Home > Fit City > Archives > 2009 > August > 24 > Entry
New bike lanes
More progress to report, bike commuters!
We’ve got new bike lanes on Anderson Lane between Burnet Road and Lamar Boulevard, created by putting the street on a “lane diet” and squeezing an extra 5 feet out for cyclists. That’s the new lanes in the photo above, which looks eastbound on Anderson Lane from Burnet Road.
Lots more infrastructure is in the works, too, according to Nadia Barrera with the city of Austin Bicycle/Pedestrian Program.
Perhaps the biggest is the sweeping improvements planned around the University of Texas campus. Here’s what Barrera reports:
“The existing bicycle climbing lane on Martin Luther King Boulevard will be extended to bicycle lanes on both sides of the roadway from Pearl Street to Red River Street. Crews will also improve the crossings of Guadalupe Street at MLK Boulevard by extending the bicycle lane through the intersection southbound all the way to 17th Street.”
Reverse angle (back-in) parking on Dean Keaton Street will give motorists pulling out of a parking space a better view of approaching cyclists. It will also add to parking capacity. And bicycle lanes on Dean Keaton Street from San Jacinto Boulevard to Manor Road will improve connectivity to existing bicycle lanes on Red River Street and Manor Road. On Dean Keaton, the bikeway will be separated from the vehicle area by a “gore area,” — essentially painted diagonal lines.
Gore-separated bicycle lanes are also planned on part of a stretch of Amherst Drive between Duval Road and Parmer Lane, which will undergo a road diet to make space for bike lanes.
“We know that beginner and child cyclists may feel more comfortable on protected bicycle lanes and we hope that this facility will allow for increased use of the roadway by new cyclists and families in the area,” Barrera reports. “This project modifies the roadway to include a left-hand-turn lane and bicycle lanes.”
Summit Elementary, located on Amherst Drive, will participate for the first time in Bike and Walk to School Day in October. To get your school involved, too, contact Barrera at nadia.barrera@ci.austin.tx.us.
Another pending project is a bike lane on Davis Lane from Escarpment Boulevard to Corran Ferry Drive.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment Categories: cycling
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By CO2creator
August 25, 2009 11:41 AM | Link to this
As I tax payer I would like to see the cost benefit analysis used to justify changes for bicycles. As a cyclist I find most bike lanes terrible to ride in and still us the road due to the lanes being full of debris and a hazard. Riding the roads of Austin without bike lanes has been fine.
By Pam LeBlanc
August 25, 2009 2:53 PM | Link to this
Hi CO2, I just wanted to point out that while you may feel comfortable riding Austin’s roads without designated bike lanes, you are probably a much more experienced cyclist than the average resident. I think lanes are especially helpful to newer cyclists and children. And since the more cyclists we get on the street, the more accustomed to seeing them motorists will get, I think it’s a good idea to get more lanes!
By Eileen Schaubert
August 25, 2009 4:01 PM | Link to this
Lane diets are also performed to allow a safe place for turning vehicles and to slow traffic down in addition to demarcating space for cyclists. The lane diet on Steck Ave was requested by the neighborhood so they could feel comfortable walking the sidewalks to the new library on Burnet Rd and have an easier time crossing Steck within the neighborhood. Duval Rd was changed for car turning safety issues. No additional road width and less car crashes… seems like a good deal to this taxpayer.
By adam
August 25, 2009 4:03 PM | Link to this
I do agree to a point on some of CO2’s points. Some of the bike lanes are really full of glass and such, and are a hazard to ride in - on RM620 there is a spot on the shoulder where there is a busted mirror that TxDOT hasn’t cleaned up for at least a week. Of course, you don’t see it as you speed down those roads at the speed limit.
That said, they are useful on higher speed roads, especially up north where the folks tend to (in my opinion) be less friendly towards cyclists. Now if they would just sweep them or if the city would say “Call 311 and we’ll take care of it” instead of going “hey they are here use them, even if you are going to crash due to crap in them”.
By Maureen
August 26, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
Hey CO2, Your taxes paid for this study on the effect of bicycle lane retrofitting: http://www.utexas.edu/research/ctr/pdfreports/05157_1.pdf. Perhaps you could read it and find out the effect of bicycle lanes on the safety of everyone using the road.
For example: In the case of the motorist, the change in lateral position and probability of an encroachment [swerving into the next lane] is much higher on a roadway without a bike lane, even when total outside width is held constant. For example, adding a 4-foot-wide bike lane to a 25-foot-wide curb lane without any additional width added to the road will decrease CLP [change in lateral position of the motorist] by 1.3 feet. This decrease in the CLP coincides with a decline of nearly 20 percent in the probability of encroachment in the same scenario.
In other words, add a bike lane so that everyone stays in their own lane.
Or you could skip reading the research and just make noise about being a Tax Payer, which is much easier.
By elvis
August 26, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this
I’m glad to see the city following through with the bike plan. I also noticed they (or maybe it’s Capmetro) is finally fixing the gap at S. I-35 frontage road & 4th st., where the path is cut-off by the train tracks.
So great to see progress. If you see stuff in the bike lanes, call #311 and report it. Sometimes problems get fixed pretty quick..sometimes they don’t, but the city will probably never get around to fixing issues it doesn’t know about so report them as much as you can.
By Ross
August 31, 2009 8:51 PM | Link to this
ALSO, WATCH OUT FOR THE PAINT TUBES THEY LEAVE ON THE BIKE PATHS; IF YOU RUN OVER IT, IT WILL SPRAY SILVER PAINT EVERYWHERE. -Amherst Dr. resident who NEVER sees bikes on the busy weekdays when we have to drive our kids to school and gets backup all the way to Adelphi now. But theose bikers are out there on weekend mornings when there is no school traffic.
By pamcase
September 2, 2009 4:01 PM | Link to this
Bravo, your idea is useful
By zap
September 19, 2009 7:34 AM | Link to this
The amherst drive bike addition is really nice, but it doesn’t solve the biggest problem, the lack of continuous east/west north/south routes. For instance, Parmer is a very popular route for weekend riding and commuting, however, the recent changes @ Mopac/Loop1 bridge have eliminated the shoulder and created a dangerous crossing for morning bike commuters.