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Has anyone kept data of how many miles of bike lanes has the city erased or planning to erase during 2011?
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... how many miles of bike lanes ...?
It depends on how the miles of bike lanes are counted. If you count just the bike lanes that went through the public parking modifications process, then so far there is just one project that has removed bike lanes (Lost Horizon Dr.) and one that is pending (Cherrywood Rd.). All of the others in the parking modifications process went through successfully without notable revisions. The League of Bicycling Voters confirmed this with the Austin Bike Program at last Thursday's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting.
If 100 people attend next Wednesday's public meeting for the Cherrywood Rd. bike lanes in support of the City's Original Proposal, then we'll be well on the way to securing those bike lanes.
The Lost Horizon Dr. bike lanes were on a road with less than 3000 ADT and maybe even less than 2000 ADT (where ADT = "average daily traffic", referring to motor vehicle traffic). Separated bicycle facilities are not usually warranted on roads with low levels of motor traffic. The BAC unanimously supported the City's proposal to remove those bike lanes at last Thursday's meeting. Note that quasi-shoulders will remain on Lost Horizon Dr., much like the striped lanes on Manor Rd. between Chicon St. & I-35 or similar to the striping on Shoal Creek Blvd., but both of those roads have significantly higher motor traffic.
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I had assumed that LOBV did not have the resources to mantain a spreadsheet to record the erasure of existing bike lanes (for any reason).
Nonetheless, since such independent record would be a very useful tool to gauge how distant is the implementation from the planning in the specifics of the Master plan; I posed the question to the broader bike citizenry.
I would not be surprised if some concerned individual has tallied the info and, if so, I would love to help with the effort.
Quantification, despite the little sex appeal it may have, is still one of the most unbiased ways to estimate performance. Or at least, I hope, it will give us a less rethorical understanding on the direction where Austin is moving.
Thus, I ask:
Has anyone kept data of how many miles of bike lanes has the city erased or planning to erase during 2011?
P.S. I do agree it will be important for bike supporters to go to the public meeting for Cherrywood.
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Thanks for the suggestion, Alonso. I would suspect that if we (the LOBV) don't have the resources for it yet, and if the City is not keeping such a tally, that there is no one who has the resources to do it. If someone would want to do it, they would be volunteering for the LOBV or volunteering/working for the City.
An LOBV volunteer created this map a couple of months ago as a precursor to creating a more comprehensive bike infrastructure pending projects map for the Austin area. That'll take time. As with most people, she has other significant commitments and can only put a limited amount of time into such a project. I just met with a couple of people yesterday to find more skilled volunteers for this task.
The City did recently release a map of the 2010 bond projects, which you may find useful for similar needs.
Have you asked the Austin Bike Program? annick at austintexas.gov. I've just put in a question in to them to confirm again that I did not misunderstand them last week (with the answer that I already posted above).
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Alonso, do you know of any other lanes removed besides Lost Horizon?
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Rob,
From memory, I recall sections of Rosewood, Chestnut and S. Congress. I think BAC accepted to those removals.
Tom,
I have not asked Annick yet ; but I will. Thanks for the suggestion. I was wondering if someone not working for the City has been doing it.
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... sections of Rosewood, Chestnut and S. Congress. I think BAC accepted to those removals.
Good point about South Congress. The bike lanes for South Congress are specified in the City of Austin 2009 Bike Plan. While most of those bike lanes were implemented for the section corresponding to this summer's resurfacing, a section of the northbound/downhill bike lane was not implemented. If I recall correctly, that section is from Annie St. to Academy Dr.
I thought that the Rosewood and Chestnut bike lane removals/reductions happened in 2010, otherwise I would have mentioned them earlier.
In any of these cases, the bike lanes have not yet been removed from the City of Austin 2009 Bike Plan. I don't think the BAC has been explicit about removing any of these bike lanes from the Bike Plan. For Rosewood and Chestnut, I'm not sure that the BAC actually passed a resolution, but the BAC was briefed on the removals. I can imagine the that Lost Horizon Dr. bike lanes may be a candidate, but that hasn't happened yet. Support resolutions from the BAC for City Staff proposals that "remove" sections of bike lanes have been in support of specific proposals at specific times, and have not recommended removing bike lanes from the Bike Plan. (Of course, the BAC approved modifications to the draft Bike Plan in 2009 before it was approved as City Ordinance.)
Per the Bike Plan, the benchmark objective is to complete 100% of the bicycle network by 2030 (p. 72). Of course, since not all of the 2009 Bike Plan bicycle network is expected to be completed in 2011, there are numerous sections of bike lanes that could be cited as not being implemented yet. Again, just because they won't be implemented this year does not mean they won't be implemented on schedule. I've noticed that bike lanes on Airport Blvd. were not painted continuously where the road was resurfaced. However, the road width varies, and given existing budgets, widening the road will have to wait.
I hope you can find the answers that you are looking for. Framing the question accurately for your needs will be key, if you are to find those answers.
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