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Downtown Bike Lane


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Remember last Fall when the Chron reported on a protected bike lane in downtown. Anybody know what ever happened to that? I remember them claiming it would be built in October, but then it fell off the radar.

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"A critical downtown bike lane linking Discovery Green and Sam Houston Park near Buffalo Bayou trails was initially slated for an opening in October. Then officials said they were aiming at the end of 2014.

That deadline came and went, as the city worked on the final design and to acquire some of the materials needed for the lane, notably rubberized humps to separate cars and bikes.

“Everything remains on schedule, we are moving toward a spring completion date for the bike lane,” city public works spokesman Alvin Wright said on Tuesday."

Apparently, it's six months late but still on schedule. So, it was scheduled to be late, apparently.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is awesome :) Glad this is getting started. All bike lanes should be like this. I see so many that are so narrow and are right next to busy thoroughfares and you know no one in their right mind would risk their lives on one of those. These I can see people traveling down.

 

Probably the best example of a city making a major effort to do stuff like this is London.

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The scariest thing about "traditional" bike lanes is the gap between the concrete curb and the asphalt, often creating a gap for the tire to get in and cause an accident, as if getting cut off wasn't enough to worry about.

I STILL have scars on my knee from biking accidents.

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Interesting divided bumps. Agreed at the ease of installation meaning they should create more elsewhere if deemed worthy.

Down Austin or La Branch from downtown to Hermann Park? I would prefer La Branch due to connectivity with Discovery Green, Toyota Center, ect.

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Interesting divided bumps. Agreed at the ease of installation meaning they should create more elsewhere if deemed worthy.

Down Austin or La Branch from downtown to Hermann Park? I would prefer La Branch due to connectivity with Discovery Green, Toyota Center, ect.

 

More than anything, I'd like to see Heights and Montrose connected, then from Montrose to Hermann Park and the Med Center. There is no direct, easy way to bike between the Heights and Montrose, and the light rail skips both neighborhoods. 

 

On Lamar, I have to say the bright green paint looks a bit tacky to me, but it does serve its purpose as it clearly sticks out as a bike lane. Can't wait to try it out.

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Huh? Dallas is one street over, parallel to the new bike lane. Just because we can put them down every street doesn't necessarily mean we should. I'd rather see a lane of traffic along with the sidewalk area on one side dedicated to a wide meandering path through vegetation, with benches and trellises or something, to improve the pedestrian experience.

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I just realized if they put a bike lane down La Branch it could theoretically connect the MKT Trail all the way to Hermann Park, if they got creative and weaved the bike lane off the road and under the overpass/around the bayou. I vote that be the next major bike lane.

So how are they going to connect the MKT Trail and Lamar bike paths to the Columbia Tap Rail?

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So how are they going to connect the MKT Trail and Lamar bike paths to the Columbia Tap Rail?

From what it looks like, the bike lane ends at Discovery Green - that means you're on your own from there....

 

Polk does have a bike lane part of the way

 

I live on Lamar (next to Columbia Tap Rail), there isn't hardly any traffic once you get east of downtown so it isn't a big deal to ride on the streets to the Columbia Tap...

 

I can't wait for the bike lane to be finished, now that the trains are in use, I have lost my "bike lane" that I used to use to get to west side trails

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Hmm. I had hoped for a more permanent solution but yeah, I don't know of an easy one. They could follow the jogging trail thing through the north side of discovery green up to Walker and then jot north around GRB and then back down to Walker.

Or more extreme, trench a pedestrian tunnel below GRB for a more direct route. Heh.. I just wish they could weave it from Lamar over to Walker somehow, without having to weave around the GRB.

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a bike lane down Heiner/Bagby from Buffalo Bayou Park/Allen Parkway into Midtown, turning east down Elgin, and ending at UofH could be useful? im just not sure how busy the Heiner traffic can get south of W Dallas/north of Pierce.

and obviously the Heights/MKT Trail to Hermann Park bike lane down La Branch.

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This is cool. Hope that paint isn't too slick when wet.

My thoughts exactly. I was really surprised when I saw the paint job. I really hope that this is paint specifically for bike lanes. If not, it could well be an ice skating rink in a light rain. Surely the city has worked with the bike community on this one though and figured this out, right?

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This is a great step in the right direction. I fear with only these small humps (hard rubber armadillos?) separating car lanes and bicycle lanes that debris from cars will quickly and easily get in the bike lane, making it ruthless for punctures. 

 

Hopefully, once they have gone through this initial proving out stage they'll actually lay some permanent concrete curbing with smaller cutouts for rainwater drainage. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

There are even traffic lights for the bike lane that runs against the flow of vehicle traffic:

 

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I'm not sure I like the idea of a two-way bikeway on what is otherwise a one-way street. Drivers exiting a garage or turning at an intersection may not notice a cyclist coming from the opposite direction of vehicle traffic.

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I'm not sure I like the idea of a two-way bikeway on what is otherwise a one-way street. Drivers exiting a garage or turning at an intersection may not notice a cyclist coming from the opposite direction of vehicle traffic.

Back when I was in college, there were lots (almost exclusively with very few exceptions) of one lane roads with bike lanes on either side, not shunted off to one side. I think that unless there's total separation (like, say, a bike path being built on a railroad right of way), it should be on either side. Then again, it wasn't all that fun to be biking down a road and see a bus barreling right toward you.

Tough call.

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Change. Scary.

I'm sure people will adapt.

Jeeez.

 

They will, just as they have adapted to the light rail on main street. I mean, when they opened the line we saw on average a wreck a week? They're much less now.

 

Huge problem is bicycles are a lot harder to see, aren't as loud, and the people riding them will probably suffer very severe injuries to a driver who hasn't adapted yet.

 

They should have split the bicycle traffic to two streets McKinney would be eastbound, and Lamar would be westbound. But that would have been 1 lane on each street that would have been taken over by bicycles.

 

It's great they have put in a bicycle lane, it's just implemented very haphazardly.

 

Then again, the bright green paint and signs that they will hopefully put up will help the drivers adapt quickly enough that no gets injured, or worse, killed.

 

and who knows, maybe the end goal will be to have a permanent concrete (or other) division of bicycle path and street with EB on McKinney, and WB on Lamar.

 

I will use this as it is, but I will be VERY cautious when going against traffic and crossing streets (even on a green), or going past a garage exit. hands covering both brakes, and probably going very slow.

 

Hopefully they add a bike lane on rusk from avienda de las americas to st emanuel. going up capitol with the light rail lines the way they are on that street makes that a completely useless street to ride a bicycle on.

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