Do any of the District 7 or 8 Streets Projects include bicycle facilities?

[Robert Davidson]

Nicole,

I reviewed District 7 and 8 projects but did not see any mention of bicycle facilities in the project description. As committed by the passage of the Bicycle Master Plan (Ordinance 100741 - April 21, 2005), the San Antonio City Council committed to consider the provision of bicycle facilities for every planned roadway project.  This includes roadway construction and maintenance projects as well as opportunities for re-striping of roadways.  Every capital improvement project is considered for the provision of bicycle facilities at the time the project is scoped.  In the case that bicycle facilities cannot be accommodated for the reason of cost or limited right-of-way, justification should be discussed and documented for future reference.

Are bicycle facilities included in any of these projects? If not, what is the justification for not including them?

Prue Road (40-00030) is VERY important to cyclists as it is the only relatively low traffic road that connects the northwest reaches of District 7 and District 8 to USAA and the Medical Center by crossing Leon Creek. The alternatives are Babcock and Bandera, both with terrifying stretches of narrow road, no sidewalk, no shoulder and 50+ mph traffic zipping by.

DeZavala could connect several neighborhoods to the local retail and employment opportunities - and in many cases, there is no neighborhood alternative to traveling DeZavala either.

Best Regards,

Robert Davidson
Bike NW San Antonio

District 7 Projects
https://ww4.sanantonio.gov/CIMSCapro/sap/WebView.aspx?proj=40-00003~40-00007~40-00012~40-00030~40-00035

District 8 Projects
https://ww4.sanantonio.gov/CIMSCapro/sap/WebView.aspx?proj=40-00003~40-00009~40-00022~40-00030

[Robert Davidson]

Nicole,

Thank you very much for the excellent information on Hausman Road. When I look at http://www.sanantonio.gov/2007bond/Proposition1.asp, I see there are 43 street, bridge and sidewalk projects citywide, but only two projects that mention bicycles. As a driver I am looking forward to many of these improvements. As a cyclist I am worried that some projects will be a step backwards in bicycle accessibility. Is it right to assume that the other 41 projects are not adding bicycle facilities? If so, what is the right department to ask for documentation of the bicycle facilities decision for these projects?

Many thanks,

Robert Davidson

BikeNWSanAntonio
467-9811

[Robert Davidson]

((From Nicole Fowler)
Good afternoon ,

I didn't get the May 5th email that is below, but wanted to address
some of the issues and questions you raised in your emails. If there
are any other questions you have, please let me know!

The 2007 Bond program does include bike facilities on many projects
throughout the City such as Prue Road (Country Dawn to Autumn Bluff),
Callaghan (Culebra to Commerce), Bulverde (Loop 1604 to Evans), Hunt
Lane (Ingram to Potranco), and Jones Maltsberger (Redland to Thousand
Oaks). There are other projects as well. Not all of the 43 street
projects listed in Proposition allow for bike facilities, some are
sidewalk-only or bridge rehabilitation projects while others are
traffic calming projects which include school zone flashers and other
similar traffic calming projects.

Also, the Bicycle Master Plan requires specific right-of-way amounts
to install bike facilities. Where there is limited right-of-way, the
City's first goal is to install sidewalks for ADA compliance, although
we try to see if we can install a shared use path if we have the
necessary right-of-way.

For the District 7 Street Projects we are adding bike facilities on
Prue Rd and Callaghan Road. For the District 8 Street Projects, we
are installing bike facilities. The De Zavala project includes a 15'
curb lane which is not a dedicated bike facility at this time.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Nicole

[Robert Davidson]

Nicole,

It is fantastic news that so many projects are including bicycle facilities. Is it possible that there is a map or list that shows where new ones are going in? I looked at the Bond Committee's recommendations and detailed project listings, however if bicycle facilities were not called out, the only clue is where it says MultiModal: Yes.

I would also like to understand if all these projects will be done, or if the projects are prioritized and low priority projects may or may not get done depending on the construction cost of higher priority projects. If they are prioritized, is there a list showing the priorities and approximate start/end dates?

Does the Babcock Road (40-00003) project include bike facilities? I see where you say all District 8 street project include facilities, but it is a District 7 project as well, and only Prue and Callaghan projects were mentioned there.

Is there more detail on the hike & bike facilities on the Fredricksburg Road Congestion Mitigation project?

It is really exciting to discover that so much is improving for bicycle commuters!

Best Regards,

Robert Davidson

---

From: Robert Davidson [mailto:rdavid...@satx.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 7:50 AM
To: Nicole Fowles
Cc: bike...@googlegroups.com; re...@reedwilliams.net; Christina Cruz; District 7 Mailbox
Subject: Re: Do any of the District 7 or 8 Streets Projects include bicyclefacilities?

[Lydia Kelly]

Thanks for sharing your emails.
I can't tell you how fantastic it is that someone (public/cyclist) is
asking lots of questions.

You are a real champion!

Lydia



Lydia Kelly

SA-BC Metropolitan Planning Organization

Bicycle/Pedestrian Transportation Planner

825 S. St. Mary's St

San Antonio, Texas 78205

210-230-6911 Fax 210-227-9321

ke...@sametroplan.org



Please Remember Cyclists and Motorists are both legally allowed on our
roadway system. We SHARE the Same Road, SHARE the Same Rules and SHARE
the Same Rights.



"We were made to walk and for 99% of human existence, that's how we
moved, by walking. Walking is healthy for the heart, the mind and the
soul."
- David Suzuki

-----Original Message-----
From: bike...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bike...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Robert Davidson
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 5:45 AM
To: BikeNWSanAntonio
Subject: Re: Do any of the District 7 or 8 Streets Projects include
bicycle facilities?

[Robert Davidson]

Nicole Fowles on 5/8 - sorry it took so long to post this excellent reply! It is really encouraging to see some of these roads get some space for bikes to travel safely.
-----------------------------

Good morning,

 

Currently we do not have a map of bike facilities in San Antonio.  I will make that recommendation though to the City's Bike Coordinator.  This office is in the Office of Environmental Policy and oversees the Master Bicycle Plan for the City.   Their website is http://www.sanantonio.gov/oep/hikebike.asp.  The City recently hired a new Bike Coordinator who will begin in a couple of weeks. 

 

Currently we are on track to have bike facilities on all the projects projects I mentioned in the other email.  Construction bids have been very good lately thanks to the price of asphalt and concrete.  Most of these projects go into construction in 2010 so we will have a better idea then.  Please join us at any of our project meetings (listed on http://www.sanantonio.gov/cims/?res=1280&ver=true). 

 

I'm not quite sure I understand the question of prioritization.  The City's goal is to substantially complete all of the 2007 Bond Program projects by June 2012.  Information on project construction start and end dates can be found at the City's website for the bond status(https://ww4.sanantonio.gov/cimscapro/defaultframe.aspx). 

 

Babcock Road is not a widening project and does not have enough right-of-way to install any bike facilities in its current configuration. 

 

I wanted to clarify the District 8 street projects issue.  The Prue project will include bike facility and the De Zavala project has a 15' curb lane but no dedicated bike facility.  The Medical Center Intersection projects is another District 8 project, but one that would not include bike facilities.  Babcock is also in District 8. 

 

There are five District 7 street projects, including Babcock, Callaghan and Prue.  The other two projects are St. Cloud Pedestrian improvements which is for sidewalks only and the District 7 Pedestrian Mobility Program which funds projects such as new school flashers and other traffic calming project.

 

The Fredericksburg Rd. Congestion Mitigation Project is begin managed by VIA.  The City's funding is going to traffic signal upgrades.  They are hosting workshops on the project this week including one tomorrow:

Saturday, May 9, 2009, 8:30 – 10:30 am

Topic: Westside Multimodal Transit Center
VIA Metro Center 1021 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX 78212
8:30 am: Open house
9:00 am: VIA presentation
9:30 am: Breakout sessions: transit center function and design

 

I tried to attach their presentation, but the ppt was too large.  You can review it at http://www.viabrt.net/Documents/2009Presentation.pdf if you wish.

 

 

If you have any more follow-up questions, please do not hesitate to send and email or call at 207-8218.  We recently had a public meeting on Prue, Babcock and De Zavala.  If you have some follow-up questions for the project team, you can reach Richard Casiano, Capital Projects Officer at 207-8218 or richard...@sanantonio.gov or the Project Manager Richard Grochowski at 207-7640. 

 

Thanks,

Nicole