bike lanes | Bike Denton

Nov 24 2009

Denton

Austin Bike Infrastructure Moves Forward

So around DFW, many cities are talking about accommodating bicycles and pedestrians. A few DFW cities are just starting to publish master bike plans and maybe stripe a lane or two. Austin is charging forward and building bold infrastructure. The Austin Master Bike Plan is good. Really good. So good that it won the very competitive State Planning Project Award.

From the Austin On Two Wheels Blog, they have a nice summary of the November infrastructure updates:

new sharrows on Lavaca Street to Martin Luther King Blvd
bike lanes on Martin Luther King Blvd
painted (green) bicycle lanes on Dean Keeton
Bike Box at the intersection of 38^th Street and Speedway

In 2009 the City of Austin installed 20.7 miles of parking free bicycle facilities, more than doubling the 8.1 miles we installed in 2008. In the third quarter of 2009 alone we installed 8.5 miles of bicycle facilities exceeding the total for any previous year.

So naturally, if you’re reading this and you live in Denton, you might be asking “why isn’t this happening in Denton?”

Lack of shared vision and coordinated effort between council and planning staff.
Denton public didn’t consistently advocate for bike lanes/Complete Streets till recently
Many bicyclists are students, who have high turnover and low political involvement
There is no representative group for cyclists, yet.
Few recent bike/pedestrian tragedies to bring scrutiny of current infrastructure faults

Remember that Oak/Hickory bike lane proposal which the Traffic Safety Commission tabled earlier this year? It’s not coming back until we demand it.

Tagged Accomodations, Austin, bike lanes, city politics, city staff, Denton

Nov 05 2009

Uncategorized

Which City Is This?

The Center For Transportation Excellence shows this ballot initiative up for funding:

Voters will be asked to approve an initiative to fund a diverse group of projects, including a new rail-based streetcar system, plus potential funding for other rail transit initiatives, such as commuter lines and a transit hub; sidewalks to be placed on major streets and near facilities used by the public and 57 miles of new public bicycling and walking trails throughout the city.

The so-called MAPS proposal calls for a seven-year, nine-month one-cent sales tax that will maintain the ________ sales tax rate where it currently stands.

Here are the hints.

It’s not Portland.

It’s not Austin.

It’s not Chicago.

It’s not Boulder.

It’s not Seattle.

It’s this city.

I’m not saying it’s a done deal, but at least it’s on the ballot.

Tagged Accomodations, bike lanes, change, city politics, city staff, walkability

Oct 22 2009

3 Comments

Uncategorized

NCTCOG Oct 21, 2009 recap

So I made it to another NCTCOG meeting yesterday, and there were a couple interesting presentations I’d like to mention:

TXDOT just opened their program call for “Transportation Enhancement” project submissions. They have about $70 million to give out, and bike/ped programs will get top priority.
- I didn’t see any representatives from Denton present at the meeting. Contact your council member and mayor if you want to encourage participation.
- Caveat: TXDOT will give priority to shovel-ready projects, so if Denton’s planning department doesn’t have a proposal ready, we won’t have a good chance at getting funding. You can call them at (940) 349-8541 and ask that they submit application to TXDOT.
- Remember this opportunity, because next time you hear “we’re broke” as an excuse to not improve Denton’s bike/ped infrastructure, you’ll know we missed a chance at federal funding.
- The program call closes in December.

The federally-funded program supports transportation-related activities that promote the quality of the environment through aesthetic enhancements associated with transportation.

Projects should go above and beyond standard transportation activities and be integrated into the surrounding environment in a sensitive and creative manner that contributes to the livelihood of the communities; promotes the quality of the environment; and enhances the aesthetics of our roadways.

Eligible projects must demonstrate a relationship to the surface transportation system through either function or impact. Project nominated must incorporate one of the following 12 categories:

pedestrians and bicycles facilities

safety and education activities for pedestrians and bicyclists

Don Koski, respected planner for Ft Worth and BFOC interviewee, has left to work for the Federal Transit Administration. Could this bode well for public transit in DFW? We’ll see. He was the chair of the NCTCOG bike/ped committee, so we’ll see who replaces him. He’s left an impressive standard in Ft Worth to uphold.
Dave Carter of Richardson gave a presentation on their Bicycle Route Masterplan. It’s a great start, and they worked hard with the community to include all angles. The Canyon Creek HOA, stakeholders at Richardson Bike Mart, and cyclists were all included in the planning for this since 2007. There are only a couple dedicated bike lanes, but it’s a start.
- I liked Dave’s candid admission that post-WWII planning has been negligent of non-car transit.
- Dave presented pictures of the Custer Rd bike lane, and it’s pretty interesting because it allows parking in the bike lane. Now, that lane appears to be 11′ wide, so it may turn out to work just fine. I’m skeptical, but I could see how this might work ok.
- If you look at this diagram, you’ll see that the City of Richardson is just fine with a 10′ car lane, an 8′ parking lane, and a 4′ bike lane.
- Denton’s traffic engineer, Bud Vokoun, uses totally different math, as seen at the controversial Oak/Hickory bike lane proposal, which was tabled and shows no signs of reappearing.
- I am flabbergasted that the suburb (Richardson) in which I grew up is executing more progressive transit planning than Denton. Is that because they’ve sprawled to capacity and are now looking inward for improvements? When will Denton catch up/wake up?

Tagged Accomodations, bike lanes, Bikeonomics, city staff, funding, NCTCOG

Oct 21 2009

6 Comments

Denton

Southridge Neighborhood Requests Pennsylvania Bike Lane

At last night’s city council meeting, Southridge resident Sarah Richey addressed the council to request a bike lane for Pennsylvania Drive. With support from others in Southridge, Sarah requested the city council to take action and respond to the request.

Pennsylvania is quite wide for a residential street, but it also lacks sidewalks. Children attending Sam Houston Elementary off Teasley must walk or ride in the street to get there, and Sarah’s request aims to change that by having a dedicated space for cyclists and pedestrians. She’ll be checking back with the City Manager’s office in two weeks to inquire whether any action has been taken.

Tagged Accomodations, bike lanes, children, commuting, Denton

Oct 14 2009

1 Comment

Uncategorized

What Do Women Want (in order to cycle more)?

BFOC just linked to a thoughtful Scientific American piece about a correlation between gender roles and cycling prevalence.

“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,” says Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and author of several studies on biking and gender differences.

This is fascinating, and I wonder if they have the data broken down by age? In any case, it’s a well-rounded case that supports drastic need for cycling infrastructure. As this study says, we should have “improved mobility options for everyone”.

Denton is easy to ride because of its relatively small size, but Denton can also be difficult to ride because automotive transport is exponentially prioritized over people-first transit. That will only change if the citizens demand that people be prioritized over cars, a concept that I think the Denton square is struggling with right now.

Tagged Accomodations, bike lanes, change, general curiousity, new urbanism

Sep 29 2009

1 Comment

Denton

Follow Up to “Parked In the Bike Lane”

Lancine Bentley, with City of Denton/Keep Denton Beautiful, provided clarification on the earlier “Parked In the Bike Lane” post.

Just to clarify……the Code Enforcement Officer is not actually parked in the bike lane but is taking pictures of the vegetation growing into the bike lane. He was following up on a complaint received by a citizen, more than likely a concerned cyclist. So…we are trying to do our part to keep bike lanes accessible and safe for the cycling public.

And on that positive note, I’ll say that yesterday eve I saw five other cyclists in the Hinkle bike lanes during my daily ride home from UNT Discovery Park. Over the last few years of riding this route daily, I think more and more folks are using it. Last week I met a gentleman in a wheelchair who uses the bike lane to get to Northlakes Park because Hinkle lacks a sidewalk.

Tagged bike lanes, city staff, Denton

Sep 03 2009

Uncategorized

Free Ice Cream for Bike Lane Workers

via BikePortland.org:

Icicle Tricycles kicked off a new Bike Business League program, “Free Ice Cream for Bike Lane Builders” by thanking the PBOT crew responsible for building the new cycle track on SW Broadway.

The cycle track is a bike lane separated from traffic with a buffer zone, which can include parked cars on the left side. The project removed a lane of car traffic to accommodate the cycle track, and it’s brought quite a bit of attention to the phenomenon. Notice the nice painted left-turn lane in the photo above.

Tagged Accomodations, bike lanes, change, city staff, portland

Jul 07 2009

3 Comments

Denton

Oak/Hickory Bike Lane Proposal Tabled

Cyclists, neighborhood residents, and business owners filled the city council chambers last night. After about two hours of nonstop public commentary, the traffic safety commission moved to table the Oak/Hickory bike lane proposal. Although the majority of those in attendance supported bike lanes, frustration over loss of parking elicited other frustrations from residents of the Oak/Hickory historic district regarding speeding vehicles, cyclists on sidewalks, and general lack of police enforcement.

Cyclists were the first speakers to question the math used by the city planners to purport that parking and bike lanes are mutually incompatible. Mike Cochran concurred by also asking why the plan couldn’t provision for a 7-8′ parking lane, two 10′ drive lanes, and one 5′ bike lane.

Denton’s senior engineer, Frank Payne, opened commentary by alluding to alternative solutions with a wider shared car/bicycle curb lane. Bud Voukoun, Denton’s traffic engineer, stated that this solution would only accommodate experienced cyclists who feel comfortable sharing space with traffic. Several cyclists spoke in favor of a striped bike lane in order to accommodate riders of all skill levels. Stearns La Seur and Kevin Marshall, representing the Bicycle Path and Bullseye Bikes businesses spoke in favor of the bike lanes.

The historic neighborhood residents and business owners from the square expressed concern about safety of routing cyclists through the square. Oak St homeowner Donna Morris said that it would be equivalent to saying “Let’s kill all the bikers”. However, most cyclists seemed to prefer the Oak/Hickory routes and didn’t feel threatened by riding on the square. After the meeting, some cyclists expressed dismay that business owners and residents didn’t recognize that many cyclists ride politely, obey traffic laws, and repeatedly patronize thriving businesses on the town square.

Many residents urged exploration of alternate bike routes, such as on Mulberry and Sycamore. However, Bud Voukoun of city staff explained that those streets lack width and signalization to properly accommodate bike lanes. Nobody mentioned that non-Hickory/Oak lanes would neglect the western portion of the proposed plan, which would include bike lanes to accommodate students at the new dorms and apartments off Bonnie Brae.

Since the proposal was tabled, city staff will now explore alternate solutions before appearing again before the traffic commission. Peggy Capps, of the Historic Landmark Commission, lambasted city staff for not running the proposal past the HLC first, an inclusion that she claimed is required by city ordinance. Once the revised proposals have come to the HLC, if indeed required, they’ll still have to go to the traffic commission, mobility committee, and city council before any implementation.

The city staff stated that they’d like to hold town-hall style meetings to solicit public input before redrawing the plans. They didn’t announce a date, but keeping in mind that Mayor Burroughs called for bike infrastructure to compliment the DCTA commuter train in 2010, time is short.

Tagged bike lanes, city politics, city staff, Denton

Jul 06 2009

1 Comment

Denton

Reminder: Public Hearing on Oak/Hickory Bike Lanes, 5:30 today

If you can be here, please try and make it, this is really really important to the future of cycling infrastructure in Denton.

The Denton Record Chronicle covered this in last Saturday’s paper, and we encourage as much public input and attendance as possible. If you register to speak your opinion, you get 3 minutes, so brevity is the key here.

I’m not sure if Denton has ever had mass civic interaction with cyclists like this, so I think that major cyclist attendance tonight could have a really significant impact on city staff/political awareness of the Denton cycling community.

There’s a good chance we could go to eat/drink at Banter Coffee afterwards, so feel free to ride from City Hall to Banter with us after the hearing.

Tagged bike lanes, city politics, city staff, Denton, new urbanism

Tag Archives: bike lanes