just over the “T” shaped intersection of inductive loop wires, preferably on the right edge of the loop, and the light will trigger. We tested this several times and were ecstatic to see it change. Hopefully the city will mark the “T” with this DOT logo that shows where to place a bicycle wheel. We’ve seen these in Austin and other cities, and they work great to get cyclists in the proper trigger area.
Crescent/Carroll: just like the others, the signal cameras detect cyclists and change the light. Tested.
Congress/Carroll: same here; we can see the cameras on the signal masts, but we didn’t test these.
Sycamore/Bell: This intersection by Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios and the coming A-train station has always been treacherous to cross. Blind curve + 2 lanes of cars going ~35-40mph. Now there’s a serious upgrade in progress, and we expect this intersection to get camera triggers too, especially since the Downtown Implementation plan recommends a bike route on Sycamore.
First, it was Blackhawk, Colorado’s extreme ban of cycling through the downtown, and now we see Bartonville, TX attempting to regulate cyclists off the roads with ordinance 494-10. While this debacle is pretty unrelated to most of our commuting-ish topics in Denton, the topic is still a black cloud for area cyclists and an embarrassing spectre amidst our national movement towards bike friendliness.
As seen in the DRC recently, the nearby town of Bartonville now requires a “rally permit” for groups of 10 or more cyclists, pedestrians, or even drivers to travel together on Bartonville roads. According to this DRC article, “police have observed cyclists running stop signs, urinating behind Town Hall and riding more than two abreast and impeding traffic.” It’s unclear how the enacted ordinance affects any of those complaints.
The ordinance text states that this regulation applies specifically to races and rallies:
Race means a contest of speed, as in running, riding, or driving including training with 10 or more participants.
Rally: A competition in which motorists, runners or bicyclists traverse public roads and/or right-of-ways under normal traffic regulations but with specified rules as to speed, time, and/or route, including training with 10 or more participants.
In response, the Bike Texas nonprofit is circulating a petition and gained at least 2,000 petitions against the Bartonville ban. Led by Robin Stallings, the group opposes “all efforts by any government entity in Texas to pass laws or ordinances that selectively prohibit or constrain operation of a bicycle on Texas roadways.”
So how do cyclists deal with Bartonville? Read on:
Most groups of riders form pods of nine or fewer riders and spread out as they approach Bartonville, he said. Meanwhile, bike groups are working on a long-term strategy to address the problem.
Marc Mumby, president of BikeDFW, said the group has been working to get the word out to cycling groups how important it is to follow the rules and “be nice,” even though it’s likely that the cyclists who cause problems don’t ride with local clubs.
They have been holding “interventions” near the town limits, Mumby said, handing out cards to cyclists to remind them of the rules of the road.
Cyclists can ride two abreast, but they cannot impede traffic. Both town officials and cyclists agree that Bartonville’s roads have blind hills and curves that make it challenging for vehicles to pass.
Bob Pinard of Infinity Cycling Club in Flower Mound said there’s a flaw in the logic of the new rule.
“Most of these problems they’ve described have nothing to do with the size of the group,” Pinard said, adding that riding two abreast makes it safer for everyone on the road.
As seen in the newspaper this week, Oncor is making headlines in Denton County over its defeated proposal to cut across the popular Greenbelt trail. You can see the proposed routes here.
The newly formed Greenbelt Alliance pulled together some impressive muscle and turned out en masse at the county hearing to fight Oncor’s route across the Greenbelt. It worked, and Oncor now has to consider other routes instead.
I’m admittedly a little confused how much of this is nearby landowner NIMBY and how much is actual fight to preserve the Greenbelt. Just saying…these are murky waters. I am also a bit amazed that a group is successfully fighting to keep a wind farm transmission line out of the entire county and not just the Greenbelt. I can understand fighting to preserve the Greenbelt, but it seems a stretch to ban the power line from the whole county when at a time when gas wells are easily allowed.
To add some more context to Oncor’s activity in DFW, keep in mind that they’ve donated many easements to build the Preston Ridge, Northhaven, and Katy trails in North Dallas, and Oncor just pledged $1+ million to the Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative (read, keeping parks and rec centers open).
The part of this story that interests me most is this passage from the Oncor press release for Dallas:
Oncor is also developing a program that will create hike-and-bike trails along parts of the transmission right-of-way. This will be integral to helping improve the communities that Oncor serves. These trails can be a valuable contribution to the communities and the Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative and its programs.
This brings me to the one conclusion I have from this debacle: let’s hope that the Greenbelt Alliance keeps open communication with Oncor, because some future trails along easements would be a great asset to the extremely few trails we have here in Denton. At a time when far more urban and suburban cities in DFW are literally kicking our butts at trail building, we can use all the help we can get. Ever seen a map of bikable trails in DFW? Ouch, Denton, ouch.
A bicyclist told police a motorist struck him with his vehicle Saturday afternoon, knocking him off his bicycle, and dragging the bike for a short time as the motorist sped off.
The alleged hit-and-run incident, which occurred in the 600 block of Alice Street, started when the motorist yelled at the bicyclist, according to a police report. When the bicyclist made an obscene hand gesture in response, the motorist put his vehicle in reverse, backed down the street and hit the bicyclist, according to the report.
The bicyclist told police he couldn’t pedal fast enough to avoid getting struck by the vehicle, the report stated.
After the motorist struck the victim, the bicyclist tried to open the car door and stop the suspect, but he couldn’t get the door open, according to the report. The driver then sped off toward Egan Street, the report stated.
The bicyclist had a minor scrape on his leg and his bicycle’s back wheel was warped, according to the report.
Police are investigating the incident as a suspected aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Does anyone know the make/model of the car, so we can look out for it? I’m pleased that the police take this seriously enough to consider it assault with a deadly weapon, because that cyclist could’ve easily been killed.
If you know more detail, please email info@bikedenton.org and we’ll update this story.
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 weeks. Finally, we see that freshly painted sharrows and accompanying “Bicycle May Use Full Lanes” signs are up. Since the city recently mentioned that Eagle could get bike lanes, this North/South route would tie-in nicely. I ride this route often, and I can often sense impatient cars behind me, yet the road is not wide enough to allow comfortable/safe passing. Hopefully these signs will show both drivers and cyclists that it’s ok to ride here.
Poster Party and Goldsprints!!!!
Fundraiser for the Livestrong Challenge.
Bikes and Posters!!
You like bikes. You like posters Come get some very limited edition prints from some great artists. All for a good cause. Then go race.
Some great prizes from Timbuk2 and Chrome will be given away.
Print show in the gallery
Featured artists are
Adam Turman
Strawberry Luna
Micheal Budai
Steve Millington
Mr Penfold
Angel Bomb
John Vogl
Surrender Art
Taylor McClure
Dan Springer
Yovanny Canales
Erik Anthony Hamline (Steady Print Shop Co.)
Aesthetic Apparatus
A few more to be named later.
Goldsprint rematch Between yours truly and Yovanny Canales.
I just read DRC’s article from last weekend about the downtown parking woes. Developers want the city to build more parking, or they say the area could face financial doom.
If a plan isn’t implemented soon, business owners say, the lack of parking would likely stunt the budding entertainment district along Industrial and East Hickory.
If downtown tenants don’t succeed, the value of real estate in the entertainment district could plummet, said Greg Johnson, executive vice president of Verus Real Estate Advisors, which owns several buildings off East Hickory Street.
“We’ve made our investments, and the parking is an absolute, critical component to the success of a restaurant in the entertainment district,” Johnson said.
Without the availability of publicly funded parking alongside expensive downtown acreage, it doesn’t make sense to develop downtown, he said.
“People get really excited about the entertainment and restaurants but can’t find a place to park,” he said. “If they can’t find a place to park, they stop going there and the energy starts to die.”
Back in March, the same developers explained to council that there is plenty of available parking downtown, day and night, and that downtown Denton is a walkable area where drivers might have to walk a couple blocks. Wait, so they changed their minds? Watch:
The beloved bar owner of Dan’s Silverleaf, Dan Mojica, offers a well balanced, never-threatening voice to the article:
People also need to be open to parking farther away from venues and walking the downtown area, he said.
“There’s an issue, obviously, but it’s not as expansive of an issue as it seems to feel,” Mojica said. “Just because it [parking] isn’t available right in front doesn’t mean there’s no parking.”
With nearby parking lots, such as the public lot east of the Wells Fargo building, the area will need to be more pedestrian-friendly, especially with the incoming passenger rail line, he said.
“This is something we need to address, but we’re in an enviable position,” Mojica said.
Parking problem vs perception of parking problem. I feel like this debate has been discussed ad inifinitum to conclude that parking is plentiful. The free city lot behind Wells Fargo is never full. Case closed.
Hey, what about the other transit modes? Bikes, feet, buses, and that shiny awesomeness conspicuously absent from the article: The DCTA A-Train. The downtown developers complain that they need publicly-funded parking, yet they’re building a carfree paradise within blocks of the train station. In any metropolitan city, we’d call that Transit Oriented Development or Intelligent Urbanism. Get more citizens walking, biking, and using public transit, and we’ll have more parking spots for drivers and out-of-towners.
FUD. The blame game. “If our shiny new condos aren’t profitable, we blame lack of parking”. Is this bullying rhetoric to get taxpayer funding for private enterprise?
If people don’t find parking, they’ll leave? In other news, the fact that the iPhone 4 is perpetually sold out makes me want it even more. Whoa, wait, how did that happen? All those cars circling Fuzzy’s indicate demand, and that’s a good thing. Imagine how many pedestrian customers will eat there when the train arrives. The parking problem isn’t a problem. It’s a visual cue that people love going there.
Does the city’s “cash in lieu of parking” program allow developers to provide bicycle parking in lieu of parking spots? If not, why not? Surely I’m not the only salaried thirty-something with .5 cars who’d like a sweet downtown loft with nice bicycle parking. Guide developers by incentivizing transit diversity and not by prescribing car parking-requirements.
What exactly does this parking outrage seek to accomplish? Tonight, city council meets to discuss and accept the parking recommendations from the Jacobs group. The recommendations include addition of angled spots, parallel spots, and a myriad of other downtown urbanizations. The parking part of the plan looks like a shoe-in, to me. So why the long face, developers?
