West Sixth Bike Lane
The City of Austin will have an Open House to discuss plans for a bike lane on West Sixth Street (from Lamar to Patterson) on September 14, 2009, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road, 3rd Floor Conference Room.
You can view the plans here: www.lobv.org/westsixth.html.
If you can't attend the Open House, please e-mail Annick Beaudet at annick.beaudet@ci.austin.tx.us with your comments. Questions about the bike lane can be addressed to Jason Fialkoff at Jason.Fialkoff@ci.austin.tx.us.
Update (9/14/09)
OWANA received the following e-mail update from Annick Beaudet, Project Manager of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Program.
On Wednesday September 2nd, 2009, the City Area Traffic Engineer and Bicycle Program Manager walked the W.6th Street business area, adjacent to the existing W. 6th St angle parking, to communicate on the plan for mobility improvements for W. 6th St. On September 3rd , 2009 a letter was sent to property owners, tenants, and other stakeholders with regard to the City's intent to combine a bicycle lane installation on W. 6th street with routine street maintenance, which affected parking on W. 6th Street. The letter contained a baseline plan for how the bicycle lane and parking could co-exist, based on best practice in engineering design.
The purpose of the letter and for the "face to face" contact made by the Bicycle Program Manager and the Area Traffic Engineer was to inform stakeholders of the project and gain feedback on the design in an effort to assure all stakeholders could get the most out of the design, while still meeting the objectives of the project, which are:
- to maximize motor vehicle flow of the arterial roadway,
- extend the reverse angle pilot program,
- consider safety of all roadway users,
- implement the City's Bicycle Master Plan, and
- preserve as much parking as possible, with as little temporary and permanent impact to area businesses
The City intended to modify the baseline plan, as feasible, based on input gained through the above described outreach. Additionally, the project designer, Jason Fialkoff, attended the Sept. 1st, 2009 OWANA meeting to announce the project and to solicit input from neighborhood stakeholders.
The majority of the feedback received was with regard to available on-street parking and the reverse angle parking. There were also requests for additional time restrictions (i.e. 15 minute only parking spaces), comments about the condition of the curb and sidewalk area near ZTejas, and lack of landscaping in that area as well, and comments about bicycle use on the sidewalks in the area.
The City of Austin has taken all feedback and has revised the plan and timeline in an effort to meet as many concerns as possible. Below is an overview of the original plan, and the new plan and timeline. The purpose of this e-mail is to assure that all concerned stakeholders can review the new plan and ask any additional questions at the Open House this evening.
Original Plan & Timeline:
- All existing recessed parallel parking to remain, including inset parking at Waterloo/Amy's
- Remove 7-8 parallel parking spaces between Blanco St and Baylor St (number of actual spaces. 7-8, dependent on size of vehicle and how close the cars are parked to each other).
- Removal of 2 parallel parking spaces near Campbell St
- Installation of bicycle lanes
- Conversion of existing angle parking to reverse angle parking (no loss of parking spaces)
- New Road Striping and Parking Modifications to happen by end of September 2009.
New Plan & Timeline:
- All existing recessed parallel parking to remain
- Re-construct curb and sidewalk from end of existing angle parking bay (at ZTejas) to Baylor St. to allow the existing 7-8 parallel parking spaces to remain (by creating inset parallel parking) and create 3 additional inset parallel parking spaces, for 11 total to be end result. This will be done by removing the existing curb and constructing the inset parking area, consistent with the parking adjacent to Waterloo and Amy's. We will also maintain/install new, wider sidewalk (6' sidewalk) from Baylor St. to angle parking bay, in coordination with the City Sidewalk Program
- Installation of Bicycle Lanes
- Conversation of existing angle parking to reverse angle parking (no loss of parking spaces)
- Removal of 2 parallel parking spaces near Campbell St
- New Road Striping, including bicycle lanes, West of Blanco St, St to happen by end of September 2009
- Road Striping Lamar Blvd to Blanco St, no bicycle lanes in interim, to happen by end of September 2009
- Reverse Angle Parking to be installed by mid to late October 2009
- Curb reconstruction, sidewalk maintenance, new parking, and bicycle lane installation to start January 2010, complete by March 2010
- Create additional time restricted spaces (i.e. 15 minute to 2 hour time limited reverse angle parking); number of new time restricted spaces to be determined by merchants
- The purpose of the new plan is to respond to concerns about parking and to make sidewalk improvements, while allowing the improvements needed to provide multi-modal transportation on this important arterial roadway corridor.
The City of Austin staff for this project look forward to seeing all interested parties at tonight's Open House, 6-7 PM, 505 Barton Springs Road, 3rd Floor Conference Room. Additional feedback is encouraged via email and phone to Annick Beaudet at 512-974-6505 and annick.beaudet@ci.austin.tx.us or Alan Hughes at 512-974-7202 and alan.hughes@ci.austin.tx.us.