After 100+ years of bike traffic on the Denton square, city staff installed serpentine racks to accommodate bicycles.
As previously mentioned, city staff indicated that bike racks were due to be installed soon. This week, we started seeing some of the smaller ones appearing on or near the square. So far there are small racks by Banter and Beth Marie’s, and the larger ones should appear soon.
City Contact: Julie Glover, Economic Development Program Administrator
Over the years, Denton locals have consistently mentioned the idea of having pedicab service to the downtown and university zones, but until now, we haven’t heard of any proposals reaching city staff desks.
Christine Niblo, Denton resident, proposes to provide pedicab service to the downtown area. In the Operational Outline document, the services/benefits are succinctly summarized:
Denton Pedicab will:
- provide clean, emissions-free, affordable transportation to the central Denton area, including UNT, TWU, and the downtown square
- enhance the visibility of the downtown square to newcomers, particularly university students and their parents
- help reduce the parking burden at and near the downtown square, thus enhancing the downtown experience for Dentonites, tourists, and business-owners
- enhance the unique and friendly downtown Denton atmosphere with an attractive and locally-owned novelty
- provide opportunities for community businesses, organizations, and individuals to charter pedicabs for special occasions and events
Christine reports that she’s submitted her proposal to Denton city staff, and she says she included examples of regulatory ordinance from other cities which have pedicab service.
I’m currently still awaiting the City’s verdict about the legal standing of a pedicab operation in Denton.
The proposal document touts the many ecological benefits of pedicab service, which fall in line with the city’s stated goal of increasing transit diversity and reducing single-occupant vehicle use.
Because pedicab operation is sustainable, the opportunities Denton Pedicab will provide to the community will be long-lasting. No natural resources will be depleted in order to operate pedicabs; therefore, their operation will not be affected by the price of oil, or state emissions standards. No pollution or waste will be caused by the operation of pedicabs.
Denton Pedicab will take great care to employ sustainable practices in all facets of its business, thus optimizing its potential for longevity. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of recycled, renewable, natural, and eco-friendly supplies like paper and cleaning products; as well as a commitment to serving the local community and economy.
Denton Pedicab will offer inspiration and vision to the community by bringing this service to the area at a time when the current transportation paradigm is shifting away from fossil fuels and petroleum-based products. Denton Pedicab will bring the City of Denton one step closer to the sustainability that is so desperately required by these transitional times.
The pedicabs to be used are manufactured in America by Main Street Pedicabs, and feature stout design and safety features like turn signals and 12V lighting.
Under the direction of current UNT president, Gretchen Bataille, the campus is noticeably evolving. The landscaping trends towards low-water use and native plants, new buildings are planned out with sustainable goals in mind, and transit expands beyond the mere trickle of buses in years past. In February of this year, UNT recruited Todd Spinks, a former EPA official and UNT alum, to head a new Sustainability department. BikeDenton sought this interview with Todd to profile his job and get a feeling what changes lie ahead for UNT.
How would you describe the state of sustainability when you arrived at UNT?
In 2010, UNT will celebrate its 75th year as an environmental steward. Indeed, since 1935, the university has had a very proactive position in lessening its impact on the environment. As such, it was no surprise to find all types of activities related to sustainability going on when I arrived. However, I was very surprised to find the high number of activities that were taking place, from the individual level to the organizational level.
Because the President took such a progressive move, establishing an independent Office of Sustainability, UNT will now have the capacity to bring cohesion to all of the efforts related to sustainability, consequently, increasing its ability to affect change on campus and abroad.
What are some sustainability initiatives you expect UNT to implement, and over what timeline will they be implemented?
UNT has already begun to implement many projects and will continue to put forth a number of efforts in a variety of areas, to include:
- UNT’s President signed the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)
- Commitment to move UNT toward reaching carbon neutrality
- Completed a full Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory
- 90% of UNT’s emissions come from the energy we use and from our commuting habits.
- Currently drafting a Climate Action Plan
- Will present project recommendations to the President to lessen environmental impact. The recommendations will be assessed by the President and upon her decision, certain projects will be implemented.
- All new construction will meet LEED Silver standards. The buildings mentioned below will be completed within the next two to three years.
- Life Sciences Building (LEED Silver)
- Business Building (LEED Platinum)
- Athletic Stadium (LEED Gold)
- General Academic Building (Dallas Campus, LEED Gold)
- Development of bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees in sustainability
- The bachelor’s and master’s degrees are intended to be launched within the next two years.
- They will emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability and will be very applied.
- Establish a Tree Policy
- This goes into effect this summer. According to the policy, no tree can be removed without my approval.
- University Operations
- The Office of Sustainability is working with numerous programs across campus to increase environmental awareness and implement efforts that will lessen UNT’s impact on the planet. Many other initiatives will be instituted once the President has approved the recommendations.
Does cycling fit into the sustainability initiatives, and if so, how?
Cycling is an extremely important activity supported by the Office. As mentioned above, a significant percentage of UNT’s emissions come from our commuters. Many of these commuters live near campus. An increase in cycling would therefore decrease our emissions level. Accordingly, the Office is working with other members of the UNT family as well as the City of Denton to promote increased cycling on and around campus.
We love the massive expansion of bicycle racks on campus. It seems like more and more people are riding near campus. Do you have any statistics to show if cycling ridership at UNT is increasing?
The Office of Sustainability is accumulating data on this. However, you might contact UNT’s police department. They may have some stats for you on this.
Employees and students often express frustration with parking at UNT, and driving and parking costs have been steadily increasing. The environmental and health benefits of cycling and walking are numerous. Can cycling and walking help alleviate parking frustration at UNT, and should UNT promote cycling and walking?
As stated above, increased cycling would support UNT’s efforts to decrease its emissions. It would indeed also positively impact the parking conditions on campus. The Office fully supports cycling and walking to and from campus.
The DCTA A-train will soon provide service to downtown Denton. Do you anticipate that many students will use this, and do you think that the train is part of a greater multi-modal transit evolution in Denton?
The A-Train link will be invaluable in assisting those who commute from the Dallas area to UNT. The benefits are obvious and numerous. I do believe many students will initially utilize the A-Train, but like any other major initiative, efforts must be taken to ensure the benefits are highly visible. In addition, all stakeholders will need to continuously assess the use to ensure that the service and individual activities that are associated with its use are kept convenient in order to promote a culture shift. The hope here is that, if effective, UNT and its partners can impact behavior in a positive way.
UNT has some great talent in the environmental disciplines. Are these folks from the academic side being connected with administrative and logistical (i.e. facilities) staff to work towards sustainability goals?
One of the primary objectives of the Office of Sustainability is to bring cohesion in all that UNT is doing in sustainability. This is an area that is very important to me personally and I believe the result of a coordinated, cohesive focus on moving the institution toward its goal will increase the likelihood of us getting there. Indeed, UNT has much to offer, and over the next couple of years the university will be better able to leverage all of its intellectual and professional assets to address environmental challenges here in the region as well as across the globe.
Which other universities might you look to as models of sustainability, and why?
There are a number of universities around the nation, and world that are implementing substantive policies and programs to address environmental concerns. The Office of Sustainability has recently completed an analysis of all of the schools around the country that are currently putting forth such efforts. The interesting discovery that we have found, is that UNT is quite unique in that, not only is it incorporating sustainability in everything it does, but it is consciously addressing the three fundamental areas at the same time. That is, whether in research, daily operations, outreach efforts, or the educational programs UNT offers, the institution is considering concerns related to society, the environment, and the economy. UNT is quickly rising as a global leader in this regard.
Many of the projects you’re involved in will likely address large-scale institutional inefficiencies. What can individual UNT employees do to help UNT become more sustainable?
The Office of Sustainability will launch an initiative this fall. It is called the “We Mean Green Challenge”. Essentially, the Office will ask departments to identify activities they can put forth to become more environmentally friendly. They will then pledge to enact these efforts and allow themselves to be audited by students. Consequently, this will ensure that the programs and departments are all held accountable to the student body, not a particular office. This is quite logical as it is really the students’ university and so therefore we would like the students to help us guide it into the future. As departments and programs become increasingly more “green,” they will receive recognition for the level of “greenness” that they are putting forth. When they reach the highest level, or the We Mean Green level, they will be allowed to exhibit their office/program name along with the new We Mean Green logo.
The Denton square has approximately 160 angled car parking spots around the courthouse, yet the tiny racks hold only a handful of bikes. Yesterday, I met Linda Ratliff, Director of Economic Development, and she explained that they the bike racks are coming soon. “We’ve got them and we’re waiting for them to be installed”, says Julie Glover, Economic Development Program Administrator.
The racks are the serpentine up-and-down kind, and they’ll be painted forest green to match the park benches and trash receptacles. There will be 4 or 5 larger racks, which will go to the high bike traffic areas, like near Jupiter House and the Hydrant. The smaller bike rack loops will be moved just off the square, and some racks will be installed on Cedar St. Parks and Recreation will install the racks soon, which are already in possession of the city.
Residents in the Oak/Hickory historic district are expressing anxiety about an impending battle between the city street planners over parking bans in the name of bike lane accommodation. According to the city, parking must be eliminated on both sides of both streets in order to accommodate wider traffic lanes for both cars and bicycles. The city purports that the current Hickory parking clearance in the historic district is too narrow and unsafe. Simultaneously, the city wants to add 6 foot wide bike lanes running the full length from Bonnie Brae to Carroll on Oak and Hickory. This is has been coming for since at least March, as the NTDaily has previously reported.
I measured the street in front of my house on W. Hickory, and the bike lane was 5′ wide, with a 4″ stripe. The right lane was 10.5-11′ wide. The left lane and parking lane was about 22′ total, so maybe 11′ for the lane and 11′ for parking. Street engineer, Bernard (Bud) Vokoun, wants to widen the existing drive lanes to become 12′ wide. By comparison, minimum interstate highway lane width is 12′. Minimum interstate shoulder width is 10′. Basically, if the lanes become wider, the bike lanes or parking are squeezed out, creating a polarizing fight between the neighborhood and cyclists.
The city sent out a written notice, dated June 17, describing the potential changes and announcing a neighborhood meeting with the Traffic Safety Commission. The meeting will be held at 5:30 PM, July 6 (Monday) at the City Council chambers on McKinney St.
If you live/own property within 500 feet of the proposed changes to Oak and Hickory St, you should have received a notification letter about this upcoming meeting. If you didn’t receive a letter, call Doreen at 940-349-8923, or email her.
Here’s the letter:
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff published an interview with Fort Worth City Planner, Don Koski, discussing how he incorporates consideration for bike/pedestrian planning into his overall design philosophy. Fort Worth has committed itself to an incredibly ambitious people-first multi-modal transit plan, and Don is the key player who will oversee execution of the transit plan.
I have a lot of experience in the planning of bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems and the development of bicycle and pedestrian transportation projects. Bicycle and pedestrian planning has always just been one of the many duties that I have had, along with arterial street system planning, project identification and prioritization, capital program development, and others. I jumped at the opportunity in Fort Worth because of the tremendous challenges and opportunities the city has with its rapid pace of growth and evolving development strategies.
I was intrigued by Fort Worth’s walkable downtown, investment in mixed-use urban villages, relatively unconstrained growth potential, and interest in improving its bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems.
Cool, that sounds like Denton too: rapid pace of growth, evolving development strategies, walkable downtown, mixed-use investment, unconstrained growth potential, interest in improving bicycle and pedestrian transit.
Fort Worth has had some great recreational trails along the Trinity River and elsewhere for many years. What was lacking was a way to make connections for people interested in cycling for transportation purposes. In 1999, the city worked with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to develop an on-street bicycle route network plan that would create linkages between downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods. The City came across some difficulties implementing the plan and the bicycling advocates in Fort Worth became frustrated with the lack of progress.
That reminds me of the Denton Mobility Plan, which proposed ambitious changes. The bicycle component was never fully realized.
When I came on board in December 2006, I was immediately approached by the late Dr. Byron de Sousa – a community leader who had been Chair of the Fort Worth Plan Commission and was an avid proponent of bicycle transportation infrastructure – to develop a truly comprehensive bicycle transportation system plan encompassing infrastructure, education, encouragement, city policies and programs, and law enforcement. That was when we kicked off the effort that led to the Bike Fort Worth plan.
Excellent! A comprehensive program touching all aspects of a properly planned endeavor: infrastructure, education, encouragment, city policy, and enforcement. Bike lanes alone won’t do it, this holistic approach is the most likely to succeed, and the only logical choice.
However, there are a number of streets that are oversized for the level of vehicular traffic that they experience today or are likely to have in the future. In some of those cases, a “road diet” may be possible that could provide dedicated space for cyclists. We look at these on a case-by-case basis to determine how best to accommodate cyclists, based on the criteria established in the plan.
Bike lanes are a nice accomodation, bike racks are a nice accomodation, road diets would show incredible commitment to the growing Denton cycle community. Does Carroll Blvd need to be 6 lanes wide? I don’t know, but perhaps that could be asked of every huge artery which squeezes out cyclists and pedestrians and encourages traffic congestion and high speeds.
Regarding temperature, I don’t buy the argument that people won’t bike because it’s too hot/cold/wet/etc. Look at the cities that have the highest bicycle commute rates in the country: Portland (wet), Minneapolis (cold), Seattle (wet), and Tucson (hot). Certainly there are many cyclists who won’t bike for transportation purposes when it’s hot, but there are other ways to address that, like by promoting the provision of shower and change facilities at major employers. In fact, I would say Fort Worth has great potential as a bicycling city: relatively flat, decent street block pattern, great trail system to which to make connections, great cycling weather 8 months out of the year, etc.
Ditto. Here, Denton has an advantage over Ft Worth in smaller size, reducing complexity and cost of cycling infrastruction improvements.
From the city’s perspective, the impetus behind this effort today are many, but include making transit service (bus and rail) more accessible and attractive, making the city more attractive to the creative types who want to live and work in bicycle-friendly communities, helping residents lead more active and healthy lifestyles, and giving people more transportation options – especially those that help alleviate air quality problems and that are easy on the wallet during these tough economic times.
All true, and very reassuring to see a comprehensive, progressive, sustainable vision from the transportation head. I’d like to do an interview with the Denton transportation czar for comparison.
So two weeks ago, while I was in Austin for a friend’s wedding, I went to visit Mellow Johnny’s bike shop, a Lance Armstrong endeavor at 4th and Nueces in a great old building. We ate at the Juan Pelota cafe inside, which has really really good little prepackaged salads. The espresso I had was really good, surprisingly better than the one I had earlier at Ruta Maya. The bike inventory was impressively varied: cruisers, mountain bikes, practical bikes, roadies. They have a commuter station inside with lockers, showers, and practical biking accessories.
As I ate the killer (no, really) salad, I eyed the magazine rack in the cafe and noticed a big binder. What’s this?
It’s the Austin Master Bike Plan, which was unanimously passed by the Austin City Council 6-0.
I read the whole thing, cover to cover, and it is really really good. An incredible amount of effort and coordination went into creating this document, and I was shocked at the size of the list of citizens who are advising the city on the project. This document is so good that it could perhaps be borrowed from by other aspiring cities, surely saving thousands of hours of research.
I’ll close this post with a quote from Elliott of AustinOnTwoWheels. This quote reminds me of Denton’s lack of execution regarding the council-endorsed bicycle plan from several years ago. Dedication is the hardest part.
I would like to close by saying while this plan has our support, it remains only a words on paper if it is not implemented. When we were circulating this petition, the number one issue that upset people most was that only 1/3rd of the projects in the 1996-98 plan every got completed. By establishing timelines in the new plan, we will not have to wait over ten years to see if progress is being made. In fact, some of the deadlines in the plan will arrive in the next budget cycle and before the terms end for the incoming council. The cycling community is more active and organized that ever before in this city, and I think you can expect us to remain engaged while working with you to ensure progress is made and this plan is honored.
It’s that time. And national press for this is bigger than I’ve ever seen before. Ideally, you should think of every day as Bike-To-Work Day, but why not start off small. I wish I had more time to put together an event, like maybe some breakfast stations or free treats from local coffee shops. Austin has some awesome coordination efforts for this day.
The above flyer says it all. Denton might not have real bike lanes (yet), but it does have a size advantage (in smallness) over Dallas, Houston, Austin, and any affiliated suburbs. You can ride to pretty much everything you need in Denton, and with relatively low friction (with drivers). Why not try the Friday commute on two wheels instead of four?
Coming up on Sunday there’s an apropos celebration of Bike Week festivities, and I’ll post more on that later.
I don’t want to parrot what our friends at Bike Friendly Oak cliff posted today, but it describes exactly what I’d like to see happen in Denton. A cycling renaissance. Pave the way with intelligent & connected bike routes, safe routes to school, racks at destinations, community bike education, and we’ll see a transformation that attracts good people, the same people who want to move to Portland, Chicago, Austin, Davis, Boston, etc. The key seems to be that those places have voices, voices of cycling/pedestrian advocacy that work cooperatively with the city and citizens.
I see an NTDaily editorial article from today that hints at big changes to come from UNT and the city working together to relieve some stressful traffic congestion around the UNT campus. The areas from Jagoe to Bonnie Brae on Oak and Hickory get so crowded with cars that cyclists have no choice but to occupy the lanes, and cars/buses/etc get trapped behind them. It’s stressful and dangerous, and the relief will be tangible.
I consider that a pretty significant change, and if we like the results, we should all encourage the city to seek more such improvement. Not only are they here to serve us, they are happy to serve us, the citizens. If you review the annual citizen survey mentioned in my previous post, you can see the city response to citizen feedback. In that response, you can see that the top two complaints are mentioned and responded to by the mayor. Cycling and pedestrian paths are on number three on that list of calls for change, folks, and the city knows it.
Top 3 City services rated as Fair or Poor:
The Hickory bike lane was paved in the mid-90’s, and the Hinkle bike lane was done even longer ago. Plenty of cyclists constantly use both of those bike lanes. With all the talk of stimulus and infrastructure investment, that makes this the perfect time to expand cycling and pedestrian pathways.
