Dallas City Council members bike to city hall as they work on city's new bike plan
DALLAS - As the city of Dallas works to create its first new bike plan in more than a decade, several members of the Dallas City Council rode their bikes to city hall Wednesday morning and experienced some of the challenges with the city's infrastructure firsthand.
"Going down Bishop, I felt pretty safe for probably about 50% of the bike ride," Dallas City Councilman Chad West said.
West was one of four council members who managed to bike from home to Dallas City Hall Wednesday.
This year's event is recognizing Bike Friendly South Dallas.
"Biked from Bike Friendly South Dallas to Pacific Plaza," said Ashly Fletcher, with Bike Friendly South Dallas.
It's an inspiring event, but one with challenges along the way, which West says residents shouldn't have to face.
"It's sort of those transitions from one major street to another where you have that, ‘Oh, no, I'm about to die,’ feeling. And I definitely had that on two occasions when I was transitioning from a bike lane into a street where there was no bike lane," West said.
West said, with the city's next bike plan in the works, the city now has an opportunity to create new safer bike lanes that connect.
West said having children who now bicycle is also eye-opening.
"I don't feel comfortable letting them out on the roads without me hovering over them to make sure they're safe, and I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about cars and drivers," he said.
City of Dallas explores options to make biking in city safer
Several Dallas City Council members expressed a desire for city staff to create a connected system that will allow more people to use bicycles as a way to get around, and not just for recreation.
The city's last bike plan was passed in 2011, but it was unfunded until just two years ago.
West said there are opportunities to not only help bicyclists with designs, like protected lanes, but also to help neighborhoods as a whole.
"The studies will show, and I personally experienced this in my district, cars will slow down and they will drive safer because they don't want to hit those barriers and mess up their tires," he said.
Rebekah Kornblum is president of the Dallas Bicycle Coalition.
She said it is important that the next bike plan includes a timeline for implementation.
"Ten years from now, I want anyone who wants to ride a bike to be able to ride one," Kornblum said. "So anyone, child, adult, of any ability, should be able to comfortably ride a bike."
The city's bike plan was set to be passed by the end of the year, but it is now being reworked.
There is no date set for a vote.