Dallas city staff remove plan for 55-mile bike path without input
DALLAS - A non-profit organization working to create a 55-mile circuit trail system in the city of Dallas says the city missed a key opportunity.
‘The Loop’ was working to create a connection between downtown and the Sante Fe Trail that goes to White Rock Lake. But that connection will become much more challenging after Wednesday's vote.
Some council members were concerned that city staff had removed the bike lane that was part of the city's bike plan without a formal process.
Dallas City Council members are once again frustrated about the lack of discussion before an important decision.
"This could have been avoided and should have," said Councilman Adam Bazaldua.
At issue is a bike lane that was in the city's bike plan from 12 years ago.
The lane would have connected a new two-lane cycle track in downtown's East Quarter at Commerce and Jackson to the Santa Fe Trail from Deep Ellum to White Rock Lake.
Cycle tracks are street-level bike lanes that protect riders from other vehicle traffic.
"I was not aware of the design considered for construction today," said The Loop Executive Director Philip Hiatt Haigh.
The Loop is a nonprofit working to build a contiguous 50-mile urban trail.
Hiatt Haigh says his non-profit had plans for a protected cycle track similar to the one in Montreal along the busy stretch of Commerce Street in Deep Ellum.
"The cycle track only takes 12 feet. There’s still room for two lanes and sidewalks," he said.
But city staff already removed those bike lane plans.
The proposal before council members Wednesday was originally not even up for discussion.
It awarded a construction contract to turn Commerce into a two-way street and to widen sidewalks, but again, with no bike lanes.
But Hiatt Haigh says connecting the cycle track to nearby Canton Street will be more challenging, and city staff would not commit to a protected path on Canton.
If city council had not moved forward with funding Commerce Street construction Wednesday, city staff said that could delay the project by another year and a half.
That is a delay the Deep Ellum Foundation said it didn't want, and the bike lane plan simply didn't fit the priorities.
"It was requested at the time that there not be a bike lane on Commerce because of the desire to prioritize the pedestrian," said Stephanie Keller Hudiburg with the Deep Ellum Foundation.
The city is in the process of updating its bike plan and will share it with council members next month.
The city's previous bike plan from 2011 was for the most part never funded.