Bicycling

Downtown Dallas Now Has a Working Network of Bike Lanes

When the city first began putting down bike lanes last year, it was hard to divine if there was any grander vision than simply flinging paint at random patches of asphalt. In a century or so, we figured, they'd coalesce into the long-awaited Dallas Bike Plan. Until then, we were left to puzzle over ... More >>

City Will Add 70 Miles of Bike Lanes by the End of 2014. Beyond that, Things Get Complicated.

The city of Dallas has been criticized at times for the agonizingly slow implementation of its 2011 Dallas Bike Plan. Two years after its adoption, only about 10 percent of the planned 1,127 miles of bike lanes and trails have been been put in place. That would seem to indicate that the city is behi ... More >>

Riders Still Waiting on Refunds from Phantom Central Expressway Bike Ride

When a planned Downtown Dallas-to-McKinney bike tour was abruptly cancelled last month -- this the one that would shut down 30 miles of Central Expressway -- riders who had paid their registration for the race were promised a prompt and full refund, assuming they didn't want to take a free pass to a ... More >>

Calatrava "Bridge" No. 2: We're Spending an Extra $7 mil to put Lipstick on a Pig

The Dallas City Council yesterday voted to spend some $7 million of your money to cover the latest cost overruns for the second Calatrava suspension bridge over the Trinity River. The city already had to cheap down the first Calatrava suspension bridge so much that now it's not even a real suspensi ... More >>

The City Would Like to Remind You, Bicycles Are Vehicles, Too

The City Council made it pretty clear last month that it's not quite ready to take the bold step of barring drivers from throwing things at cyclists. This is in keeping with general reluctance to turn Dallas into a legitimately bike-friendly city, a reluctance that seems to stem both from an ill-def ... More >>

Councilwoman Angela Hunt Doubles Down on Criticism of Dallas' Half-Assed Bike Plan

Last week, as a City Council discussion of the don't-throw-stuff-at-cyclists ordinance degenerated into a litany of members' pet peeves about cyclists (we're looking at you, Sandy Greyson), Angela Hunt became visibly frustrated. Hunt, who rides a bike herself and has been the council's most vocal cr ... More >>

In New, Bike-Friendler Dallas, Drivers Have a Friend in the Morning News' Tod Robberson

With all the feel-good talk recently celebrating Dallas' hesitant but progressing embrace of cycling (Painted bike lanes! A don't-be-a-dick-to-cyclists ordinance!), it's easy to forget about the concerns of the driver. Never fear. Morning News editorial writer Tod Robberson is here to champion thei ... More >>

Dallas Has Its First Real Bike Lane, and It's in Oak Cliff

It's easy to bemoan Dallas' glacial progress on the bike plan that is supposed to, one day, connect the city with an extensive network of bike lanes, but credit should be given where it's due. In the spring, it was the shared lane that randomly sprung up on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard next to F ... More >>

If You're Into Biking, Just Go Ahead and Move to Fort Worth

Dallas and Fort Worth are similar. They're both in Texas, both have oversized conceptions of themselves, and both came of age in the automobile era. The cities also developed similar bike plans, involving miles of designated bike lanes, at about the same time. And that's where, transit-wise at least ... More >>

Fort Worth Skunks Dallas on Bike Plan

It was shortly before or not long after I read Robert Wilonsky's post from earlier this week about Dallas retaking its rightful crown as the country's worst major city for cyclists that I wiped out, in suitably humiliating fashion, as I rode my bike to work down Hillcrest Road. I would blame the fal ... More >>

Great, Now Dallas Is One Of The Least Fit Cities In The Nation

In addition to being smutty and un-hip, the DFW area is now ranking way down at number 47 on the American College of Sports Medicine's Fitness Index. And the bad news is that unlike some of the other lists we've been bitching about lately (looking at you, perv index) this one is backed up with actu ... More >>

Bike Guru Gil Penalosa: Striped Bike Lanes Aren't Enough to Make Dallas a Cycling City

The City Hall staffers who last year tried to toss road blocks in the path of a City Council plan to stripe 840 miles of bike lanes in Dallas -- that's 840 miles more than what the city has now -- might be pleasantly surprised by part of what Gil Penalosa will have to say at his "Urban Bike Systems" ... More >>

Back, Pedal: Dallas Bike Lanes Won't Be Easy, But They Just Might Happen After All

The bureaucratic red tape for bike lanes is loosening in Dallas. Well, OK. There's talk of it loosening. Which, for those who like to want to ride their bicycles, who want to ride them where they like, is better than nothing. At today's meeting of the city council's Transportation and Environment C ... More >>

Dallas Is the Worst When It Comes to Cycling to Work? Gee, Can't Imagine Why. No, Wait ...

​I've been trying since daybreak to reach Max Kalhammer, the city's bike coordinator, to talk about the not-at-all-surprising results of the Alliance for Biking & Walking's 2012 Benchmarking Report, which says we're one of the worst big cities in the entire country when it comes to people ridi ... More >>

Council Told City Can't Afford Bike Lanes, Which Is Why BFOC's Looking for Donors

​So much for that Bike Plan briefing. The council's transpo committee didn't have time to get it today, so it's been backbenched for now. Shame too, since Street Services second-in-command Beth Ramirez's pavement markings briefing was so fascinating, as in: Did you know it costs anywhere between $ ... More >>

If City Can't Pay for Bike Lanes on Jefferson Viaduct, BFOC Will Try to Find the Money

Bike Friendly Oak CliffClick to enlarge Jason Roberts's look at the problems cyclists face when trying to ride the Jefferson Viaduct.​Jason Roberts broke the news yesterday: Israel "Dallas" Torres, 32 years old and an experienced cyclist, was hit by a car Saturday afternoon while riding on the Jef ... More >>

Bicycle Advocates Win a Game of Chicken

City Hall turns back on fudged numbers for bike lanes.

Hunt's "At a Loss to Understand" Why City's Making It So Difficult to Roll Out Bike Plan

Via.​Council member Angela Hunt popped into the comments yesterday to express and explain her frustration with implementation of the city's new Bike Plan, unanimously okee-doked by the city council in June. Because, as we've been discussing since Saturday morning, the plan isn't really a plan -- m ... More >>

Are They Angels or Grinches at Dallas City Hall? Depends Which Project You're Discussing.

​Sometimes I think city staff may be demon-possessed. I'm sorry, I know it's a very weird thing to say. But I can't come up with another explanation. One day they're so bouncy and positive and totally can-do. The next day they've been taken over by the negativity goblin. I attended a city council ... More >>

Griggs and Hunt: Why Weren't We Told Bike Plan Would Be Hard, Expensive to Carry Out?

Dallas' bike lanes will be painted in gold. OK, maybe not, but they could be quite expensive.​Turns out, the city's new bike plan, unanimously approved by council in June, is far more complex than drawing lines along the street in patterns deemed good ideas by city consultants. Before we get i ... More >>

How Will Dallas Roll Out New Bike Plan? Just Look at the Plan For Fort Worth Avenue.

Click to enlarge for a better look at a proposed plan to redo Fort Worth Ave.​By 2021 the city of Dallas hopes to have 1,296 miles of here-to-there dedicated to cyclists, 456 of which would be off-road -- trails, let's say. Which leaves the rest, 840 miles, spread up and down the cracked concrete, ... More >>

That Katy Trail-to-Bishop Arts Trinity Trail is Ready to Go. Now, to Fund and Fix the Streets.

​If, say, during your lunch break this afternoon you were to dip between the Trinity River levees, you would see the trail Jason Roberts first promised back in June -- the one that, when completed, will link Bishop Arts on one side of the river to the Katy Trail on the other side. It's nothing par ... More >>

Southpaw's Brings Its Oddly Unfried Food to Uptown

Southpaw's Grill​Reza Anavarian, originally from Azerbaijan, flies to Georgia this weekend for an ESI Ironman Competition, which includes a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile jog through beautiful downtown Augusta. In addition to conditioning for that insanity, he's also training a ... More >>

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, or: On Days Like Today, It Pays to Be Car-Free in Big D

Andrea GrimesThe dog days of winter: the scene in Deep Ellum this morning​To the Dodge Ram driver who was futilely spinning his wheels on the Woodall Rodgers Freeway exit ramp this morning; the Lexus driver who locked her brakes and whirled her car across Maple Avenue; and the Ford 150 driver who ... More >>

Angela Hunt Insists Widening Chávez Will Create "A Cohesive Entry Into Downtown"

​Speaking of Angela Hunt ...The maybe-mayoral candidate who presently reps that stretch of downtown due to be widened says that, yes, she's all for it. She was back in January 2009, you may recall, when she asked for a time-out so she could confer with DowntownDallas president and CEO John Crawfor ... More >>

Last Night, a Vow That New Bike Plan Will Lead to "A Radical Transformation of Dallas"

A proposed cyclists' bridge over N. Central Expressway​The third public meeting for the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan, billed as an opportunity to review the first full draft of the document City Council will see this spring, was as much pep rally as policy session. The map unveiled last night has been ... More >>

In Advance of Third Dallas Bike Plan Meeting in Three Weeks, a Car-Free Challenge Issued

Survey says: Why Dallas doesn't pedal, from the Dallas Bike Plan survey​The previous Dallas Bike Plan public hearings have been jam-packed. No reason, then, to think it'll be any different on January 20, when the city hosts another in the Dallas City Hall Flag Room. No times have yet been set; so ... More >>

Bike Plan Meeting Is First SAG Station on Long Haul From Ideas to Implementation

Angela Hunt via PlixiLast night at City Hall, Peter Lagerway debuted the draft version of the new-and-improved Dallas Bike Plan, set to roll in front of council in December​Dallas city officials haven't even begun to grapple with questions of how quickly they can implement the Dallas Bike Plan ... More >>

Nova: Pop a Wheelie Over This Bike-Friendly Oak Cliff Eatery.

Almost-Super Nova

Oak Cliff Activists--Between Their Bikes And Gardens And Chickens And Goats--Seek To Redefine Their Community Without Destroying It

Mixed Signals: Dallas Drops Ticket Against Bike Helmet Law Opponent, Then Deals Another for Three-Month-Old Complaint

​Paul Woodfield doesn't remember what he was doing on April 8 -- but to help jog his memory, the city of Dallas sent a deputy city marshal to his door yesterday with a subpoena. According to the complaint he was handed, Woodfield was riding his bike around White Rock Lake that day, and he was ... More >>

One Dallas Biker Takes His Fight Against City's Helmet Law to Federal Court

​Paul Woodfield had already spent years fighting Dallas's bike helmet law in county court, when the city decided to drop the original ticket he'd been given on a bare-domed ride around White Rock Lake back in 2007. With no ticket to fight, the Fifth Court of Appeals dismissed his three-year-old la ... More >>

Packed Open House For 2011 Dallas Bike Plan Leaves Many Impressed And Very, Very Hopeful

Photos by Daniel Rodrigue​Ten minutes before the 5 o'clock kick-off of last night's 2011 Dallas Bike Plan Open House, there were already some 100 folks milling about City Hall's 6th Floor Flag Room. And by the time officials busted out the PowerPoint at 6, all but a handful of the seats in the 26 ... More >>

On the Quiet Roads Around White Rock Lake, Another Silent Ride for Cycling Casualties

Patrick MichelsChris Moreno, a hit-and-run victim last summer, joined the Ride of Silence around White Rock Lake Wednesday night.​As it has each year since 2003, Dallas's bike community gathered last night for the Ride of Silence around White Rock Lake, honoring the many cyclists who've been kille ... More >>

Clearly, You All Have Thoughts About Cycling in Dallas. City Hall Really Wants You To Share.

​So, speaking -- or shouting -- of bicycling in Dallas ...A couple of weeks back I mentioned that on May 27, the city and the North Central Texas Council of Governments are holding a 2011 Dallas Bike Plan Open House from 5 to 8 p.m. at Dallas City Hall, during which reps from Toole Design Group wi ... More >>

Some Questions Over How Useful Google Maps' New Bike Trails Feature Actually Is

​Bike Friendly Oak Cliff was the first locally to make mention yesterday of the fact Google Maps now offers bike trails -- that's the green line you see on the map at right. (Writes Jason Roberts, "It's a good way to see a birds-eye view of our trail system, and will hopefully help when plans deve ... More >>

NCTCOG, City Have Tapped Maryland Firm to Revamp Dallas Bike Plan

Danny Fulgencio​Speaking of the North Central Texas Council of Governments ...We've been waiting on this announcement since late November, when the NCTCOG and the city of Dallas put out the call for bidders interested in coming up with a new Dallas bike plan. And, lo and behold, there it is on the ... More >>

A Lance Armstrong Gateway in the OC?

Courtesy Bike Friendly Oak CliffClick to expand the vision for Bishop Avenue with bike-only lanes between Methodist and Bishop Arts​Another day, another bike plan for Oak Cliff. But Jason Roberts, founder of Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, says the Seventh Street proposal and another for Bishop Avenue ar ... More >>

Dallas' Former Bike Czar Tells Newbie Riders to Go Play in Traffic

Before Dallas Gets New Bike Plan, Bids Will Be Taken and Committees Will Be Formed

On a related note, Bike Friendly Oak Cliff yesterday announced the route for this weekend's Tweed Ride.​Good news for anybody who has ever avoided bicycling in Dallas for fear of the automobile: The city's new bicycle coordinator, who moved here from Virginia, is on your side. Says Max Kalhammer o ... More >>

Bicycle Race: Angela Hunt Explains the Rift Over Separate Cyclist-Only Lanes

Angela HuntJerry Allen was among those on the ride to City Hall Wednesday. Not as good as the Ann Margolin photo, but, still.​On Wednesday, we mentioned the city's plans to make Dallas more bike-friendly by creating separate cyclist-only lanes. And, as usually happens when the subject comes up, th ... More >>

Dallas City Hall Needs a Bike Rack

Photos by Kimberly ThorpeJason Roberts, organizer of today's bike ride to City Hall, and his official proclamation​This morning, Angela Hunt made a discovery: Dallas City Hall has no bicycle rack. "It's nuts!" said Hunt, who was standing with other bikers on a chilly morning in the plaza. "We ... More >>

2 To 3 Miles Of Adventure

Safety First

Take proper precautions before riding the rim

Twice the Fun

Ride, They Said

Downtown Dallas becomes a two-wheel world

Country Time

Behind the scenes at Fossil Rim

Where the Rubber Leaves the Road...

...and flesh sometimes meets the pavement, stunt bikers look to go legit

Dying Breed

The economy and image take a toll on Dallas' bike messengers

Best Bicycle Equipment

REI Dallas