Can Dallas become a more bikeable city? Advocates are cautiously optimistic

From KERA News:

On a late October evening, a group of cyclists enjoyed a warm breeze as they rode from City Hall, through the Arts District, to Klyde Warren Park.

It was the 11th Pedal to the Park event, an annual community bike ride to promote cycling and bike safety in the city.

“The purpose of what was formerly called ‘Bike to City Hall’ was to just show that you can bike around the city,” said District 1 city council member Chad West. “And we need to identify ways to make it more viable for people to feel safe and secure.”

Biking in Dallas can sometimes feel like the Wild West — between dodging speeding cars or trucks parked in bike lanes, many cyclists don’t feel safe during their routine commutes.

But advocates and city leaders say work’s being done to improve bike infrastructure in Dallas and make traveling safer for those on two wheels.

The Dallas Bike Plan was approved by the city council this year, providing a strategic framework for building more bike infrastructure across Dallas. It’s also the first update to the city’s bike networks since 2011.

The city also formed a Bicycle Advisory Committee to evaluate how best to execute the plan and allocated millions of dollars from grants and a recent bond package to design, maintain and construct bike lanes.

In June, the Regional Transportation Council approved $59.6 million in federal funds for 12 projects in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties. The council is also matching the funds with another $14.4 million.

That’s something cycling advocates are cautiously optimistic about.

“Being able to see the shift in our council members being pro-cycling and just generally alternative modes of transportation being something that people are considering at this point in time is just a huge, huge change over where it was 10 years ago,” said Heather McNair, president of Bike DFW.

Dallas was recognized for those improvements earlier this year when it was awarded the Bronze level for bicycle-friendly bikeway systems from the League of American Bicyclists.

“For a first-time applicant, this is a huge win and recognizes the key foundational moves that the city has in place to become a bicycle-friendly community,” said District 14 City Council member Paul Ridley.

Advocates like Jonathon Braddock with the Dallas Bicycle Coalition have been pushing the city to make these adjustments for years. He specifically wants to see more protected bike lanes, connecting existing lanes and better signage.

“There are parents who won’t let their children ride a mile to the nearest library because there’s no safe route,” Braddock said. “And residents who rely on their bike as their only form of transportation must choose between a long indirect route or a dangerous direct one.”

The most recent data available from the Texas Department of Transportation found bicycle fatalities in the state increased 58% from 2019 to 2023—and in the last year that data was collected, more than 100 cyclists died and nearly 400 experienced serious injuries.

Dallas is also consistently ranked as one of the least bikeable cities in the U.S.

But while Braddock still thinks bike infrastructure in Dallas is far from perfect, he also recognizes that it’s come a long way.

“It was like I was on the moon’s surface when I was riding back in 2005,” he said. “It has gotten to a point now where we’re not quite normalized, but at the council level, I think we’re almost there.”

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