Fort Worthology » Sustainability

Dunn-Haven Building Restoration Progress

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:24:45 +0000

The lovely old Dunn-Haven Apartments building at Adams & Magnolia in the Near Southside is well on its way to a new life. The building is being extensively restored and redeveloped into the headquarters of a marketing company relocating from Arlington. The building’s getting a complete makeover, from new windows and exterior restoration work to a new interior, new elevator (being built inside the building rather than as an addition due to the difficulty of matching the unique brick color), and more.

The Dunn-Haven building is one of the older structures in the area, having been built in 1914. It shows elements of various styles, including the Prairie School. It is of a configuration not common in this area, with its three stories and full porches at each level. A similar structure can be found in the nearby Fairmount neighborhood south of Magnolia, the currently also-vacant Bomar Apartments at 1507 Alston, built in 1907.

While we’re disappointed that the Dunn-Haven building will no longer have a residential use (Magnolia desperately needs a lot more residential units than it has now to help add to street activity and multiple uses), we are pleased that it’s going to be serving a creative company instead of YAMO – Yet Another Medical Office. It’s our understanding that the restoration is going to be extensive and first-rate, complete with new sustainable features included in the project, so it’s going to be good to see one of Magnolia’s prettiest buildings brought back to life. Click the photos for a larger view.

Prairie Fest This Saturday

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:26:14 +0000

It’s that time of year again – this Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, is Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Natural Area. As usual, a wide variety of artists, conservationists, green businesses, and musicians will be gathering at Fort Worth’s natural prairie habitat for a day of fun and music. Tours of Tandy Hills will be held from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. This year’s lineup of bands:

Brave Combo
Katsuk
Trigger Fish
Kerri Arista
Blackland River Devils
The Ackermans
Fort Worth Scottish Pipes & Drums
Brazen Bellies
Walking Contradictions
Joe Pat Hennan
Barbara Taylor
Oops
Mimi Kayl-Vaughan

For more, check out Prairie Fest’s web site.

Mayor Moncrief’s State of the City Address: Car-Centric Planning a Mistake

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:22:38 +0000

Edit: Added the full transcript of the Mayor’s discussion related to this topic.

Mayor Moncrief has given his State of the City address, and one of the items he discussed was the city’s transportation and planning. The mayor stated in no uncertain terms that Fort Worth is facing severe transportation challenges, that they stem from too many years of car-first planning, and that Fort Worth can no longer be designed and built in a car-centric fashion – topics certainly familiar to Fort Worthology readers:

Commuter Rail, street cars, and other alternative modes of transportation also remain a priority for me and this City Council. Unfortunately, Fort Worth and other major metropolitan areas are finding out the hard way what a mistake it was to design and build cities around automobiles years ago. Friends, we cannot continue to focus solely on building more roads for more vehicles. That’s counter productive at best.

Business as usual is dead!

North Texas requires a transportation overhaul. No more band-aides, no more patches—a complete overhaul!

Regrettably, it’s becoming more and more obvious that we cannot depend on the state or federal government to help us in the near term. In fact, there is no guarantee of any new money to build any new roads in Texas after 2012.

Frankly, I’m tired of talking about this. This afternoon, workers at BNSF…employees at Lockheed Martin or Bell Textron…even many of you in this room will leave work and then sit…and sit…and sit in traffic. It’s a frustrating daily routine that carries a great cost once you consider the impacts to our quality of life, our environment, our air, and our ability to attract and keep new business investment.

If this is a mobility crisis—and I believe it is—then it must be treated like one!

In the spirit of the early Fort Worth pioneers who took it upon themselves to pick up shovels and extend the first rail line to our city, it’s time that we took matters in our own hands. It is clear to me that we are not going to get where we need to be by relying only on help from the feds or the state.

We are going to have to pull ourselves out of the ditch!

In the coming weeks, I will appoint an 11-member Blue Ribbon Task Force. I will charge this body with returning specific recommendations to the full City Council on how we fix or relieve pressure on Fort Worth’s aging transportation infrastructure.

Free Movie Tonight at Urban Green Build – “Blueprint America: Road to the Future”

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:11:05 +0000

Urban Green Build’s free urbanism & sustainability movie series returns tonight after a snow delay last week. Up for viewing is PBS’s Blueprint America: Road to the Future.

Blueprint America: Road to the Future, an original documentary part of a PBS multi-platform series on the country’s aging and changing infrastructure, goes to three very different American cities — Denver, New York and Portland, and their surrounding suburbs — to look at each as an example of the challenges and possibilities the country faces as citizens, local and federal officials, and planners struggle to manage a growing America with innovative transportation and sustainable land use policies.

Fort Worthology is helping out by providing the film, and we’re looking forward to another great, educational free movie night. Given all the news here in Fort Worth recently about the Bike Fort Worth plan and the modern streetcar plan, the subjects covered in “Blueprint America: Road to the Future” could not be more timely. The film’s segments include:

Efforts by the town of Golden, Colorado to stop a freeway from coming through their traditional “Main Street” town
A look at Portland, Oregon’s bicycle infrastructure, modern streetcar, MAX light rail, aerial tram, pedestrian infrastructure, land use policies (both the good and bad that results from said policies), and more
A look at what New York City’s new Department of Transportation director, Janette Sadik-Khan, is doing to reverse decades of auto-oriented infrastructure in NYC and create spaces oriented to people and bicycles
A discussion with United States Department of Transportation director Ray LaHood on what must be done to radically shift transportation and planning in the United States

Stop by Urban Green Build, located at 1244 College Avenue in the Near Southside (the building at the corner of College & Magnolia, above the police station next to Mamma Mia, second floor, across from The Salon Upstairs) tonight at 7:00 PM for the latest in this ongoing series of urbanism & sustainability films. To get there: Urban Green Build is an easy walk from pretty much anywhere in Magnolia Village and Fairmount. By bike, Magnolia Avenue has dedicated bike lanes and several sharrow’d bike routes feed into it – 6th Avenue, 5th Avenue, Jennings Avenue. Most of the other cross streets are easily bikeable as well. There’s a standard city “lollipop” bike rack in front of the building, on Magnolia in front of the police station. By transit, the #4 bus goes right by on Magnolia, the #1S bus stops at Hemphill & Magnolia just a short walk away, and the #6 bus stops at 8th Avenue & Magnolia for a walk down Magnolia from the west. Parking is available on street and in a small lot next to the building.

Free Movie at Urban Green Build this Thursday

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:46:19 +0000

After a delay due to snow, Urban Green Build’s free urbanism & sustainability movie series is back on, at 7:00 PM this Thursday. Up for viewing is PBS’s Blueprint America: Road to the Future.

Blueprint America: Road to the Future, an original documentary part of a PBS multi-platform series on the country’s aging and changing infrastructure, goes to three very different American cities — Denver, New York and Portland, and their surrounding suburbs — to look at each as an example of the challenges and possibilities the country faces as citizens, local and federal officials, and planners struggle to manage a growing America with innovative transportation and sustainable land use policies.

Fort Worthology is helping out by providing the film, and we’re looking forward to another great, educational free movie night. Stop by Urban Green Build, located at 1244 College Avenue in the Near Southside (the building at the corner of College & Magnolia, above the police station, second floor, across from The Salon Upstairs) this Thursday at 7:00 PM for the latest in this ongoing series of urbanism & sustainability films.

Thermostat Wars

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:42:18 +0000

The great Steve Mouzon, Florida-based New Urban designer, has a great post on his sustainability blog The Original Green about what he calls the “Thermostat Wars” and the ever-shrinking American comfort zone:

Ask any mechanical engineer to describe the impact of a 30 degree comfort range versus a 2 degree comfort range. She will tell you that a 2 degree comfort range requires the conditioning equipment to run basically all the time, because outdoor temperatures are almost never within that 2 degree range. And if the equipment is going to be running almost all the time, why even have windows that are operable? So they seal up the buildings where you can’t ever open a window to catch a breeze.

A 30 degree range, on the other hand, means that there are several months per year when the air outside is within the comfort range at least part of the day. So if the building is designed cleverly enough, it can condition itself for most of the year in many places, requiring mechanical conditioning only in more extreme weather.

…

So what’s the most effective way of assuring that people want to expand their comfort range? The best known way is to entice them to go outdoors.

He then continues, relating how his own feelings of comfort in various temperatures changed after he moved to a walkable neighborhood and spent much of his time out in it. It’s an interesting read, as is most everything on The Original Green. Its take on sustainability is, essentially, that the foundation of sustainability is in creating smartly designed, walkable, self-sustaining places that people love to be out in.

Urban Green Build Presents Green Cinema Series

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:02:41 +0000

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Our friends at Urban Green Build are sponsoring a “Green Cinema” series starting in October. The series will be held on the roof of their office at College & Magnolia in the Near Southside, starting at 7:00 PM each time. Snacks will be provided, and you can BYOB. The list of films thus far is:

October 8
Trashed

November 12
11th Hour

December 10
Food, Inc.

January 14
Portland: A Passion for Sustainability

Fort Worthology goes to Portland, Part Two: Bicycling

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:06:35 +0000

In today’s Portland post, we’re going to talk about bicycling in the Rose City, including our meet-up with fellow urbanism blogger Elly Blue of BikePortland.org.

(Note: this post contains video from our friends at StreetFilms, a fellow member of the StreetsBlog Network that Fort Worthology is part of. Clarence and the gang at StreetFilms do an awesome job translating examples of urbanism, transit, and bike advocacy into cool videos, and we’re glad to have them featured here.)

Bicycling in Portland is a big deal. The city consistently appears at or near the top of bike-friendly cities in the United States, and the results are plain to see. More people ride bikes in Portland than in any other United States city – 3.5 percent of the population rides every day. While that’s still a ways off from the huge number of bike commuters in European cities, compare it with Fort Worth’s current 0.2 percent figure.

Bicycling is popular in Portland at least in part because it has been made easy, convenient, and safe (at the very least, compared to most other American cities). As opposed to the viewpoint prevalent in most of the U. S. (including Fort Worth until recently), which is typically “we’ll only put bike infrastructure in if there are enough people riding bikes,” Portland took the “build it and they will come” approach – creating effective, efficient bike infrastructure which helped encourage ever-larger numbers of bike traffic. Here in Fort Worth, we’re only just seeing this reversal now, with the “Bike Fort Worth” plan we wrote about recently.

This is just a small segment of the Portland bike transportation map. It’s massively larger and more intricate compared to the current Fort Worth bike system – though it pleases us that the Bike Fort Worth maps much more closely resemble this sort of network. The Portland bike network makes getting around the city by bike very easy, safe, and efficient.

Further, transit options feature bike support – all buses feature bike racks on front, the MAX light rail features hooks to hang bikes on in the trains, and the streetcar’s center, low-floor car allows space for bikes on the streetcar.

Here’s a closer view of the bike network in Downtown Portland.

Here, a closer view of the Pearl District/Chinatown/Old Town network.

A small segment of the North Portland network.

And here is a small segment of the Southeast Portland network.

The Portland bike route maps not only show easy paths from one location to another, but they also mark out higher-traffic streets, difficult connections, and difficult intersections to avoid.

Several of the routes are “bicycle boulevards” – featuring strong traffic calming measures to slow and discourage car traffic in favor of bikes and pedestrians. These feature traffic diverters letting cars out but not in, signs blocking entrance except by bikes, frequent speed humps, and small roundabouts with large trees and plantings in the middle of the intersection to slow traffic and discourage through driving.

I took this shot from a bike in one of the bike boulevards, as we went around the traffic-calming roundabout.

Several of the dedicated bike lanes in Portland feature these “bike boxes” to help give cyclists a safer start at traffic signals, as seen in this StreetFilm.

As a result, one can’t help but see tons of bikes everywhere they go in Portland. People ride them for fun, for commuting, for trips to the store, to visit friends – whatever. Particularly pleasing to us is the number of people riding bikes in normal clothing, rather than the spandex & lycra numbers most often seen in Fort Worth. Bicycle usage in Portland has climbed much farther up the summit of “normal,” and there it’s not seen as a strictly exercise/speed thing requiring tight-fitting clothes and helmets.

With so many people on bikes, there’s a real sense of “safety in numbers” as the amount of bikes on the road helps reinforce the correct behavior of car drivers in a mixed environment. While, of course, accidents do still occur, riding bikes in Portland feels far safer than the atmosphere in most of North Central Texas.

Portland also features huge amounts of bike parking, further encouraging the use of bikes as normal transportation. Naturally, there are plenty of standard bike racks – much, much more than you find around these parts.

Every block has multiple bike racks in front of stores, cafes, and other destinations.

Most of the bike racks take the form of the simple blue inverted-U rack, as seen above. They’re easily identifiable, extremely simple to use, and each will hold a couple of bikes.

Some areas feature more stylized racks. For example, in the north end of the Pearl District, bike racks take on the appearance of the nearby Fremont Bridge.

The racks installed by the legendary Powell’s Books feature the titles and authors of some bike-related books that can be found inside.

Rows of bike racks are often spotted filled with bikes, such as this scene in the “Vegan District,” home to Food Fight (an all-vegan grocery store), Herbivore Clothing, and Sweetpea Bakery.

Here, clusters of bikes park outside businesses in the North Mississippi district.

Another scene along North Mississippi.

Bike racks are only the start of bike parking infrastructure in Portland, though. Here, a covered bike rack setup, built on an extended sidewalk, is seen in the Hawthorne Boulevard district. This is known as a “bike oasis” and is something the city is starting to install more of around neighborhoods.

Huge amounts of bike parking are provided at major transit/commuter centers. Here, we see just a small portion of the rows upon rows of filled bike racks surrounding the OHSU South Waterfront office building & cafe, where bicyclists transfer to and from the Portland Streetcar and the Portland Aerial Tram discussed in yesterday’s post.

Another major bike parking initiative in Portland is the “bike corral.” This is where one or two on-street car parking spaces are removed and replaced with on-street parking for 25+ bicycles. The corrals are wildly popular with cyclists, and have been good for adjacent businesses, too – where once they had the capacity to have one or two vehicles parked, they now have the ability to have 25-65 vehicles in front of their business. In this shot, Elly Blue from BikePortland.org shows us a bike corral in the North Mississippi district. Elly gave us a great rundown on bike infrastructure projects in the city.

As an aside, we met Elly in the North Mississippi district, at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican diner & taqueria called Por Que No. Not knowing what to expect of Oregonian Mexican food, we were pleasantly surprised – the food was flavorful and vegetarian options abounded (as they do virtually everywhere in Portland – more on this in another post).

I really want to thank Elly from BikePortland for giving us her own personal resident’s perspective on the goings-on in her city, and for showing us the hospitality she did as we chowed down at Por Que No and then hung out at a nearby coffee shop. It’s always great to get the chance to interact with fellow urbanism/transit/bicycling bloggers, and Elly & the gang at BikePortland.org have got a great thing going. Thanks a bunch for everything, Elly – if you ever find yourself in Fort Worth, you have an open invitation to hang with the Fort Worthology crew, and we hope we can pay a visit to your city again.

Here is another heavily-used bike corral, this time in the Belmont district, on a drizzly day in front of It’s a Beautiful Pizza and a branch of local legends Stumptown Coffee. Fort Worthology’s own bikes, provided very graciously by the Ace Hotel in Downtown, are parked somewhere in the mass of bikes.

Speaking of the Ace, here’s another very popular bike corral, this time in front of their building in Downtown Portland.

Another bike corral in Belmont, next to some local establishments and across the street from one of Portland’s many urban grocery stores.

A rainy day hasn’t stopped the heavy use of this bike corral, also in the Belmont district.

A mom transports her kid in a popular Dutch cargo bike known as a Bakfiets past a bike corral in front of Fresh Pot in the North Mississippi district.

This Streetfilms video features both the Portland bike corrals and bike oases.

Portland’s river has not stopped them from connecting districts, either. While here, crossing the Trinity on the 7th Street or Lancaster bridges can be a hair-raising and frankly dangerous experience on a bike, the bridges in Portland feature much more effective infrastructure. Several bridges feature pedestrian & bike-only levels, such as on the Steel Bridge, while others feature wider pathways and signage for directing bikes & pedestrians. Here, on the Hawthorne bridge, cyclists and pedestrians have much more ample room to maneuver, and dedicated signage to help cross safely. Compare and contrast with the scene on 7th Street or Lancaster.

Here, a cyclist heading from Downtown to Southeast Portland (wearing fishnets, no less) waits for the Hawthorne bridge to lower again after allowing a sailboat to pass.

Bike & pedestrian routing signs headed out of Downtown on the Hawthorne bridge.

Cyclists and pedestrians crossing the Willamette River on the Hawthorne bridge.

Cyclists headed out of Downtown on the Hawthorne bridge.

Leaving the Hawothorne bridge and headed into the Hawthorne district proper, the wide sidepath transitions here into a conventional pedestrian sidewalk and a dedicated on-street bike lane.

Cyclists transitioning to on-street bike lanes off the Hawthorne bridge.

Dedicated bike lane as the Hawthorne bridge exits onto conventional streets.

Headed back into Downtown on Hawthorne, dedicated bike lanes lead to a transition to wide bike/pedestrian side path.

The bike lane & pedestrian path merge on the entrance to the Hawthorne bridge.

Approaching the bike & pedestrian-only lower level of the Steel Bridge from the Eastbank Esplanade.

The bike & pedestrian-only lower level of the Steel Bridge, a recent addition to the impressive 1912 structure.

One sight that is not to be missed in Portland is “bike rush hour,” as commuters head from Downtown to areas like Southeast and Northeast Portland. This Streetfilms video shows bike rush hour on the Hawthorne bridge.

Portland’s bike signage is also quite good. Far from Fort Worth’s current obscure bike route signs (a bicycle icon and a random number do not make clear, effective signage), Portland’s bike signage clearly marks bike infrastructure and gives useful information to cyclists. These signs, for example, appear all over the city. They give directions to destinations along bike routes and even give distance and average bike travel time to bike operators.

Improved bike signage similar to this is a part of the new Bike Fort Worth plan.

Where off-street bike paths meet on-street bike lanes & routes, Portland helps make the transition easy and safe for cyclists. In this StreetFilm, Rex Burkholder from PDOT explains a bike signal at one of the these intersections.

Portland also puts on bike & pedestrian events, such as the Portland Sunday Parkways. Here, six miles of streets are closed for a day to cars and used only by cyclists and pedestrians to create a giant neighborhood street festival.

Events such as these are another item mentioned in the Bike Fort Worth plan.

Here’s a few random bike scenes – this is in the Pearl District.

One of the many cyclists in the near Southeast Portland neighborhoods.

Always bikes around the countless neighborhood cafe/coffee shop hangouts that are sprinkled through every Portland neighborhood, such as the 3 Friends Coffee/Hungry Tiger Too building near the “Vegan District.”

Bikes out and about as evening approaches in the Pearl District.

A cyclist rounds a corner in the Pearl headed to the waterfront.

Parents on Bakfiets in the North Mississippi district.

Cyclists riding south through the Pearl near Jamison Square along the route of the Portland Streetcar.

The bike culture in Portland is truly impressive. Bikes are treated as serious transportation by the city, and as a result of their bike routes, lanes, parking facilities, and other support infrastructure, bicycling as transportation has exploded in Portland in recent years.

What’s encouraging is that while Fort Worth’s present bike plan leaves a lot to be desired, the new Bike Fort Worth plan goes in a very Portland direction, in keeping with the city’s goal of tripling bicycle usage by 2015. It’s a far more equitable attitude on bicycles than Fort Worth has shown in the past, and we can’t wait to see progress made on getting it implemented. Spearheaded by Fort Worth Transportation & Planning’s new senior planner Don Koski, Bike Fort Worth will be a radical upgrade to the city’s bike infrastructure and will give us at least a taste of the kind of bike friendliness that Portland exhibits.

Prairie Fest this Saturday

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:52:53 +0000

The 4th Annual Fort Worth Prairie Fest
Saturday, April 25, 2009, 10 AM – 8 PM
An outdoor festival to celebrate our connection to the natural world through Music, Art, Dance, Environmental Stewardship & Wildflower Tours.

Free and Open to the Public!

Park & Prairie Preservation: Tandy Hills Natural Area
Best place in D/FW to see wildflowers!

What you’ll find at Prairie Fest:
Organics
Green Building
Clean Energy: We are Solar Powered by Exeltech and the first local festival to be Solar Powered.
Sustainable Living Products & Services
Native Plant Gardening: Get free advice!
Recycling – Composting – Conservation
Hybrid Vehicles: Latest models on display!
Music – Arts – Dance: Entertainment Galore for ALL ages!

Entertainment for Prairie Fest 09:
Brave Combo is back in 09!
Also performing: the Ackermans, Trigger Fish, Darrin Kobetich, Blackland River Devils, The Butterfly Connection, Kerri Arista, Mimi Kayl-Vaughan and Walking Contradictions.

Wildflower Walks:
Take a complimentary stroll through Tandy Hills Natural Area with native plant experts from the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. Witness and learn about the beauty of nature untouched by the human hand. Guided Wildflower Walks are scheduled throughout the event.
Witness the beauty of Tandy Hills Natural Area and take a memory of it home with you as it is captured on paper by Plein Air Artists who will be painting on site throughout the day.

Prairie Sculpture:
Featured Artist Elaine Taylor has created a sculpture made of natural materials designed especially for Prairie Fest to reflect the environmental consciousness of the festival and the innate beauty of Tandy Hills prairie.

Food & Drink by Rahr & Sons Brewery, Fuzzy’s Tacos, Chadra Mezza & Grill, Times Ten Cellars, Don’s Dawgs, Longoria’s BBQ, Flying Pig Pie & Pints.

Sponsored by: Rahr & Sons Brewery, Fort Worthology, NBC 5, Fort Worth Weekly, West & Clear, Old Home Supply, Jim Marshall, Edible Dallas/Fort Worth, Green Mama’s Organic Garden Center, the City of Fort Worth, the University of Texas at Arlington, UT Arlington Fort Worth Center, New Belgium Brewing, Starbucks Coffee, Anderton Tree Service, ExelTech, West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association, Texas Commission on the Arts, Backwoods, Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks, Ellis & Marshall, Redenia’s Garden Shop, Times Ten Cellars, Historic Fort Worth, Toyota of Fort Worth, East Fort Worth Montessori Academy, Artspace 111, Family Petcare, Whole Foods Market.

For more information, visit Friends of Tandy Hills.

Fort Worth presents radically improved bicycle plan, aims to triple bicycle travel by 2015

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:09:15 +0000

Last night at the Central Library in Downtown Fort Worth, the city showcased a draft of a radically altered and improved bicycle transportation plan called “Bike Fort Worth.” Aiming to replace the rather lacking 1999 bike route plan with a more robust and elaborate system, the city has been working for a year and a half on “Bike Fort Worth,” and the results look impressive.

With “Bike Fort Worth,” the city has laid out ambitious goals: to triple the level of bicycle transportation in the city, to reduce the number of bicycle-related accidents by 1/4, and to attain official designation as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” from the League of American Bicyclists – all by 2015.

With “Bike Fort Worth,” it is clear that the city is making a huge new commitment to the “Complete Streets” movement and that the attitude of planning and transportation at City Hall has truly radically shifted. Now, let’s dive into some of the details of “Bike Fort Worth.”

(Apologies for the weird photos – seating was limited and we were at an angle.)

Some of the challenges identified in “Bike Fort Worth” are our high-speed arterials with no bike provisions, unsafe behavior by both motorists and bicyclists, street design features that are unfriendly to bicycles, missing connections between bike facilities and neighborhoods, and a lack of convenient and safe bike parking & storage at destinations. “Bike Fort Worth” aims to address all of these issues – and let’s start by taking a look at the subject most near and dear to our hearts here at Fort Worthology: bike lanes, routes, and trails.

In the 2007 bicycle survey, the message from respondents was strong: when asked what would encourage residents to bicycle more often, 86% said “bike lanes,” 84% said “new trails,” and 68% said “signed bike routes.” “Bike Fort Worth” addresses all three forms of infrastructure.

The new bicycle transportation system aims to provide links to existing and planned bike facilities in neighboring cities, provide safe bicycle routes along major corridors, identify alternative parallel routes to major arterials too large for safe bicycle accommodation (think six-lane plus designs), fill gaps in bicycle routing and linkages, overcome barriers to bike travel between neighborhoods and destinations, and provide connections to major destinations. Links to transit centers, existing and planned rail stations, the Urban Villages, Downtown Fort Worth, schools, colleges, universities, major employers, the Trinity Trails, and parks and recreation areas are all part of “Bike Fort Worth.”

“Bike Fort Worth” identifies three categories of bike infrastructure and uses them all: on-street striped bicycle-only lanes, on-street bike routes marked with “sharrows,” and off-street trails. Related are several other pieces of bike-friendly infrastructure, including intersections with sensors properly tuned to detect bicycles, bicycle-only traffic signals where trails and on-street facilities cross, and new crossings of barriers such as the Trinity River.

“Bike Fort Worth” proposes a huge increase in the scope and quality of bike infrastructure in the city of Fort Worth. At present, there are approximately 39.6 miles of “sharrow” bike routes, 8.5 miles of striped bicycle-only lanes (including the new Magnolia Avenue “road diet”), 58.4 miles of off-street trails, and 3.9 miles of “sidepaths” (wider sidewalks in situations where bikes-on-sidewalk is appropriate). In all, there are 109.4 miles of bike infrastructure in Fort Worth.

Under “Bike Fort Worth,” our bike infrastructure would be radically increased:

Sharrow routes would jump from 39.6 miles to 224.1 miles.
Bus-only lanes in Downtown would change to bus & bike-only, for a total of 1.75 miles.
Striped bicycle-only lanes would massively increase from 8.5 miles to a truly impressive 475.9 miles.
Off-street bike trails would increase from 58.4 miles to 153.3 miles.
Sidepaths would increase from 3.9 miles to 43.1 miles.

Total on-street bicycle infrastructure would jump to 704.75 miles, and total off-street would go to 196.4 miles. Truly, this is a paradigm shift in bicycle transportation in the city of Fort Worth.

Highlights of new off-street trails include:

New Trinity Trails extensions, connections, and crossings.
A new connection between the Trinity and Sycamore trails.
Trail Drivers Park to Trinity.
New trails along the Trinity Uptown waterfront.

Above is a view showing primarily Downtown, the Cultural District, and the Near Southside. Among the highlights:

New dedicated lanes in the Near Southside – at a minimum, the plan wants all of Magnolia from 8th to South Main, all of Rosedale from 8th to South Main, all of Pennsylvania from 12th to South Main, all of Vickery from Adams into the east side of the city, Jennings from Magnolia into Downtown where it joins up with Throckmorton, South Main from Lancaster all the way south to Morningside, Summit from Rosedale to 5th Street in Downtown, 12th Avenue from Pennsylvania to Rosedale, Cooper from 12th Avenue to Summit, and College from Pennsylvania to Rosedale. These dedicated lanes would be supplemented by existing and new “sharrow” routes. We say “at a minimum” because it was made clear that this is the “Bike Fort Worth” minimum and the even greater number of striped lanes in the Near Southside design standards are still available through the Near Southside TIF and other mechanisms.
A large network of sharrow routes in Downtown, in a reversal from the previous plan’s position that Downtown was already bike friendly enough.
Re-marking the Throckmorton and Houston bus-only lanes in Downtown into bus & bike-only lanes.
Dedicated bike lanes on 3rd Street from the east side of Downtown all the way out to East 1st, continuing on to the east from there.
Dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania running long-distance from north to south.
Dedicated bike lanes on East Lancaster from Downtown to Tennessee.
A new sharrow route on Henderson from 5th to Belknap that turns into a dedicated lane from Belknap to White Settlement.
Dedicated bike infrastructure on all the new Trinity River Vision bridges at White Settlement, Henderson, and North Main.
Dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement from North Main west past Rockwood/Westview.
Dedicated bike lanes on Bailey from White Settlement to the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection.
Dedicated bike lanes on Carroll from West 7th to Whitmore, joining a sharrow route from Whitmore to White Settlement by way of Foch.
Dedicated bike lanes on Foch from West 7th to Crestline.

A close-up view of Downtown. One of the biggest changes and improvements in “Bike Fort Worth” is the creation of real bike connections between districts in the central city – dedicated bike lanes will carry riders between the Near Southside and Downtown on South Main, Jennings, and Summit. Dedicated bike lanes will also connect to the Cultural District – which we’ll get to in a moment.

Looking further south:

A number of new sharrow routes increase connections between existing routes and new bike lanes. A new route more directly connects to Forest Park, for example – a sharrow route will run down Park Place to the trails.
New dedicated bike lanes on Forest Park and McCart from Huntington to West Devitt.
New sharrow route down Rogers, between Cantey and new dedicated bike lanes on Lovell and West Vickery.
New dedicated bike lanes on University, from Cantey heading south past Berry (not shown here but presumably to Bluebonnet Circle at least).
New sharrow route on Hartwood, Mockingbird, and Colonial.
New dedicated bike lanes on Stadium from Cantey to Berry, then dedicated lanes heading out West on Berry and Bellaire.
New dedicated bike lanes on East Allen and East Maddox from I-35 to Comer.
New dedicated bike lanes on Nashville.

Also seen here is the long-distance route of the new dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania/Riverside.

In the Cultural District, we see:

The previously mentioned dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement, Bailey, Carroll, and Foch.
New dedicated bike lanes on Lancaster from Currie to Montgomery right past the museums.
A sharrow connection on Lancaster between Currie and Foch.
Dedicated bike lanes on Montgomery from West 7th south.
New sharrow routes on Crestline, Trinity Park, Cedar Elm, West 7th west of University, Dorothy, Bailey north of White Settlement, Hillcrest, Ashland, El Campo, Byers, Owasso, and Harley west of Montgomery.
New dedicated bike lanes on Harley between Montgomery and University through the Will Rogers Memorial Center, joining the sharrow route on a brief stretch of University to Crestline.
New dedicated bike lanes on West 7th between the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection and Lamar in Downtown.

The dedicated bike lanes on West 7th are an especially big addition, especially with all the development activity along the street.

In addition, the plan adds extensive new signage for bike lanes, bike routes, trails, and wayfinding to destinations using the system.

“Bike Fort Worth” also looks at bicycle parking and storage. The plan calls for the adoption of mandatory bicycle parking requirements in zoning and development plans for new commercial, office, industrial, and multi-family residential development. In addition, the city will implement a “significant” bike rack installation program to radically increase the amount of public bike parking in the city. The plan calls for the placement of bike parking in convenient and logical locations by the main entrances of businesses – not stuck in the back or in the middle of nowhere. “Bike Fort Worth” will also implement preferred bike rack designs, favoring designs like the “inverted U” and “lollipop” racks and discouraging designs like the “wave” and “wheel-bender.” The plan also calls for new parking garages to provide bicycle parking space.

The plan even has strategies for replacing some on-street car parking with on-street bicycle parking, which allows the parking of a great number of bicycles in the space previously reserved for just one or two cars. A good example is shown in this Streetfilms video about bicycle parking in Portland, Oregon:

In addition, the plan calls for the construction of a Downtown Bicycle Commuter Station. An example of bicycle commuter parking can be seen in this Streetfilms video about Alewife Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts:

“Bike Fort Worth” also features extensive education, enforcement, and outreach programs:

The plan ties into the national “Safe Routes to School” initiative, encouraging more kids to walk and bike to school.
The city plans a “Share the Road” educational campaign to educate Fort Worth drivers and riders on safe, correct motorist/bicyclist interaction.
A new, better bike map will be published.
The city will participate in National Bike to Work Day and reinstitute the Clean Air Bike Rally.
The plan calls for Fort Worth to hold Sunday Parkways – weekend days when sections of road are closed to car traffic and turned over exclusively to bicycle and pedestrian usage.

The plan for Sunday Parkways is inspired by other such events in more bike-friendly cities, such as Portland, Oregon. This Streetfilms video shows some scenes from Portland’s own Sunday Parkways:

In addition, the plan calls for changes to street design standards, subdivision standards, and the development review process to ensure bicycle support is “built-in.” The city intends to fully embrace the “Complete Streets” movement and it will be policy that street planning, design, and construction will accommodate bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users from the very beginning.

The plan also calls for the city to launch an accurate bicycling count program, and a bicycle-related crash data & reporting program.

“Bike Fort Worth” is in draft stage and the city is currently accepting public input on the plan. The last of the three public meetings will be tomorrow night at 6:30 PM at LMRA River Pavillion, 3400 Bryant Irvin Road. After the plan is refined based on public input, it’s off to implementation. As said before, the plan’s goal is to triple bicycle travel, reduce bicycle accidents by 1/4, and attain a “Bicycle Friendly Community” rating from the League of American Bicyclists by 2015.

It’s a radical plan for a city that’s been more slow and measured in the past, but it shows the fundamental shifts in thinking and planning that are occurring at City Hall. Fort Worth is a city that is changing its thinking, and “Bike Fort Worth” is a great example of progress towards creating a more livable, sustainable Fort Worth. We came away from the presentation very impressed indeed – a big thanks to Don Koski, the Senior Planner in Fort Worth’s Transportation and Public Works Department, for putting on the presentation last night.