On May 20, 2024, the Richardson City Council reviewed and discussed renewing Richardson's status as a Bicycle Friendly Community and attaining a silver-level bike-friendly designation. A year ago, the City Council set a goal to gain the silver designation. Everyone remains on board with that goal. City staff also briefed the City Council on the City's progress on adopting a Complete Streets Policy. "Complete Streets" mean a "comprehensive multimodal transportation system that facilitates safe, accessible, comfortable, and convenient mobility for all people and travel modes." There's a consensus on that as a goal for Richardson as well.
That said, I'm worried about some of the things that individual Councilmembers said.
Mayor Bob Dubey had nothing but praise about the process. "You can't fix everything or solve every problem and I think just the methodology in which y'all are going through the project is well thought through."
Councilmember Dan Barrios appreciated Richardson's efforts in improving biking infrastructure and leadership. He shared his recent experience biking in Washington, DC, and how that "allowed me to see things differently and how that worked." We all should travel more.
Councilmember Jennifer Justice, participating virtually from Bangkok, said she "reviewed the plan. I'm supportive of it, but since we're talking about Complete Streets, it took me 45 minutes to go 1.5 kilometers in the Bangkok traffic last night." There's someone else who is benefiting from travel.
Councilmember Joe Corcoran had little to say but thanks. "I just want to take this opportunity real briefly to tell you that the work you do is really important. And I know that writing policies can be a slog. I'm writing a ton of them right now in my day job. And it's much more fun to talk about them than it is to actually write them. So really, thank you for the work you're doing."
Councilmember Curtis Dorian, speaking of bike lanes, said, "I've just wondered if there's an opportunity to create some areas that were, you know, they make a reflective paint in almost every color now. We could certainly look at that as an option moving forward." Without shooting him down, City Manager Don Magner expressed doubt. He said the maintenance cost of more variations of paint is a financial consideration, but "we can definitely, you know, kind of see what the two would cost in terms of initial investment and then maintenance."
Mayor Pro Tem Arefin expressed his own doubt about painting bike lanes. He suggested using concrete with different surfaces for bike lanes to last longer and be more environmentally friendly. Magner shot that down even faster than paint: "Anything that we do with the permanent surface I get a little reluctant because, you know, if a new standard comes out, now you're busting out concrete because it doesn't comply." Arefin didn't completely give in, hoping that some kind of natural material could be found to differentiate bike lanes. In any case, Arefin said, "It's so important that we use one standard everywhere." That's probably counter to his reluctance to use paint, as whatever national standards exist, paint is probably involved. For example, in Section E of the City's presentation, "Design Standards", it shows the cover of "Urban Bikeway Design Guide." Inside is a page that shows green painted surfaces as a standard way to designate bike lanes.
Councilmember Ken Hutchenrider had something else on his mind: safety. "I still get a lot of comments about the bike clubs, about being out on Renner and being out on high volume, high velocity streets...I get a lot of comments from community members who have great concerns. I have concerns from a safety perspective."
Exactly what is Hutchenrider's safety concern? There are good reasons why cycling clubs prefer arterial streets. And bike clubs include many of the most experienced, safety-conscious people on the roads. It would be my guess that a cyclist riding alone is at more risk of an accident than a group of cyclists riding together. Yet Hutchenrider says, "I hear it every year in my neighborhood walk around, people talk about it, you know, oh, I nearly ran over the bike group." Is there an implicit assumption here that if one of Hutchenrider's neighbors "nearly ran over the bike group," then the bike group is at fault? Could it not be that his neighbor's own inattentiveness or lack of knowledge of the rules of the road might have played a part?
Hutchenrider offered no suggestions. He conceded bicycles have the same right to use the road as cars, to use a full lane, like the signs say. He put it in a way that sounds like he suffers their rights but doesn't like them. He said, "Yes, everyone has the right to use the roadways, et cetera, et cetera" and not, "Yes, everyone has the right to use the roadways, period." That "et cetera, et cetera" sounds to me like a dismissive "yada, yada." Hutchenrider doesn't come right out and say it but it sounds like he'd like bike clubs to voluntarily agree to restrict where and when they ride. "People said to me all the time, 'Why are they out there on Tuesday night?'" Hutchenrider focuses on cyclists, not car drivers as the source of the problem or at least the key to a solution. "In this policy are we doing anything to engage and have conversation with the bike clubs that are out there?" Maybe we should have more conversations with Hutchenrider's neighbors and other car drivers. Barrios then said as much, more politely than I would have.
The "solution" involves educating bike riders on safe riding practices, sure; but also educating drivers on how to safely share the road with cyclists; enforcing traffic laws for both bikes and cars (this may require additional police training); adding bike lanes, trails, and safer street crossings to give cyclists more room to isolate themselves from cars; lowering speed limits on streets heavily used by bikes to reduce risk in potential bike-car conflicts; and partnering with local bike groups to understand their needs and promote safety from their perspectives. In all of these, bike groups are not a problem to be solved. Bike groups are among the strongest allies in a bid to achieve safer streets for all.
P.S. Speaking of painting bike lanes, other countries do it. I was just in Antalya, Turkey (hence my notice above about councilmembers' own travels), and walked from my hotel to a restaurant about a kilometer away (by the way, using the metric system is another thing other countries do better than the US). Below is what my walk looked like. There are two lanes for cars; one red lane for a walking path; one blue lane for bikes and scooters; and even a sidewalk on both sides of the street for standing or leisurely strolling. In my brief experience, everyone co-existed wonderfully (even if the blue lane looked a bit narrow to me for bi-directional traffic). If Antalya, Turkey, can do it, don't tell me Richardson, Texas, cannot.
"City streets transform,
Safe paths for all to travel.
Wheels of progress turn."
—h/t ChatGPT
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