The latest on the City Bicycle Plan
The updates to the City of Dallas Bicycle Plan will be presented to the North Texas Council of Governments in the upcoming weeks.
In Northwest Dallas, cycling and community advocates began working over a year ago engaging the Bicycle Advisory Committee, attending the community meetings, coordinating bike rides with City officials and engaging at a detailed level to ensure that area needs were addressed. Letters, blog posts, data analysis (Vision Zero, Traffic Accidents), and proposed maps were used to make the case. More importantly, the City team leading the analysis was receptive to the input, they listened and engaged. This does not always happen and thus we commend them for their work.
As you know, these are all just proposals that must be approved and, more importantly, will still need to be funded. Regardless, it is a good starting point. All the documents mentioned below can be found in the Friends of Bachman Lake Document Library.
Proposed Top 15 Priority Projects List (anticipated to be funded with City of Dallas General Revenue and next City Bond funds)
In this list, the items for the Bachman Area (Noted in "D" zones for council districts) include:
Priority 3 Maple Ave - Visually Separated Bike Lane (D2)
Priority 6 Community Drive- Visually Separated Bike Lane (D6)
Priority 10 Timberline Drive - Bicycle Boulevard (D6)
Prioritization Final Memo
This document details the prioritization process and methodology. Of note for the Bachman Area:
While none of the Top Trail Project Candidates were in the Top 15 Priority Projects (due to cost), as additional funding becomes available through future City General Revenue, Bond Funds, County MCIP funds or Transportation grants, these Bachman projects are well positioned:
It should be noted that the Bachman area projects scored highly in the prioritization process. The criteria for scoring included: (1) Constraints were relatively low (construction cost/complexity), (2) Safety (High Injury Network), (3) Demand (High Active trip potential), and (4) Connectivity (connect an existing bike facility).
We would be remiss if we did not point out that the area will be benefitting soon from a Love Field sponsored project to add a bike trail along Lemmon Ave from University to the Webb Chapel Bridge. This project is already designed and construction should be starting this year. The reason it is not on the Cycling Plan is because it has been funded by the airport.
Another major project that is funded for analysis, is a connector from Bachman Lake Trail to the Campion Trail. This is the grey area on the map, to the left of Bachman Lake. We were instrumental in working with the City of Irving, Dallas County and the City of Dallas to fund the $600,000 needed to do this analysis. We have not been as successful in getting the funds for completing Bachman Lake Trail over the Webb Chapel bridge, but we are still trying!
