You are herePublic input session on Waller Creek re-development NEEDS cyclist input!
Public input session on Waller Creek re-development NEEDS cyclist input!
The following message was forwarded to me by an anonymous city employee:
I was hoping you could post info about the Waller Creek public input session on May 13 from 6 to 9 pm in the Convention Center Ballroom C. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT BIKERS ATTEND THIS. The city is going to be doing a complete redesign of the Waller Creek trail over the next few years. This could be a premier north-south bike route from the university to ladybird lake. Unfortunately, there has already been some anti-bike sentiment expressed in the early planning meetings. One of the "options" I've heard discussed in terms of bike access to the trail is a "parallel route" -- ie, a bike lane on Red River. Lame!! We need to make sure that this publicly funded trail is open to all Austinites. That means we bikers need to be present from the beginning.
Here's the link to attend.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/wallercreek/In addition, the city bike plan will be at Council on Thursday, May 21. We also need bikers to show up to this. The plan has gotten some last-minute opposition from anti-bike people on the Parks Board, who object to promoting biking through our parks. Double Lame! So, we need to demonstrate strong support.
Thanks for the heads-up! If you're a cyclist that uses the downtown area and wants better bicycle connectivity throughout Austin, PLEASE attend this meeting and make your voice heard. Even if you don't have anything to say, a whole mob of sweaty cyclists showing up speaks volumes in itself.
I saw an article on A2W a couple months ago that called for people to email the city telling them if we preferred Red River or Trinity to be the "downtown" bike centric route: http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/01/27/would-you-rather-have-trinity-or...
I definitely emailed them supporting Red River - to me it's a more useful road, with easier access to the East Side. There was a follow up on that, saying bike lanes on Red River were heavily supported and would be put in with the next scheduled maintenance of that road: http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/03/17/bikes-lanes-on-red-river-it-coul...
This email you received from a city employee is enlightening though - it shows the city thinks they can confine cycling and cyclists to whatever particular road we choose, but only that road.... We definitely need to get our asses in gear with regard to this and show the city we can't be confined. Also, any park related legislation might be used to kick bicycle events (like bike polo) out of parks in the future, so this is doubly important.
EDIT:
Austin Convention Center is located at:
500 E Cesar Chavez St
Austin, TX 78701
(I had no idea where it was)
I and others on the BAC helped instigate another look at specifying Red River St. vs. Trinity St. as a bike route. (There is no comparable alternative to Red River St. for access between downtown and 78722 / Manor Rd. where live... except that the street is designed for cars.) The impetus was that a new Downtown Plan for Austin was being initiated. It designated Red River as an auto-priority route and Trinity as the northbound bicycle-priority route. Other local bicycle advocates have considered this issue in the past, but with the current climate for bicycling in Austin, there seems to be a new possibility to have Red River St. include some bicycle-specific accommodations. Some progress has been made in this area, but it is still a work in progress.
Regarding Waller Creek, there are a few sections with their own characteristics. For example, a good, transportation-worthy, off-street, bicycle path along Waller Creek north of 12th St., leading from Red River St. would be fabulous. Bicyclists could Red River at grade from various points downtown and then hop onto the (dreamed-of) bike path along Waller Creek into the UT campus.
South of 12th St. an off-street bike path along Waller Creek is another issue. There are different challenges facing this section. I think an off-street facility -- without a stop at every street -- would be great. This will probably be more challenging to work toward and/or implement because the facility would need to be in the narrow Waller Creek canyon. I've only heard that this will be a challenge to get -- not that the issue is dead.
A strong showing by bicyclists now is critical if Austin is to see off-street bicycle access for Waller Creek. I posted a Google calendar listing with some more details here: http://tinyurl.com/dfwwf4
(Off-street facilities are _especially_ important for young kids learning how to ride a bicycle.)