TxDOT Blocks San Antonio Bike Lanes

Bike advocates often face an uphill battle in their efforts to build safer bike infrastructure in their cities. But even well-meaning local efforts to improve road conditions for people on bikes can be thwarted by state agencies. This is the case with San Antonio, as reported by Jared Brey in Governing.

“Like a lot of other big cities, San Antonio has tried to make some of its streets safer for bikers and pedestrians. In 2017, voters approved a bond measure to fund a range of public-realm improvements, including 200 miles of new sidewalks.” One project funded by this bond, a two-mile redesign of Broadway that would have added bike lanes, was nixed by the Texas Department of Transportation, who claimed that, as a state route, the road could not be narrowed from its six driving lanes, despite having worked with the city on the project for years.

“The moves are in keeping with state leaders’ focus on reducing traffic congestion on state roads, and part of a broader culture war over transportation” that Planetizen readers are undoubtedly familiar with (see examples here, here, here, and here, for starters). City planning professor Sara Bronin points to the inherent conservative nature of engineers, saying, “What we’re seeing in the traffic context is that the inclination to rely on established safety standards has resulted in complacency, and that has led to these standards not being questioned by the majority of decision-makers.”

For now, San Antonio policymakers are faced with a project in limbo until TxDOT agrees to a plan.