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?”

1. Lack of shared vision and coordinated effort between council and planning staff.
2. Denton public didn’t consistently advocate for bike lanes/Complete Streets till recently
3. Many bicyclists are students, who have high turnover and low political involvement
4. There is no representative group for cyclists, yet.
5. 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.

27th Annual Turkey Roll, Saturday, Nov 21, 2009

This weekend is the 27th annual Turkey Roll ride, organized by the Denton Breakfast Kiwanis Club, a nonprofit that seeks to improve lives of young persons all over the world.  Proceeds from the Turkey roll help them sponsor seven Sponsored Youth Clubs, as well as providing back-to-school supplies to over 1,000 kids under their association with The Apple Tree Project.

Descriptive excerpt from the pdf press release:

There are four route lengths of 23, 35, 47, and 63 (100k) miles.

Also new this year, we’re having a Spaghetti Supper from 5-7pm Friday night at the Fairgrounds. Come early and “carbo-load” for the big ride the next day. The cost of Spaghetti Supper is $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for kids under 12. Payment for the spaghetti Supper may be included in your Turkey Roll registration fee. See inset for more details.

All rides will leave the Denton County Fairgrounds at 9:00am November 21, 2009. The physical address of the Fairgrounds is 2217 N. Carroll Blvd. 76201. It’s located behind the Kroger’s University Drive (US 380 @ Carroll Blvd).

Helmets are required and the rally goes on rain or shine. No refunds. 2009 Turkey Roll T-shirts to the first 500 entrants.

Online Registration:

http://www.DentonTurkeyRoll.com orhttp://www.DentonBreakfastKiwanis.org

Fall Alleycat This Sunday – 3:30 – Mckenna Park

 

This Sunday, there’s an alleycat race that spans from Mckenna park across downtown and through both college campuses.  The proceeds benefit Querencia Community Bike Shop, a worthy cause.

From the Facebook event page:

COME OUT AND HELP US SUPPORT QUERENCIA COMMUNITY BIKE SHOP
– QCBS is a non profit organization that provides the Denton cycling community with access to tools, workspace, and assistance (free of charge). for more about the services and programs that they run for the community – www.qcbs.org
- All Proceeds from the race will be donated to QCBS.

All riders welcome

here is the race outline as it stands now:
- race starts and ends at McKenna park
- registration opens at 3:30pm and closes at 4:00pm, announcements will follow and the race will begin as close to 4:00 as possible.

- As it stands right now there will be two categories, this may change based on attendance.

- Single Race
each entry is his/her own team – no help. each rider must visit ALL check points. the route taken in between checkpoints, and the order of checkpoints will be left up to the rider. – - entry is 3$ – - prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd

- Team Race
Form a team if you don’t want to ride as far, want to finish faster, or simply want to compete with a friend. at least one member from each team must visit all check points (checkpoints are the same as the singlerace checkpoints) teams should consist of 3 people, but entries of 2 person teams will be accepted. – - entry is 6$ per team – - Prizes for 1st and 2nd

Checkpoint Locations – check points can be visited in any order. you must show your card to attendant.

UNT Campus – Library Mall Fountain. Circular fountain

North Lakes Park – “fishing pier”

Denton Square – Courthouse front steps

TWU – Circular fountain in front of the library

The final Check In will be your return to McKenna Park. after having visited the first four.

Maps and pictures of the check point locations will be available in limited quantity before the race.

judging/points/score!
- points will be awarded to riders at each checkpoint. more points for the faster you get there. As mentioned, no particular order is required in choosing which checkpoints to go to. First one to attend all four checkpoints, and check back in at McKenna (first to finish) will be given a lot of points. It will be possible (but unlikely) for this person to not come in first overall.

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.

Querencia Bikes-To-Kids Awards

As seen over on the qcbs.org site, Querencia concluded its first ever Bikes-To-Kids program last week on Thursday, and they have some pictures of the excellent artwork made by the 4th and 5th grade Art Club students.

Bikes To Kids : Thursday 2:30PM

This week, the Querencia Community Bike Shop is putting on a Bikes-To-Kids event at Tomas Rivera Elementary in SE Denton.  The children from the after-school art club have been working on drawings and essays about bikes.  The top three winners will receive free bikes from Querencia and free helmets from the Denton Police Department.  The awards ceremony is open to the public, 2:30PM, in front of the school next to the marquee.

Aggressive Dog Alert : Duncan/Lakey St

For the first time, I wished I had pepper spray within easy reach.

I’ve been chased by dogs in every part of Denton, but never have the dogs been this aggressive, tireless, and persistent.  Usually dogs stop at their territorial boundary, and usually dogs get tired/discouraged.   For three miles these two cujos didn’t give up.  THREE crazy miles.

After a delicious (heavy) breakfast at Old West on Dallas Drive, we rode back on Duncan/Lakey through SE Denton, since the rail trail is closed.  Just after crossing the (closed) rail trail, two large, black, snarling, foaming-at-the-mouth dogs ran out and after us from a house on the West side of Duncan/Lakey.  As they snapped at Renee’s feet, I emptied a whole bottle of water in their faces, which they didn’t mind.  One managed to bite a few mouthfuls of Renee’s pannier bag.

I think they came from one of these houses in the 976 block of Duncan:

View Larger Map

Then, the unthinkable.  They never turned around, they never backed down, and the never ran slower.  I led them off across SE Denton all the way to Mckinney, and let them chase me instead of Renee.  With the dogs snarling and literally snapping at my heels, I did about five laps around the Denton Police station until I could explain the ordeal to a patrol officer in the back parking lot.  By then I had finally outpaced the dogs, no easy task on a 50+ pound xtracycle, and the dogs trotted off into the field along the commuter rail line.

Animal Control doesn’t work on Sunday, and the officer didn’t think AC could catch these cujos, so be warned:  There are aggressive cycle-hating/chasing black dogs on Hill St.  If you encounter them, ride FAST and call the cops/animal control.  Update: Renee left the police station after I did and saw the AC truck circling near the station, so I guess they did come out on a Sunday.

Yeah, I kept the delicious Old West omelette down.

Former Dentonite Hit and Badly Injured in Austin

From http://helpian.tumblr.com/:

On the night of Saturday October 17th, while riding his bike home, a car hit Ian Mcdougall, guitarist of our band Riverboat Gamblers.  He sustained some pretty heavy injuries including a broken hip, a broken wrist and hemmoraging under the skull along with many lacerations, torn ligaments, bruises and and scrapes.

He was rushed by ambulance to Brackenridge hospital in Austin and stayed in the ICU for 2 days before being moved into his own room where he is undergoing physical therapy while awaiting the results on X-rays and MRIs as well as a deluge of other various tests.

That being said, the prognosis is better than we had first thought.  We are happy that he is going to be ok and that he is alive and with us.  Unfortunately, not only is he in for a long recovery and is in a lot of pain, but he will be celebrating his birthday in bed with hospital food.

On another unfortunate note, there are a pile of bills currently gaining a Mt. Everest-like summit from all his hospital expenses.  We set up a PayPal account for our band mate and friend to try and help him get on top of the debt and focus on his recovery.  His PayPal account email is ian.gambler@gmail.com.  Anything you can afford to give will be greatly appreciated by Ian and his family.  Thank you all for your support and we wish Ian the speediest of recoveries.

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:

1. pedestrians and bicycles facilities
2. 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?

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.