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 -- more like a suggestion, in the words of frustrated cycling advocates who can't believe a 1981 proposition will serve as one amongst many roadblocks to implementation. (Though, interestingly, a former City Hall-walker told me yesterday city staff is misinterpreting the rule: I was told public hearings are necessary only when a street is widened, say, and not when it's restriped.)
Anyway. After a long absence from her blog, Hunt writes at great length about the new info presented to the Quality of Life Committee yesterday. Long story short: She is displeased at the revelation that it will cost $24,500 to paint a bike lane on a four-lane street. An excerpt:
I'm at a loss to understand why this is being explained months after the city council approved the bike plan. I mean, city staff attended every one of the bike plan meetings. Never once, when the consultants assured the audience that "routine accommodation" would allow us to quickly and cheaply implement the bike plan, never once did city staff jump up and say, "That's not feasible, Mr. Consultant. By our estimates it'll cost about 30 times more to put in bike lanes as we restripe, and we don't have the funding so don't give anyone false hope."The whole item -- headlined "Dallas: The City That Loves to Plan" -- can be read here.
Meanwhile, on a very related note, Bike Friendly Oak Cliff this morning has an item titled "All Major US Cities beating Dallas for on-street bike infrastructure." Guess we aren't world-class yet after all.
