If you’ve driven on Lemmon Avenue recently, I hope your suspension has not been completely destroyed.
The worst area on Lemmon is between the toll road and Inwood, which has tons of terrible potholes, one after another, which have been exacerbated by recent weather. (It’s not that it’s smooth as silk elsewhere; it’s just particularly bad on this section.)
Crews are working on filling literally hundreds of potholes on Lemmon, and they anticipate it’ll take a week or longer to finish. I’ll be monitoring.
This morning’s Bike to City Hall event — part of Dallas’ week-long bicycling event, Cyclesomatic — was a great success! I was worried it was going to rain and have to be postponed, but luckily, the weather agreed with us, and we had a terrific turn-out.
My husband and I biked from our home in the M Streets, down the Katy Trail (where we met others heading to City Hall), then met with the larger group at Union Station. There were well over a hundred cyclists, from road warriors to slow riders to everyone in between. Bicyclists came from East Dallas, Oak Cliff, Plano, Uptown, University Park, and elsewhere. Five other councilmembers joined in the fun — Pauline Medrano, Sheffie Kadane, Jerry Allen, Dave Neumann, Delia Jasso, and Ann Margolin.
At around 8:30 a.m., we rode from Union Station to City Hall, where our master of ceremonies, Jason Roberts, thanked everyone for coming. All the councilmembers welcomed the group to City Hall and discussed the importance of creating a more bicycle-friendly city via better infrastructure and education.
I mentioned the city’s new bike plan update as well as our complete streets initiative, to create a multi-modal infrastructure that isn’t solely focused on moving cars, but is rebalanced to move cyclists, pedestrians, and the disabled in an inviting, safe way.
We also reassured our road warrior friends that separated bike facilities would not force cyclists to ride there: cyclists who feel comfortable in traffic will continue to have that option. We just want to expand options for folks who may have a different tolerance and comfort level in traffic. It’s all about options, education, safety, and better infrastructure.
My hat is off to Jason Roberts and his team who did an amazing job planning this event. I look forward to seeing everyone next year, as we begin to transform Dallas from one of the worst cities for cyclists into one of the best.
Dallas currently has the dubious distinction of being the “Worst City in the US for Bicycling,” but we’re working to change that. Join me on Wednesday, October 7 as we “Bike to City Hall” and unveil some of the initiatives that will help transform our city into a bike-friendly destination.
The City of Dallas, in cooperation with DART, the City Parks Department, and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff invites everyone to bicycle to City Hall to promote greater bicycle awareness on the morning of October 7. Councilmembers will leave from Union Station at 8AM and bicycle down Young Street to City Hall. Meet up with me at Union Station so we can ride together.
Afterward, we’ll introduce the city’s new bicycle coordinator, update everyone on the city’s new bike plan, and unveil upcoming initiatives that embrace Complete Streets policies. Complete Streets are streets designed to provide safe access for all users — not just cars. Developing multi-modal streets improves safety, eases transportation flow, improves air quality, and promotes the overall health of communities that have adopted them.
Please join me and pass this on to bicycling groups that may be interested in participating.
As part of the federal government’s evaluation of the Trinity Toll Road, they must take public comment. If you didn’t get a chance to attend the “public hearing” last month, you can still provide written comment (which will be included in the public record) through June 30. Here’s the NTTA press release: MORE….
After several months of work, the Council passed a new alignment for Central Expressway.
The part of Central Expressway we’re talking about is not the elevated portion, but the part that is a city street in Downtown. From Commerce to the Farmers Market, Central is a nice two-way boulevard with a green, treed median. But from Commerce to Live Oak, the street narrows and becomes one-way, creating a complicated and arguably dangerous entry to Downtown.
The new alignment will remove part of Pearl Street that divides a Downtown park, and widen Central to create a two-way boulevard. Rather than moving forward with the proposed alignment (which was 9 lanes of concrete), I asked Downtown Dallas and Larry Good to help redesign the road to make it greener and more pedestrian-friendly. Thanks to their help, we now have a better entry to Downtown, and an expanded park.
Councilmember Koop and I traveled to Portland and Seattle last weekend to tour each city’s streetcar system and bicycle infrastructure. Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez (who oversees economic development) and Jay Kline (DART’s streetcar coordinator) joined us.
STREETCARS
Both cities have used streetcars as economic catalysts, allowing considerable mixed-use development in depressed areas. The Pearl District in Portland is a great example. Only a few years ago, it was a run-down, crime-ridden warehouse district. Today, it’s a vibrant, clean, mixed-use community with businesses and residences. MORE….
There have been a lot of problems lately with towing companies booting cars on private parking lots, especially in Deep Ellum. Since there are no laws on the books regulating booting, the city has responded by drafting restrictions to limit this activity.
Please help improve this ordinance by taking part in an upcoming public meeting:
April 20, 2009
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla, L1/F/North Auditorium
I don’t know why this was scheduled during the day (I hold most if not all public meetings at night to accommodate working people), but maybe a daytime meeting works alright for most people. If you attend the meeting, I welcome your input about whether it was productive.
I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from my Trinity River Project Plan B editorial in today’s DMN, but a couple of people have pointed out that my editorial is a bit unclear on one point.
In the editorial, I recommend we close the I-635 loop on the west side of the city by linking the western portion of Loop 12 to I-20. A couple of folks were quick to point out the fact that Loop 12 already connects to I-20 via Spur 408.
They are correct, of course, but I was proposing a different route, one along Walton Walker Boulevard. MORE….
Join me at a Dallas City Council meeting five years from now:
It’s 2014. Under Mayor Tom Leppert’s plan, the Trinity toll road should have opened last year, but its construction hasn’t even begun. It remains mired in federal safety analyses due to concerns about its effect on Dallas’ levees. The North Texas Tollway Authority bowed out in early 2011 when it determined it could not fund the now $2.4 billion project.
City staff reluctantly informs the council and mayor that there is no way to bridge the enormous funding gap. The buckets of money once touted to finance the road have been spent on other more critical transportation needs in the region. Less than half of the city’s $84 million in bond funds for the road remains. MORE….
The Dallas North Tollway northbound exit ramp to Mockingbird and the southbound entrance ramp from Mockingbird will be closed from Monday, Feb. 2 through Sunday, Feb. 15. Highland Park needed to close the ramps so they can install a 36″ water valve.
