You may recall that not long ago, we announced a major new bike parking improvement plan for the Near Southside.  This project is near and dear to our hearts, because we’re directly part of it – the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan is a joint venture of Fort Worth South, Inc., Trinity Bicycles, and Fort Worthology.

We’ve selected numerous sites across the Near Southside for a dramatic increase in available bike parking.  Phase One is funded and the city’s already on-board, and now we’ve made some more progress.

We met recently with our contractor, Fort Construction, to do measurements for the installation.  Trinity Bicycles made a template of the rack mounts, and we chalked out the dimensions of the rack groupings, using the sidewalk in front of Spiral Diner as our test case.  As mentioned before, the racks that will be installed are simple “staple” racks, more cost-effective and more immediately recognizable as bike racks than the long-standing Texas-star “lollipop” racks previously installed by the city.

While we’re not completely ready to announce how many racks will be installed in Phase One total, it’s looking like our initial estimates are going to be pretty close, so there is going to be a huge increase in bike parking for the Near Southside.  The desire, subject to final figures and site-specific considerations, is to have a minimum of three racks at each location, and up to five racks in higher-demand spots.  That’ll mean parking for 6-10 bikes per location, at a wide range of popular Near Southside destinations.  We’re also going to save the lollipop racks and are looking into using them to fill out some lower-demand parts of the district later on.

With our contractor on-board, we’re also starting to order the racks themselves, and are in process of getting permits with the city.  We’re hoping that it won’t be much longer before you’ll start to see some great new bike parking infrastructure going up all over the Near Southside.

We’re really thrilled to be a part of this project, and can’t wait to show how things progress.

Related posts:

1. Major New Near Southside Bike Parking Improvements on the Way
2. Portland Addendum: Business Loves Bike Parking
3. Bicycle Parking Corral At Fort Worth Sings For Haiti Today

The Fort Worthians will meet at Trinity’s shop (207 South Main, in the ground floor of the historic Sawyer building in the Near Southside’s South Main Village area) at 5:30 tonight and ride over to the station to hop on the TRE.  Upon arriving at Union Station in Dallas, they’ll be meeting up with the “Tits Tuesday” group ride, described thusly by organizer Alicia Pol:

Started by myself and 2 other local fixed gear girls, Tits Tuesday is meant to not only promote bicycle advocacy, but to get women out on their bikes. According to some article I stumbled across a few months back, a thriving bicycle community is measured by how many women and children ride their bikes. Better yet on a regular basis. And if we’re lucky, off of the sidewalk. So let me ask you – how many women do you see off of the White Rock or Katy Trails? How many do you see commuting?

Again, the Fort Worth contingent meets tonight at 5:30 PM to head onto the TRE.  After the ride in Dallas, they’re hoping to have some time to grab a beer with their Dallasite friends before catching the TRE at Union Station to head back to Fort Worth at 10:20 PM.

You can find out more about this ride by visiting its Facebook event page.

Related posts:

1. Three Bits of Bike News and Events – Trinity Trail Chicanes, Critical Mass, Group Ride to Burger’s Lake
2. Group Riding from Dallas to Austin on Fixed-Gear Bikes
3. Bike Friendly Fort Worth Ride to City Hall

The city has released some documents from HDR, Inc.’s current planning work on Fort Worth’s modern streetcar system, and one of the documents gives some more depth, information, and details on the potential starter alignments being considered and how they’re being measured.  It’s important to note that at this stage of planning, the routes are not set in stone.  There are several potential starter routes for the first phase of the modern streetcar system, and each is being evaluated according to a set of criteria.  The end result might be one of these lines, or it might be a combination of parts of lines.  These answers will come from the study currently underway by HDR, Inc. that is providing a blueprint for our modern streetcar system.  This information comes from publicly-available planning documents posted to the City of Fort Worth’s official streetcar project web site, available as a PDF at the following link:  DRAFT Technical Memorandum – Alignment Refinement.

The criteria that the potential starter routes are being measured against come from factors in successful streetcar systems in other cities, and the goals and issues that a Fort Worth solution could be designed to address.  The criteria are focused on improving the development and mobility situation in Downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.  They reflect the objectives of the project as told to HDR, based on meetings with City of Fort Worth officials and staff, organizations like Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and Fort Worth South, Inc., and the city’s Modern Streetcar Task Force.

The sort of criteria that these routes are being measured against include:

• Existing and anticipated population in the alignment corridor
• Existing and anticipated employment in the alignment corridor
• Major destinations served
• Developable land
• Potential yield from TIF and other locally-generated sources
• Assessed value base
• Compatibility with city and TIF district plans
• Relative lack of engineering or traffic management constraints
• Estimated ridership
• Capital and operating costs
• Public and stakeholder support

The following routes are being screened against these criteria.  Each is being analyzed as a potential stand-alone Phase 1 of the streetcar system.  It’s expected that, once the evaluations are complete, potential combinations of these lines could also emerge as a starter project, but the initial evaluation is of each route alone.  Note also that these descriptions are of the starter routes and do not include potential extensions to each route.

You’ll note that most of the lines include several segments that are the same as the other lines.  HDR’s plans showcase how the starter lines can build together over time into a network, and how they can share most of the same trackage in Downtown.

Click on the routes for a larger view.

West 7th

The West 7th alignment is 3.0 miles end-to-end.  From the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones, the line heads westbound on 9th to Commerce, where it turns northbound and heads to 6th.  At 6th, the line turns westbound on 6th to Cherry, where it makes a slight right to merge from westbound 6th to westbound 7th.  The line heads westbound on 7th to Montgomery, where it then heads southbound to Camp Bowie, the terminus of the line.  It heads back into Downtown using the same route – northbound on Montgomery, then eastbound on 7th – until it reaches Henderson.  At Henderson, the line turns northbound on Henderson, then eastbound on 3rd.  After heading eastbound on 3rd, the line turns southbound on Calhoun before turning eastbound on 9th to go one block to the terminus at 9th & Jones at the ITC.

North Main

The North Main alignment is 1.4 miles end-to-end.  From the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones, the line heads westbound on 9th to Commerce, where it turns northbound.  It heads northbound on Commerce through Belknap & Weatherford and makes the merge onto North Main past the Tarrant County Courthouse.  The line crosses the Paddock Viaduct (North Main bridge) where it is then envisioned that it would be integrated into the Trinity Uptown master plan.  One option, shown here, would have the line turn onto a reconstructed Commerce and head north before turning westbound on NE 6th and then southbound on North Main to head back to Downtown.  Once across the Paddock Viaduct, the line would merge from the bridge onto southbound Houston and continue southbound to 3rd, where it would turn eastbound and head to Calhoun.  At Calhoun, the line would turn southbound and head to 9th, turning eastbound on 9th to go one block to the terminus at 9th & Jones at the ITC.

Trinity Bluffs

The Trinity Bluffs alignment is 1.4 miles end-to-end.  From the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones, the line heads westbound on 9th to Commerce, where it turns and heads northbound to 6th.  At 6th, the line turns westbound and heads to 7th, where it heads further westbound to Henderson.  It turns and heads northbound on Henderson to 3rd, where it turns and runs eastbound.  Upon reaching Pecan, the line turns northbound and heads to Bluff, then eastbound to Samuels.  It runs northbound on Samuels to the Cold Springs intersection, the terminus of the line.  It then heads back to Downtown via Samuels, Bluff, and Pecan.  At Pecan & 4th, it turns and heads westbound to Calhoun.  The line then runs southbound on Calhoun to 9th, turning eastbound on 9th to go one block to the terminus at 9th & Jones at the ITC.

Near Southside – Jennings Option

There are two potential Near Southside alignments being considered at this time.  This is the Jennings option, which is 2.0 miles end-to-end.  The Jennings option heads southbound on Houston from 3rd.  At 9th, the line cuts over to Throckmorton headed southbound, then further over to Jennings.  It heads southbound on Jennings past Lancaster and under the railroad tracks and I-30, continuing southbound on Jennings to Pennsylvania.  The line then heads westbound on Pennsylvania to Henderson, turning southbound on Henderson to Terrell.  The line turns westbound on Terrell to 6th Avenue, the terminus of the line.  It heads back into Downtown eastbound and northbound via the same route – Terrell, Henderson, Pennsylvania, and Jennings – before reaching Throckmorton and heading northbound to 3rd, heading eastbound on 3rd back to Houston to head back to the Near Southside.  It is important to note that the Jennings option does not directly serve the ITC, but provides a connection to the TRE and the future SW2NE train at the Texas & Pacific Station.

Near Southside – South Main Option

The second potential Near Southside alignment is the South Main option, which is 3.2 miles end-to-end.  This alignment leaves the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones heading westbound on 9th.  It turns and heads northbound on Commerce then westbound on 6th.  It then turns and heads southbound on Houston, crossing Lancaster, the railroad tracks, and I-30 then merging southbound onto South Main.  The line heads southbound on South Main to Magnolia.  It turns and heads westbound on Magnolia to 7th Avenue, where it turns northbound and heads to Terrell, the terminus of the line.  It heads back into Downtown via the same route – 7th Avenue, Magnolia, and South Main – then turns eastbound towards Jones after crossing the railroad tracks, I-30, and Lancaster.  It then turns northbound on Jones and heads back to the ITC at 9th & Jones, where it would then turn westbound onto 9th to head back out.

Near Southside & Rosedale/East Side – Rosedale Alignment

The Rosedale line is 2.2 miles end-to-end.  It leaves the Intermodal Transportation Center at 9th & Jones heading westbound on 9th.  It turns and heads northbound on Commerce then westbound on 6th.  It then turns and heads southbound on Houston, crossing Lancaster, the railroad tracks, and I-30 then merging southbound onto South Main.  The line heads southbound on South Main to Rosedale.  It turns eastbound on Rosedale to Evans, which is the terminus of the line.  It heads back into Downtown via the same route – Rosedale and South Main – then turns eastbound towards Jones after crossing the railroad tracks, I-30, and Lancaster.  It then turns northbound on Jones and heads back to the ITC at 9th & Jones, where it would then turn westbound onto 9th to head back out.

Again, let us stress that these alignment options are still being measured against the design criteria.  The exact starter alignment has not yet been selected, and may in fact be a combination of elements of multiple alignments.  We’ll have more as the study by HDR continues.  For more information on this process, head to the City of Fort Worth’s official streetcar project web site, where this data is available to the public as a PDF at the following link:  DRAFT Technical Memorandum – Alignment Refinement.

Related posts:

1. Three Potential Near Southside Streetcar Alignments
2. A Further Refinement Of The Streetcar Starter System Route
3. City Of Fort Worth Issues Streetcar Design Request

1. Rejoice, Trinity Trails users – the metal chicane gates blocking access to the Trinity Trails from the University bridge trail in the University/Rogers Road area have, apparently, been removed, according to word from the Trinity River Vision folks.  The gates were installed after the large trail reconstruction that removed a blind spot under the bridge wound up creating two new blind spots at the linkage between the trails, but the TRV tells us those new blind spots have been fixed as well, so the chicane gates (designed to slow bikes entering from the bridge) are gone.  Anybody able to confirm?
2. A new, improved version of Critical Mass has returned to Fort Worth.  This Friday, June 25th, meet up at Burnett Park in Downtown at 7:00 PM for a group ride to showcase Fort Worth’s burgeoning bike culture.  They’re hoping to have 100 bikes for the ride.  The organizers are stressing that this is not the sort of Critical Mass that has caused trouble in other cities – they’re wanting this to be a friendly and fun group ride to raise awareness of bicycle transportation in Fort Worth.
3. Trinity Bicycles in the Near Southside is putting on a group ride to Burger’s Lake, this Saturday, June 26th.  They’re going to leave from the bike shop (207 South Main) around 10:00 AM on a 12-mile ride to everybody’s favorite local spring-fed lake.  Burger’s Lake admission is $12 per person, with a reduced rate for kids under 7.

Related posts:

1. Critical Mass Ride Tonight
2. July Critical Mass This Friday
3. Critical Mass Returns to Fort Worth

It’s not everyday that we get to report on something we actually had a hand in, but today is one of those days.  Fort Worth South, Inc. wanted to improve the bike parking situation in the Near Southside as part of their larger goal of huge bike infrastructure improvements across the district, and they decided they wanted some outside help.  So, they called us and Trinity Bicycles up and asked if we’d collaborate on a new bike parking improvement plan.  After a lot of discussion, many meetings, and several in-the-field work sessions identifying parking locations, ideal setups, and more, we put together a comprehensive bike parking plan.  Now, we’re happy to report, Phase One of the plan has been approved by the city and funded by the Near Southside TIF (Tax Increment Finance district), so we can give some details.

While we’re still finalizing the number of racks and such, we can say that this will be a pretty dramatic increase in bike parking, even in Phase One.  At the moment, there are approximately 12 of the city-installed Texas star “lollipop” racks across the entire district.  Most of them are on Magnolia Avenue, with two or three on 8th.  Even in the best of cases, the Texas star racks are less than ideal – they look more like street art than bike racks, making them not obvious to riders, and there are simply too few of them and in too few locations.  With the large increases in bike traffic in the Near Southside in the last year or so, thanks to the Magnolia Avenue bike lanes, groups like the Night Riders, and a continued increase in new urban residents, the existing bike parking infrastructure was becoming very inadequate to meet resident and visitor needs.

As mentioned above, we’re still finalizing all the numbers, so we can’t give a specific number yet, but we’re fairly confident that you can look forward to dozens of new racks in Phase One.  Phase One will see new racks installed on Magnolia, Jennings, and South Main at a wide range of popular destinations.  Each location will have multiple racks, with the number determined by current and projected future demand.  The plan calls for simple “staple” racks, such as these:

These are cost-effective, easy to use, and instantly identifiable as bike racks.  They’ll be installed right near the main entrances of destinations across the district.  We hope that this will not only better serve the Near Southside’s existing bike culture, but also encourage more people to ride their bikes in the district, as well as serve as a model for the city on effective bike parking infrastructure (something not very well understood in Fort Worth, for the most part).

As things progress, we’ll update everybody on how the plan is going, especially once we have a final rack count and all the locations finalized.  With city approval and TIF funding in place, we’re getting closer to seeing the new racks being installed across the district.

Related posts:

1. Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan Progress
2. Portland Addendum: Business Loves Bike Parking
3. South Main, Poly/TWU Slated for Streetscape Improvements

Some links for things happening in the bicycle world.

Social Cycling Week 2 Roundup – Let’s Go Ride A Bike

Hearing how much fun everyone is having simply by riding bikes makes us so happy. See for yourself by checking out the pictures below. We encourage you to click on the links to read the full stories, visit the participants’ blogs, deepen the dialogue and spread the bike love!

Life By Bike – Portlandize

During the Farmers Market season, we make it a weekend tradition to ride over to our local farmers market in Irvington neighborhood every Sunday, and get some breakfast along the way. This year we’ve also discovered the market in the Hollywood neighborhood, which is almost as close to us, is on Saturday, and has a notably different selection of vendors, so we’ve decided to start frequenting both. Farmers market weekends! Fresh, delicious food, supporting local community and economy, and often there’s good pre-made food to be eaten at the markets as well.

Cargo Bike Moments – Copenhagen Cycle Chic

A few shots from the rich cargo bike culture in Copenhagen.

And from our local shops:

Peterboro Baskets – Trinity Bicycles

As you might have guessed from our love of Brooks Saddles, we have a soft spot for quality, handmade products with a history. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that such products are often superior to their modern counterparts, simply because their makers haven’t succumbed to the cost-cutting pressures of an increasingly global society.

That’s why we were really excited to be visited by a representative of the Peterboro Basket Company this week. This wasn’t just any company representative, though… she was a member of the family who has been making these fine baskets by hand since 1854.

Chair Massage This Saturday – Panther City Bicycles

This Saturday 6-5-10 at Panther City Bicycles from 11:00-4:00pm we will have a very special guest:  Amanda Powers, licensed massage therapist.

Related posts:

1. New Public Market Pursuing Weekly Farmers Market on Magnolia Avenue
2. Three Bits of Bike News and Events – Trinity Trail Chicanes, Critical Mass, Group Ride to Burger’s Lake
3. Urban Agriculture Comes to Fort Worth – Fairmount Community Garden & New Public Market

Russ and Laura from PathLessPedaled.com stopped in Fort Worth on their cross-country bike ride, and set up shop at Trinity Bicycles in South Main Village in the Near Southside for a presentation of lessons they’ve learned, stories they’ve found, and photos they’ve taken on the meandering journey they’ve been on from Portland, OR through the United States.  The presentation was a lot of fun, talking about how they’ve adjusted to a new life on the road and about all the interesting people they’ve met along the way.  There was even a video with a song by a man they met somewhere during the trip, set to photos and video taken while on the move.  After the presentation, Russ and Laura did a Q&A with the audience, taking all sorts of questions from “what’s your staple food?” to “how do you maintain the web site while out in the wilderness?”

And what  an audience it was.  If there was any doubt that Fort Worth is at last developing a real bike culture of its own, seeing the crowd gathered at Trinity Bicycles should put that to rest.  The shop was packed with bike fans of all ages and backgrounds (including families).  In fact, we’ve learned that this was the largest presentation that Russ and Laura have done thus far – 103 attendees!  After the presentation had concluded, before they moved into the Q&A, the audience gave Russ and Laura a wild, loud round of cheers and applause, which got even more excited when Russ compared the Fort Worth crowd to the Austin crowd they’d spoken to before:

Wow, you guys kicked Austin’s ass!

All in all, it was a very informative and entertaining show, and we wish Russ and Laura continued good luck on their incredible cross-country bike expedition.  Make sure to check out their site, PathLessPedaled.com.

Also a treat to see last night: the sheer number of bicycles in attendance, which were lashed to signs and light posts.  It shows nicely the need for more, better bicycle parking in Fort Worth under the Bike Fort Worth plan:

Many thanks to our friends at Trinity Bicycles for getting Russ & Laura to give Fort Worth a chance to see their presentation.  To view more images, click the thumbnails below.

Related posts:

1. The Path Less Pedaled Coming To Fort Worth
2. Reminder: Path Less Pedaled In Fort Worth Tonight
3. Trinity Bicycles Sneak Preview Tonight

The Citizen has posted on their blog that they finally have their building. The theater will be located at 701 South Main, not far from the former Motheral Printing site where a major mixed-use development is being planned (and also just around the corner from the Rahr brewery – and not far down the road from the other end of South Main Village with the Sawyer apartments, Miller Lofts, and Landers Machine Shop Gallery). The building (seen in its current state in the photo below), according to our info, dates from around 1939 and has been vacant for some time. Given some of the things we’ve heard discussed about the Citizen, we are really looking forward to seeing the building progress.

The Citizen will be a twin-screen theater showing new art house and classic repertory films. Naturally, it’ll come equipped with a vegan snack bar.

For more info on the Citizen (we know they’re interested in investors), check their web site at thecitizentheater.com

Related posts:

1. Citizen Theater "Coming Soon"
2. Amy McNutt Planning "Citizen Theater" – Art House Theater In Near Southside
3. New Construction on South Main

The best part is that you can compete – registration starts tonight at 6:00 PM and racing starts not long after.  So, stop by Trinity Bicycles tonight to get a sneak preview of our newest local bike shop and to watch/participate in the Goldsprints.  Hope to see a lot of folks turn out.

Related posts:

1. Photos From Path Less Pedaled At Trinity Bicycles
2. Photo: Trinity Bicycles Bike Corral At Fort Worth Sings For Haiti
3. Fort Worth Cyclists Headed to Dallas for Group Ride Tonight

Our friends at Trinity Bicycles, the new bike shop in South Main Village in the Near Southside, have written their own letter of support for the modern streetcar project and have posted it on their site.  Here it is:

As you all know, one of our biggest missions here at Trinity Bicycles is increasing the viable transportation options for our neighbors here in Fort Worth. Obviously, we think bikes should play a big role in Fort Worth’s transportation future.

We’re not solely pro-bike, though. We’ve been around long enough to know that all alternative (read: non-car) transportation options tend to fare better when they are interconnected, plentiful, and even somewhat redundant.

That’s why we want to ask everyone who believes that our city needs more and varied transportation alternatives to show up at tomorrow’s (ed. – That would be tonight’s meeting now) Fort Worth City Council meeting at 7 p.m. to show your support for the City’s modern streetcar plan.

The vote to hire transportation super-planners HDR (they worked on Portland’s system) was supposed to happen 2 weeks ago, but it was postponed until tomorrow evening, and there was some rumbling that the political winds may have been shifting and the plan might not get funded.

Word today is that the vote is likely to be successful after all, but it is not something we as citizens should leave to chance. We need to make it clear to our elected officials that their constituents want real choices on how they move about their city. Please come help us fill the council chambers with streetcar supporters, and thereby help the Mayor and City Council feel good about their decision to vote to fund the planning phase of the streetcar project. And of course, having a crowd visibly supportive of a Streetcar system might come in handy just in case any votes are wavering tomorrow night.

We know it must seem scary for a city council member to vote to spend a large amount of money on a project that will take years to come to fruition. But the truth is, as a city, we just can’t afford not to take this step. We are being left behind every day we do not move forward with bringing our transportation system into the 21st century.

How many young, creative, active people do you know who have moved to a “cooler” city (Austin and Portland come to mind) to pursue careers? I know too many, all of whom said they “loved Fort Worth, but….”

Even our neighbors to the East in Dallas have seen how transit options can revitalize neighborhoods. Just look at what’s happening in Oak Cliff, Knox Henderson, or just about anywhere along the light rail lines they have built.

And right here in Fort Worth, I can tell you from personal experience, just the very promise of a Streetcar system has improved the economy. Trinity Bicycles chose to relocate from Irving, TX, to its location at 207 S. Main in part because it was on a proposed streetcar line. Now the final space in a long-empty historic building is filled, and not just with any business– a retail business that will be putting sales tax into the City coffers.

If we chose a location based on a system that hasn’t even been started yet, imagine how many more businesses will move into town if the system actually gets built…

Related posts:

1. City Council Expected To Pass Streetcar Vote Tomorrow
2. Letter Of Support For Streetcar Project From Central City Redevelopment Committee Chair
3. Government & Business Leaders on Portland Streetcar