SAN ANTONIO – For San Antonio’s alternative transit advocates and recreational riders alike, the city’s Bike Network Plan (BNP) updates are continuing in the new year.
In a Tuesday briefing to the city’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the team behind updating the BNP provided updates and expectations for the third phase of their project.
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The two-year time frame to update the plan, initially adopted in 2011, began in January 2023.
Discussion among committee members with the BNP team was overall supportive but clear on setting expectations heading into the final phase to include multiple viewpoints and situations.
Phase 1 and 2 outreach results
Catherine Hernandez, director of the transportation department, opened the BNP team’s presentation, which showcased statistics and data gathered from the project’s first two phases.
Phase 1 surveyed the public from May 2023 to September 2023 and garnered 1,300 responses.
“Much of the responses centered around safety and access,” Hernandez said.
The presentation showed that 68% of respondents said it was “difficult” or “very difficult” to move around San Antonio without a car. Seventy-five percent said they were concerned about biking because they “feel unsafe near fast-moving vehicles.”
Those who responded in the first phase cited walking and biking mainly as recreational needs. The presentation said, “Many trips in San Antonio, especially within Loop 410, are short enough to be taken by bike.”
“We need to make it safe and accessible for all ages and abilities of riders in order to convert these trips,” Hernandez said.
Work on phase 2 commenced at the tail end of last year, from October to December, and residents were asked about opportunities for improvements in the network, such as bike facilities.
Hernandez said respondents were largely split on route choices. However, most agreed that they supported more greenway trails and protected bike lanes.
Accounting for safety
Hernandez said respondents had “predictably greater levels of perceived safety” in bike lanes that offered enhanced protection.
Bike lanes separated from traffic by planters, curbs and jersey barriers scored the highest, the presentation showed.
The BNP team pulled crash data from TxDOT to measure those involving pedestrians and cyclists.
Data gathered from 2018 to 2022 showed 5,486 crashes recorded, with 331 resulting in a fatality, Hernandez said in the presentation. An increase surged between 2020 and 2022 involving fatal and serious injury-related bike crashes.
A 2022 report from Smart Growth America ranked San Antonio as the 20th most dangerous city for pedestrian safety.
Hernandez said the TxDOT data showed that most bicycle crashes occurred on roadways with 50 mph or higher speeds. A common attributing factor was driver inattention, implying a conflict between bikes and cars.
The presentation included a staunch observation: despite consistency with national trends, “San Antonio can do more to avoid all injuries and fatalities for bike users.”
District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda was interested in parts of the plan working to help better educate the community about driving with bicycles.
“I think education into our community for people that are not cyclists is really important ... I think we need to talk more about it in community events,” she said.
Looking ahead
Hernandez said the team has begun engagement efforts for the project’s final phase.
Expected to come over the next few months are designs informed by the existing Vision Zero and Complete Streets policies, the development of a GIS map showing bike facilities in the city and the creation of a prioritization plan to gauge short and long-term projects and goals, Hernandez said.
Aside from expressing an interest in demographic and socioeconomic data collected from community engagement, District 2 councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez encouraged the BNP team to survey those who might bike for necessity.
“I wonder if you might collect feedback from more people who utilize a bicycle for necessities,” McKee-Rodriguez said. “That’s something that’s of interest to me ... I would really like to see priority for those who do rely on a bike for their necessities because many people don’t have access to vehicles, for whatever reason,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur asked if future surveys might include streets with requests for bike lanes in the inner city.
Kaur said her office had “gotten a lot of feedback on current bike lane infrastructure” while wondering about potential quick-build bike lane installments.
Harley Hubbard, project manager for the bike network plan, said city leaders and the public could actively view the data collected regarding what the phase one and two surveys captured.
Hernandez said the department plans to apply for the next Safe Streets for All grant, which would include funding for quick-build bike lane installations.
The full presentation can be viewed below:
District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito expressed frustration with the two-year timeline for developing the BNP in a committee discussion after the presentation.
Hernandez clarified that the department’s current work involves updating the 2011 plan.
“The 2011 plan had a termed life expectancy of only 10 years, so it needed to be updated,” Hernandez said. “It also needed to be extremely inclusive … there was a lot of community engagement rounds that needed to be done.”
Hernandez also said the BNP team is preparing the city’s first transportation-focused health impact assessment to accompany the finished plan. The report will “evaluate the potential impact of transportation investments on health equity” and several other factors, according to a July 2023 news release.
Aldrete Gavito said she and other council members often hear from residents about the city’s “all talk, very little action” approach to bike infrastructure.
Hubbard acknowledged the concern and said that progress in the new infrastructure is not stopping.
“There’s definitely always more work that can be done,” she said. “There is bike infrastructure going in the ground right now, both through the transportation department and (the team) at Public Works.”
Near the end of the briefing, Courage asked whether the current city ordinance permits riding a bike on the sidewalk.
According to city ordinance section 19-286, riding a bike on a sidewalk is prohibited unless done so by law enforcement or emergency personnel.
However, Hernandez said that through the outreach process, the team “was receiving input on whether or not that is a policy shift that we need to make.”
Hernandez said engagement for 2024 began at last week’s Siclovia event. It will extend from April to August 2024, with 18 pop-up events in every CC district, two open houses and five stakeholder roundtables.
“This is the bike network plan’s final engagement push where we want to hear from residents’ preferences and priorities in planning those facilities,” Hernandez said.
A final plan is expected to be issued in 2025, according to the bike network plan’s website.
For more information and to take the bike network plan survey, click here.