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The staff’s recommendation (of spring 2010) for the Nueces/Downtown Bike Boulevard will be making its last visit to Austin’s city commissions this Tuesday. The Urban Transportation Commission will receive a briefing on the recommendation this Tuesday, May 11th, at 6pm. It is likely that the UTC will follow the suit of the other commissions, and make a decision regarding the staff recommendation.
Note that the Austin City Council briefing on the matter, originally scheduled for May 13th, has been postponed to June 10th.
More information can be found on the city’s bike program website, here:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/publicworks/bicycle-public-input.htm
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/publicworks/bicycle.htm
The approximate text of my (Tom’s) speech at the city’s Planning Commission meeting of April 27th follows. The italicized text below reflects the explicit position of the LOBV board.
From the Planning Commission, April 27th, says Tom Wald, Executive Director, League of Bicycling Voters:
The League of Bicycling Voters supports the staff’s recommendations for improvements to Rio Grande Street.
And we still support the original vision and plans for a Nueces Bike Boulevard that uses significant traffic calming to achieve a safe corridor for moving bicyclists of all ages and experience levels to key downtown destinations.
A Nueces Bike Boulevard should be a signature bicycle facility that will serve as a foundation for a network of improvements that encourage bicycling and its benefits, which will help Austin achieve its goals for mobility, climate change, environmental protection and health. A Nueces Bike Boulevard should be a shining example of our commitment to achieving greater balance in our transportation modes and celebrating Austin’s efforts to be a world-class bicycle city. The proposed improvements on Nueces St. in the staff recommendation do not yet reflect that vision.
We have accrued the explicit support of 2000 Austinites for a Nueces Bike Boulevard, and these people are following this process to see that adequate bicycle facilities are implemented on Nueces Street.
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We encourage this commission to examine the questionable foundation for shifting the bulk of the proposed improvements and, to some extent, the proposed bike boulevard itself to Rio Grande Street.
The staff’s recommendations are based on…
1) That future development and redevelopment could possibly increase traffic volumes on Nueces to the level that is incompatible with a bike boulevard.
The League of Bicycling Voters finds this argument disturbing, since it’s planning for what may happen, instead of what Austinites and city leaders would like to occur. The potential for increased auto traffic should be the catalyst for initiating the original vision of serving new destinations, such as Seaholm, the new central library, and new residential development with a safe corridor for bicyclists. Motorists would still use the street, which will connect to Cesar Chavez, but with the expectation that they will simply drive slower and share the road with bicyclists.
2) That a bike boulevard on Nueces could shift traffic to Rio Grande and pose safety concerns for pedestrians and bicyclists there, and that Rio Grande has schools that will serve as better destinations for bicyclists.
The League of Bicycling Voters finds this argument lacking, because it doesn’t include an analysis of impacts on Rio Grande if improvements — particularly those for pedestrians — also are made, such as bulb-outs. As stated in the first HDR traffic study, the amount of traffic shifted would be nominal and not significant. We also object to the idea that Rio Grande Street will serve as a route to bicyclist destinations any more than Nueces Street will. The schools, particularly ACC, are key destinations, but there’s a reason why twice as many bicyclists already use Nueces instead of Rio Grande despite no existing special measures to improve bicycle mobility… they are using Nueces as part of their commute and trips to downtown and other connected destinations. With the significant development planned near Seaholm, those desired destinations will increase dramatically.
We specifically ask staff to respond to:
Why are we planning for the eventuality of too much auto use on Nueces, instead of fulfilling the vision outlined for a Nueces Bike Boulevard in the City’s Bicycle Master Plan, Downtown Planning process and Street Smarts Task force recommendations?
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Whatever the merits of the staff recommendation, indeed the Bicycle Advisory Council voted to support the staff plan at the April 15th meeting, nevertheless the draft plan fails at this time to propose an adequate bicycle boulevard on Nueces Street, which is what downtown Austin mobility needs to help reduce overall congestion.
Thank you for your time.