Call to Action
Northwest Highway Repaving - Open Letter to Officials
We recently learned that $12M will be spent on Northwest Highway to repave and put up new signage. In addition, there will be a pedestrian study for the stretch from Inwood to Hillcrest. Unfortunately, none of this work addresses the lack of sidewalks along our North Dallas corridor and the need for a pedestrian bridge at Bachman Lake. As such, Friends of Bachman Lake sent the following letter to the project managers for the Northwest Highway repaving project. The letter CC'd the following officials: State Representatives Rafael Anchia and John Turner; City Council Members Adam Medrano, Jennifer Gates and Omar Narvaez; County Commissioners Elba Garcia and JJ Koch.
We did receive a response with instructions that the City of Dallas must make the request to the State for sidewalks. This is where you come in.
Please write to your state, city and county representatives asking that work on Northwest Highway move us forward in meeting federal guidance for bike/pedestrian planning by including sidewalks.
(https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/docs/planning1.pdf).
Here's our letter in case you want to use it for inspiration:
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Dear Sirs:
It has come to my attention that there is a major project underway to improve the quality of the pavement on Loop 12 / Northwest Highway. It is important for you to be aware that along this corridor, the City of Dallas is planning to install a regional skate park and aquatic center at Bachman Lake and also a park with a proposed performance arena at Preston Center. Northwest Highway is already congested and we need alternative forms of transportation to effectively support these amenities. Both Bachman Lake and Preston Center are locations with Northwest Highway as a major boundary. If the North Dallas area is going to be disrupted for this work, there are several requests that would be great to include on behalf of the community:
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Install 7 to 10-feet-wide sidewalk(s) along Northwest Highway, from Harry Hines to US 75 in order to facilitate East/West pedestrian/cycling access to the parks and DART stops. I have seen people walking down the middle of the Highway, on the road itself, and balancing along narrow bridge ledges to try to get to their destinations. If the entire length is not possible, then as a minimum, this sidewalk is needed on the north side of NW Highway from Denton Drive to Admiral Dr .
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Address the flooding of Northwest Highway at Denton Dr and while in this area, work with the City and County to rebuild the bridge at Denton Dr with on/off ramps to Northwest Highway. Why? Because this could then become the alternate access for Love Field airport. The proposed north entrance to the airport, with a bridge over the lake terminating in Northwest Highway is not supported by the community and we will need your help in making Denton Dr a viable alternative.
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Install the long planned pedestrian / cycling bridge over Northwest Highway at Bachman Lake (Webb Chapel Rd.).
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Move the stop light at Private Driveway at 3840 NW Highway to Admiral Dr., in order to allow for neighbors on the north side of the highway to safely cross the road.
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Improve all pedestrian cross walks at the major intersections.
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Install a hawk signal at Ovella and Northwest Hwy to enable better access for the children in this area to the lake park.