Downtown Austin Plan — Northwest District, including Bike Blvd.

I attended the city’s Downtown Austin Plan Town Hall last night at the Waller Creek Center. Most of the usual Bike Blvd. opponents were there. However, nary a word was said against keeping both Rio Grande St. and Nueces St. as bike priority streets in the Downtown Austin Plan (DAP) for the Northwest District (of downtown). Perhaps the audience was too winded after finding so many other components of the plan so objectionable.

The only questioning about the bike boulevard or the bike priority streets was when one gentleman inquired about the diameter of the traffic circles planned for Rio Grande St. (as specified in City staff’s recommendation). The city’s response was that the DAP does not cover such details. The opposition has repeatedly brought up their concern that traffic circles may be so wide that they will calm traffic, which, of course, is the intent of the traffic circles when four-way stop-signs are taken out. At Nueces Bike Blvd. Steering Committee meetings, City bike program staff has made it clear that the diameter of the traffic circles will be mostly dependent on engineering concerns, not political concerns (from any side).

The Austin City Council will be voting on the Downtown Austin Plan later this month, likely on June 24th (the same date as the briefing on the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard).