April 2019 Meeting with TCI

On Tuesday April 9th we met with Transportation & Capital Improvements (TCI) officials:

Razi Housinni – Interim Director/City Engineer; Peter Zanoni – Deputy City Manager; Arthur Reinhardt – Interim Deputy Director; Richard Grochowski – Broadway project manager; David McBeth – City Engineer, St. Marys and Fredericksburg projects; Bianca Thorpe – Programs Manager.

Agenda

-Tito Bradshaw Memorial Bikeway on East Houston Street

-Bike Lanes on St. Mary’s, Broadway, Fredericksburg, Cincinnati

-Restriction of cars parked in bike lanes

-Bike SA Master Plan update

-Bike Parking

They agreed to look at restricting cars parked in the bike lanes we provide them with. We sent them this: According to a Bike SA poll, cyclists have identified the following streets to remove car parking, because really, you can’t count these as bike lanes, they are actually car parking lanes. Mission Rd, Cincinnati Ave, Ashby, St Marys, Austin St, Woodlawn, S Presa, Grayson, Dover Ridge, N Vandiver, Les Harrison.

Our responses to the meeting: We think that Ave B south of the freeway can work if we make it a one-way with a protected bike lane as you said. But since it isn’t part of the bond project, we’re afraid it won’t get funded, or if it does it will take like 20 years before it’s finished. We would also want the stop signs turned outwards for cross traffic, and very prominent wayfinding signs and markings on the road on Broadway indicating where the bike route goes. 

Meeting Notes

Tito Bradshaw Memorial

• The group discussed the new bikeway built in memory of cyclist Tito Bradshaw and how to connect it to the Salado Creek Greenway.
• Feasibility of adding bike lanes to East Houston Street.
• Possibility of Houston Street becoming a magnet for dock less scooters if it is made pedestrian-friendly and the need for another corridor to accommodate the density of scooters.
  
•  TCI was amenable to doing a study and analysis.

Restriction of cars parked in bike lane

• TCI reviewed the law passed by the SA City Council in 2014 that prohibited parking in bike lanes. As a result, any new bike lane installed would restrict parking. However, the law does not apply to lanes that are already in place.
• TCI expressed concern about adding bike lanes where there are residential areas and driveways.
• Russell suggested adding signage on all lanes telling people whether they can park—not only in areas where parking is prohibited.
• TCI stressed it needs Bike San Antonio’s help in identifying the streets where signage is lacking.

Bike SA Master Plan Update

• TCI said it submitted $60 million worth of projects to the City Council about three weeks ago for authorization to submit the Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) update for funding as part of the Congestion Mitigation Project (CMAC).
• Of the $60 million, about $21 million is for the Bike SA Master Plan or bike facility projects.
• TCI will learn whether these projects are funded by July or August 2019.
• TCI provided that $1.5 million was allocated for the Bike SA Master Plan and implementation.
  

St. Mary’s Street Bike Lanes

• TCI informed that St. Mary’s is another bond project for which about 70% of the design is complete. Three or four public meetings have been held so far. A bid will be placed this spring with a public meeting following in May or June.
• The new project would include curbs with dedicated bike lanes and a driving lane running in each direction with parking on one side of the street.
• TCI stated that due to high demand for nightlife, vehicles, and pedestrians on St. Mary’s, it is moving forward to try and widen the sidewalks, remove obstructions, and add dedicated bike lanes to the winding street.
• TCI identified an adjacent residential area as well as parking as challenges to the project.
• TCI said the eventual goal for St. Mary’s is to have buffered bike lanes.
• TCI agreed to send a schematic plan of the St. Mary’s project to Bike San Antonio.

Quotes from Arthur Reinhardt:

“We want our streets to be as complete as possible. We are also looking at parallel corridors.”

“We want a destination—a shared use. We’ve had some challenges with pedestrian safety. When we start to move those elements, we run into problems.”

“Vision Zero guides us and focuses a lot on pedestrian safety. We have to get better engineering.”

“For two-thirds of the Broadway project, we feel we can fit bike facilities. We want to have a great street, sidewalks, shade, and promote other modes of transit, but one of the challenges is the southern section. It’s the rock we’re under right now. We’re looking at Avenue B farther south. We want to convert Avenue B to one-way traffic and repurpose half the street to have a nice protected bike lane.”

The following topics were also raised:

Safe-hit flag posts

Cycle tracks

Adding bike lanes at the time new sidewalks are installed

Integrated sidewalks/bike lanes/shared spaces

Installing binding laws requiring a certain number of bike lanes to be installed per year (www.saspeakup.com.)

Armadillo shells in buffer lanes

Current bike projects:

A cycle track on Hamilton Wolfe Road, an east-west running corridor located on the city’s NW side in the Medical Center.

A bike facility project added on Abe Lincoln Road.

A bike facility project on Lockhill-Selma where there’s about a mile gap running from I-10 to Salado Creek

A bike facility project at the Five Points neighborhood intersection at Fredericksburg Road, where a VIA bus station is located. TCI would like to connect this area to Cincinnati Avenue.

Janel requested an update to the citywide bike routes and crash maps that UTSA was working on for Vision Zero.