Bike Friendly Oak Cliff Hopes Dallas Does an International Search for Bike Plan Consultant

It's been a year since the city council's Transportation and Environment Committee got word that Dallas had plans -- and $300,000 courtesy the Regional Transportation Council -- to update The Greater Dallas Bike Plan, created in 1985 and updated, barely, only a few times since. According to a memo sent to the council on December 5, 2008, by then-assistant city attorney Ramon Miguez, "The Bicycle Plan Update will consider a full range of bicycle facility types (e.g., shared lanes, striped bike lanes, off-street trails) to accommodate and encourage bicycle use as a mode of transportation." And during the briefing itself, John Brunk, assistant director of Public Works, told the council work on the new plan would begin in May 2009.

The plan redo's a little behind schedule, as Bike Friendly Oak Cliff reminds us this morning: "Dallas is set to announce a bid to bring in a consultant to create our area's comprehensive plan." That search should commence next month, in the hopes of putting a new plan in front of the city council by no later than the spring of 2010. Kim, who's wrapping a cover story on this very subject for the paper version of Unfair Park, is actually set to speak with Max Kalhammer, Dallas's new bike coordinator, this morning; she'll post a separate item with a few more details later today.

But till then, here's what BFOC is looking for in a consultant: "We hope the search goes well beyond the national level, as very few planners in the US have the amount of experience agencies in Europe and elsewhere have in implementing successful citywide programs. ... It's imperative that whoever we hire has experience well beyond the conceptual, and is willing to think far beyond the status quo."