 "Photo: Andrew Rogers")
Austin residents voiced support Wednesday night for an expansion of continuous bike routes to encourage commuters to ride bicycles to work.
In conjunction with the Street Smart Task Force's recommendations to the city council, the Public Works Department hosted four public meetings to receive input from Austin residents and cyclists. Wednesday's was held at the University Teaching Center.
About 45 bicycle enthusiasts attended the presentation hosted by Annick Beaudet, a project manager for the department. City officials challenged attendees to mark up several large canvas maps of Austin with suggestions and comments.
The city's bicycle master plan was last updated in 1998. Project coordinator Nadia Barrera said the general practice is to update such plans every 10 years.
Barrera said the number of Austin cyclists has almost doubled since the last census. Four percent of residents in the urban center ride bicycles, while the number in the city as a whole is about 1 percent. She said the goal was to double the number of cyclists in the urban center to 8 percent.
By placing the meeting on campus, Barrera said the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program hoped to hear students' perspectives and ideas on connectivity points, barriers, preferred routes and other policy suggestions.
The city has expanded bike facilities in the form of paths and bike lanes by 35 percent since the last master plan in 1998. The city's role has been limited to such expansion up to this point, leaving the promotion of cycling and education to such nonprofit organizations as the Austin Cycling Association and the Yellow Bike Project.
"The focus of my work is to put bicycle facilities on the ground," Barrera said.
The discussion on campus emphasized the dramatic difference that only a small trade-off from motor to biking facilities could make. Several attendees suggested that solving connectivity gaps would lead to more bike commuting.
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