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September 13, 2021
The All Ages and Abilities (AAA) Bicycle Network, an interconnected network of bike lanes, intersections, town lanes, and protected bike lanes across Austin, is now more than halfway through. The AAA network aims to provide access to people of all ages and abilities to ensure that everyone can get around town easily – whether they are 8 or 80 years old.
Since 2014, Austin has been making strides toward its goal of building a 400+ mile network of bicycles that will give residents choices about how to get around. The AAA Bicycle Network passed half the 207-mile milestone on June 19 after completing the protected bike path on Guadalupe Street from Koenig Lane to Airport Boulevard. With a construction time of 215 miles (as of September), Austin is one of the few North American cities to have reached such a milestone.
The network expansion follows an ambitious vision established by the Austin City Council in 2014 with the adoption of the Austin Cycle Plan. The plan was for 80% completion in 2025, and the city is well on its way to getting the current AAA cycle network to be completed ahead of schedule by 2025. Today Austin is home to more than 600,000 people, or about 64% of the city’s 950,000 residents, half a mile from an All Ages and Abilities Bikeway.
More information on the AAA Bicycle Network can be found here, including an interactive map of recent and upcoming projects. A video highlighting the milestone is also available here.
A $ 4.9 billion project to redesign I-35 through Central Austin will define the future of mobility for Central Texas in a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
The Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Capital Express Central Project, the first major highway reconstruction since 1973, is in the works. As a partner on the project, the City of Austin is working with TxDOT to meet a number of goals approved by the Austin City Council in March 2021.
Rob Spillar, PE, Austin Department Director of Transportation, gave a presentation to the Austin City Council on August 31st explaining how ATD employees are working with TxDOT on many design aspects of the freeway, including new front roads. One suggestion from city workers, Spillar said, involves a technique called cantilevering, or shoring the front streets with a beam over the main highway lanes, to reduce the footprint of the entire project.
“We need to figure out how to downsize this alternative, either through design elements or by looking at how we can optimize the lane elements or the operational characteristics of this corridor,” said Spillar.
TxDOT’s current plans would reduce the design speed of front roads or the target speed that engineers envision when designing a project to make the I-35 safer. In 2018, the last available year, there were more than 1,000 accidents in the 8 mile area of the project between US 290 East and SH 71 / Ben White Boulevard. Suggested design speeds would be 35 miles per hour from Airport Boulevard to Oltorf Street. Currently, the speed limits on the front streets vary from 40 to 50 miles per hour.
TxDOT is also proposing bypass lanes to increase safety and allow drivers to avoid multiple signaled intersections, with front roads in this area functioning similarly to Austin’s arterial roads such as the Guadalupe and Lavaca roads.
An important goal for the city is to make the front streets safer for all users and to improve the east-west crossings. TxDOT’s designs show 10 foot shared paths on either side of the carriageway for most corridor boundaries and physical barriers between the front streets and the lanes, as well as more than a dozen connections to the city’s urban lane and bicycle networks.
The city is committed to working with TxDOT to achieve the best possible results for Austin and limit disruption for local businesses and residents. The community has until September 24th to make their voice heard and to contribute ideas for the design of the project. TxDOT expects construction of the project to begin in late 2025.
The intersection of North Central Austin on North Lamar Boulevard and West St. Johns Avenue is now safer for all users following recent improvements in the area.
The Austin Department of Transportation project eliminated dangerous left turns in and out of driveways by adding new raised median lines on both North Lamar driveways that connect to the existing median at the intersection of North Lamar and Airport Boulevard.
In addition, the project is now better suited to pedestrians and cyclists after restoring pedestrian crossings, adding new curb ramps accessible to Americans with the Disability Act, building a new shared path on the east side of St. John’s, and adding a cycle path north on North Lamar became.
Other improvements included modified traffic lights, driveway modifications to increase security, more space for cars waiting for North Lamar to turn left, and relocated Capital Metro bus stops for easier access.
The $ 1.15 million project was funded by Mobility Bond 2016, which allocated $ 15 million to intersection safety and Vision Zero projects to improve Austin’s intersections, where most of the accidents occur. Construction began in late 2020 and was completed in late August 2021. This is the tenth intersection safety improvement project funded by the Mobility Bond 2016. Photos of the completed intersection can be found here.
On October 19, 2017, Lisa Torry Smith accompanied her son to school in Missouri City, Texas.
As they were crossing an intersection, they were hit by a car. Lisa Torry Smith died and her son suffered serious injuries. The driver responsible for the accident was not prosecuted as the law did not allow it at the time.
This press release was produced by the City of Austin. The views expressed here are your own.
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