The Houston Bike Plan identifies $300 million to $500 million in improvements aimed at encouraging cycling and bringing more accessibility to every corner of the city via paths, off-street trails and safer lanes where cyclists share the road with drivers.
A key goal of the plan is to generate discussion about how to proceed as interest in cycling increases in Houston, officials said.
“Once we have consensus on how to make Houston a great place to ride a bicycle, we’re then going to need to look very carefully at all of our funding tools on how we can actually implement this as quickly as possible,” Houston Planning Director Patrick Walsh said. “I just don’t think we’re quite there yet. That’s the next step.”
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Bike advocates acknowledged that the plan’s goal – creating a 1,600-mile bike system in Houston over 20 years – would not be cheap, but they said sticker shock should not dampen enthusiasm for the plan’s ideas.
“You are always going to have your naysayers because some people in Texas love their cars and don’t think anything should change,” said Regina Garcia, chairwoman of BikeHouston, one of a handful of groups active in developing the plan.
A short-term list of projects compiled as part of the bike plan would increase miles of high-quality bike lanes and trails to 709 in the next five years, including 328 miles of on-street, high-comfort lanes. Most of those lanes can be built cheaply by restriping roads and adding signs, at a cost of $24 million to $45 million.
“I don’t think there’s going to be some dedicated fund or anything to specifically deal with this,” said Councilman Larry Green, chairman of the city’s transportation, technology and infrastructure committee. “I believe, for the most part, the way we really get it done is as we rehab streets and repair streets.”
Proponents, enthused by the draft report, cheered its release while downplaying its immediate impact.
“It does not commit any city dollars,” said Mary Blitzer, government and grants director for the nonprofit BikeHouston. “Money is going to be figured out on a project-by-project basis.”
See here for the background. The vision is great. Finding funding is the key, and the more funding that can come from non-city sources, the better. I wish I could predict how this will play out, but I have no idea. Mayor Turner will have a lot of influence over the outcome, but most of the push is going to have to come from everyone who wants to see this happen. If that includes you, show up to the CIP meetings and make sure your Council member knows how you feel. The Press has more.