Designs for the portion of Broadway Street stretching from downtown San Antonio north to Hildebrand Avenue are almost finalized, but some cycling advocates aren’t pleased with the lack of bike lanes on sections of the proposed $42 million “complete street” project.
“[The design] makes one group of travelers more important than another group,” said Lydia Kelly, board member of the nonprofit BikeTexas. “They’re putting [cyclists] on side streets. We’re an afterthought.”
Broadway is a major thoroughfare with as many as seven lanes of vehicular traffic at Hildebrand Avenue that narrows as it travels south to three lanes at its terminus at East Houston Street. The car-centric commercial corridor also hosts several apartment complexes and thriving cultural amenities such as the Witte Museum and The DoSeum – but it’s largely considered a dead zone for pedestrians and cyclists. Portions of its sidewalks are damaged and often too narrow, and cyclists “share the road” with vehicles without dedicated lanes.
Funding to improve Broadway as a multimodal corridor came as part of the $850 million municipal bond that San Antonio voters approved in 2017. An additional $14 million will come from state and federal sources.
The proposal for the upper segment of Broadway, broken into two phases, features separated and dedicated bike lanes. Separated, or protected, lanes have some kind of physical barrier between them and vehicular traffic, whereas dedicated lanes are usually marked with paint. The lower phase of the project from East Houston Street to Interstate 35 (just south of the Pearl) is slated for completion in 2021, but does not include such bike facilities.
The latest diagrams of the new street show reduced vehicular lanes, wider sidewalks, enhanced lighting, relocated utility lines, and space for trees and landscaping – but as cyclists travel south, they would find that bike lanes stop at Josephine Street (just north of the Pearl) and are diverted to Avenue B or North Alamo Street in order to accommodate other priorities as Broadway approaches downtown.
“It’s not possible to do protected [or dedicated] bike lanes there unless we eliminate one or two other elements,” said Deputy City Manager Peter Zanoni. “It’s not that we don’t want [install bike lanes], it’s just that something has to give … we could eliminate a whole [vehicle] travel lane or reduce sidewalks.”
The City is still accepting feedback through its Transportation and Capital Improvements department. Citizens can contact Richard Grochowski, TCI’s Broadway project manager, at 210-207-7640 or Richard.Grochowski@sanantonio.gov. The final design concept is slated for completion in December; it does not require a City Council vote.
TCI will host a public meeting and open house later this winter or in early spring 2019 to hear community input, a spokesperson told the Rivard Report on Tuesday afternoon.
The consensus among land owners and developers was to prioritize wide, promenade-like sidewalks, Zanoni said, to encourage street cafés and other activations.
San Antonio has a Complete Street Ordinance – aimed at supporting a more healthy population and sustainable city – but it doesn’t technically require all streets to accommodate all modes of transportation. Rather, it requires the consideration of cyclists, pedestrians, and others.
“I don’t think [designers are] thinking out[side] the box enough” to accommodate cyclists, Kelly said.
Planners could employ a combination of slightly narrower sidewalks, which are proposed south of Josephine, and parking/landscaping space to accommodate a bike lane, she said.
Cyclists don’t expect to have protected, separated bike paths, she added, but “everyone deserves to have a portion of that roadway.
“We want to see the bike lane continuous because Broadway is a major thoroughfare,” Kelly said. “It’s going to affect how other streets are designed and developed.”
Sidewalks don’t have to be sacrificed, said Peter French, director of development for GrayStreet Partners which owns large swaths of property on and around Broadway.
“I think every street should be designed so that it’s safe enough for people to cycle on,” French said. “More cyclists on more streets make it safer. …. The tradeoff should be driving lanes before anything else.”
Some residents, commuters, and visitors who frequent the area are concerned that decreasing traffic lanes will increase congestion on Broadway.
If San Antonio truly wants to see less cars on the road, as is outlined in its longterm SA Tomorrow comprehensive plan, it needs to start building a city that moves less cars and more people, French said. “People will find a way to get from here to there that they believe works for them.”
As is, the plan for Broadway is not ideal, French said, but it allows for multimodal opportunities, and the stakeholder-public input process has been inclusive.
GrayStreet is collaborating with Pearl developer Silver Ventures on enhancing Avenue B as it curves back toward Broadway under Interstate 35, he said. “It’s an opportunity to get separate bike lanes under there.”
As San Antonio grows, conversations surrounding transportation will only become more important, said Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1). That’s why he advocated for a pedestrian mobility officer (PMO) in the fiscal year 2019 budget, he said, a full-time position dedicated to overseeing mobility and safety programs and developing a pedestrian master plan.
“That person needs to be in the thick of this,” Treviño said, to ensure sidewalks and bike lanes aren’t afterthoughts. “We’ve just got to start doing this and stop talking about it.”
The City of San Antonio is interviewing several internal and external candidates for the newly-created PMO position this week, Zanoni said. While the title doesn’t include “bike” or “cycling,” the PMO will play a key role in determining how major road projects such as Broadway Street incorporate – or don’t – protected space for cyclists and those riding e-scooters.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit ConnectSA formed by Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has a Dec. 21 deadline to develop a plan for a new multimodal transportation system that would be put before voters by the end of 2019.
The Bike Master Plan, created in 2011 and updated in 2013, is severely outdated, Zanoni said, and the new PMO will likely have a hand in helping the City update that plan while “relentlessly advocating” for better bike facilities.
As for Broadway, the conversation is not over yet.
“The more people talk about it now, the better,” he said.
One major solvable problem would be an investment in designing/building proper bus stops so that the bus pulls over completely out of traffic. They could even act as combination bus stops/bike racks/scooter hubs. They would provide shade, a water fountain, and act as a node for various alternative transportation methods. I love the spots on the mission reach that have tools for your bike, shade, and water. Fantastic idea already in use. If it’s not feasible to build a rail or a subway like many other major cities who invest in public transportation, why can’t we at least implement something like that? A solution for designed alternative transportation stops, or DATS, or remove designed and call them ATS (or where y’ATS?) would make the streets safer for cyclists, pedestrians, scooter-ers and drivers alike. This would be a stop beyond the bike lane, requiring cutting into the curb as they are today, and partially rerouting sidewalks around the new stops.
The reason we should try this is I’m almost certain the buses will now just stop in the proposed 6′ bike lanes, and stick out halfway into the far right traffic lane. This will cause a situation where people will be tempted to swerve partially into the center lane to drive around the bus as it is stopped. It will be like when people need to turn left at a stop light at a backed up intersection, and they will hop on and off of a curb to squeeze into that left turn lane. That same little desperate move psychologically because the visual gap acts like a vacuum when drivers notice that they aren’t entirely cut off from the possibility of continuing forward; so they do something stupid to prevent a stop.
Mr. McFarland:
We are still early in the design phase of the Broadway projects and we’re working hard to accommodate all modes of transportation. The design teams for the both of the Broadway projects will work closely with VIA on the bus stop designs and will take into consideration the bike lanes and maintaining a wide, pedestrian walkway.
Paul Berry
City of San Antonio Transportation and Capital Improvement Department
a dedicated bus lane should be considered as well. the problem with cut-outs is the constant merging in and out of the traffic lane. Not an ideal way to operate a bus.
Without dedicated lanes of travel for public transit, VIA will not be able to create a rapid transit corridor from Downtown to the Northeast along Broadway as was hoped. What is this “work closely with VIA” of which you speak?
Bikes are NOT like cars and should not be given special preference on major thoroughfares like Broadway – the building setbacks cannot be changed and it takes away from the wide sidewalks…where it makes sense the bike lanes should be one blcok over and any time a rider wants to access the Broadway area to eat or shop or drink coffee they can simply take a left or right and go where they want to go. Bikes are NOT te future of transportation and never will be in the USA. We should be adding charging stations and cheap mass transit stopsfor the future.
What makes cars so special, Mr. Crackhorns?
Try having a civilized 1st world economy without cars, trucks and buses. Bikes and scooters don’t cut it. Period.
1- As far as I see, no one is asking to close Broadway to vehicular traffic. For the portion south of Pearl, instead of five lanes, it could go down to four lanes or three lanes for cars. That would be slight inconvenience for car drivers, but justice for everyone else.
2- Many of the 1st world cities today are restricting cars in city centers. Some like Paris are even going one step forward and thinking about banning them out right in certain areas. Individual car ownership is right for suburbia, but it no longer is the answer in dense urban areas.
3- Center city is the only area where there can be a sensible urban development with various alternative transportation options. And I don’t think we should sacrifice it for the benefit of few drivers.
Thank you.
Very rationally and reasonably stated. And polite too!
Whatever is finally decided, no traffic jams = good plan! Traffic jams = bad plan. Bad plans with horrendous results often come from very sincere people with good intentions. The whole thing needs multi-modal volume-by-type flow studies and activity modeling from block to block at peak demands, under a multitude of scenarios. We will soon have NEW “high rises” and infills that will be dumping onto and using Broadway at key periods. Greater vehicular flow-time windows need to be analyzed!!
Well Mr Crackhorn,
Have you been paying attention on who rides the scooters for transportation? Apparently not for if you did you would have notice they don’t ride buses. Something about it being not cool and too slow.
From your comment and I quote “Bikes are NOT te future of transportation and never will be in the USA.” I wonder if you were one of those people who wanted our mayor to try to get Amazon to put their HQ here in San Antonio. If you where, I suggest that you don’t complain when Amazon or any other company like them don’t come to town because these companies understand that if you want talent, you have to locate in a community that is investing not just in “rail” transit, but in protected bike lanes. The city of Arlington, VA is investing in such infrastructure and just look where they’re putting one of their HQ.
The same thing with HEB, for they didn’t put their new tech jobs here in San Antonio, but in Austin where they are expanding in the long term, their protected bike lane network. If you are unsatisfied by my explanation, please drive to the middle of know where Iowa where you will see protected bicycle lanes popping up all over the place for they know up there that’s the future.
Bikes are and always will be a niche mode, not a necessity for serious families who need to cart family around, go food shopping with kids, pick up grandma for a med appt and the like. We should not be hobbling our 4 wheeled cars, SUVs and truck major arteries for a minor, very niche mode (that’s what bikes are) that does not work for all citizens in HEAT and RAIN, etc. Bikes are not all-weather…
Josephus, you have obviously never been to Europe. In Amsterdam parents ride bikes with their small children in bike seats all year round, even in freezing snow.
Give’em our summer heat and they’ll adjust… we need unique solutions for our reality. Ave B was set up for the bikes…
I have friends in other cities who are “serious families” who cart their family around on bikes. They make bikes with cargo space for kids and stuff. One just posted a picture of riding in 6inches of thick snow….with her kids in the cargo part.
This is a lot more common than you think.
Yes, but we don’t want to disrupt the lives and economy of Broadway, for a few quirky pedal-bicycle users. Now if the discussion moves on to NON-Suck-boom-blow (non-petrol, non internal combustion) LOW POWERED ELECTRIC vehicles of all types – I am all in. Let’s go with dedicated and protected lanes for electric golf carts, scooters, ebikes, etrikes, pedal bikes, rickshaws, segways, etc (no horses) and we got a WINNER. We are framing the discussion about pedal bikes only. Let’s REENGINEER Broadway for a PLEHORA of low powered modes that can coexist in protected, dedicated lanes with bikes included. I’ll sell my car and buy a golf cart! Perfect for downtown! Give me a low weight, 90-150cc electric 3 or 4 wheeled vehicle protected from HEAVY, DEADLY gas powered SUVs, sedans, truck, vans, and we’re ALL in! But let’s not upend the WHOLE world for the pedal bikey people only in a HOT, fairly HILLY CITY that is all spread out!
not convinced at all, re: “bikes only”. But let’s talk about very low Kw electric vehicles, of all types, 2,3,4 wheels, light weight, no emissions – golf cart type vehicles, etrikes, ebikes, scooters, segways, AND pedal and human powered vehicles such as rickshaws, pedalshaws, and yes, traditional pedal-powered bikes too – and NOW we have a valid conversation! Now we can start actually displacing SOME internal combustion vehicles that dominate now. Ok! But let’s go the WHOLE way, with ALL the new-tech individual transport modes coming on line… just let’s NOT upend the whole of Broadway for the bicycles only! Would not be justified. As the other commentator mentioned – Ave B was set up for the pedal cyclists. Why would we want to narrow Broadway to boot for bicycles only? Bicyclists would need to share with all the other “fun modes” out there too! I want my electric golf cart on Broadway! I’ll sell one of my Toyotas to roll up and down Broadway in an electric golf cart! Of course in fair weather only. Cut into Brackenridge park, zip over to the pearl, sure! But when I need serious and all weather transport down to the Tobin center, I want my SUV or an Uber that can get’er done in pouring rain, or 104 degree heat, or in freezing cold – and not be stuck in a traffic jam on good old Broadway… looking at empty bike lanes left and right, due to the bad weather and then backed up traffic due to less lanes! – insult to injury in that case… we gotta really think this through and do activity modeling and probability analysis, etc..
The bike lane to nowhere is a common theme in the city and has been for many years so riders have been forced to use the general roadway to the chagrin of some vehicle operators. Maybe signs stating the right of cyclists to use the general roadway on the same basis as vehicles would be of help. I have biked throughout the city for many years using the roads and have had only a few nasty incidents but they do happen.
I believe that a plan that would accommodate traffic in the area for decades to come would be to make Broadway for southbound traffic only and North Alamo for northbound traffic only starting at Houston or Travis street all the way to Cunningham Avenue were Alamo hits Broadway north of the Pearl area. This would provide ample room for two way bike lanes on Broadway and reinvigorate property all along North Alamo. In addition, the sidewalks could be widened on both streets for accomodating sidewalk cafes, coffeehouses and shops.
No way, this will *not* work. Would totally disrupt easy access to homes and businesses. How would anyone get to an address north of Cunningham on Broadway if Broadway is south-bound only? Non-starter.
Simple, they’ll just go around the block like they do on the West Side with Commerce/Buena Vista.
If you were to Google “Bike San Antonio there will be no Bike Lane on Broadway” you will see that there’s plenty of room for a 12ft Protected Bicycle Lane.
In other countries – millions of bicycles just use the sidewalks. And it works!! Widen the side walks, that’s it. Let’s not screw up Broadway and ALL of our daily lives by totally congesting this heavily used and needed thoroughfare (and thus polluting it even more, with gridlocked cars) by reducing existing car lanes – just nuts – THAT is THE big loser – less car/bus lanes that serve EVERYBODY is a crazy idea. Widen sidewalks: pedestrians, scooter, bicyclist all can coexist. Bicyclists and scooterists: SLOW DOWN and respect pedestrians. Two wheels and two legged people go together more reasonably than any other concept. Just widen the sidewalks slightly. Working people and retired 60s 70, 80 year olds are NOT going to be leaving their cars and Subs to be traveling on two wheels EVER – much less on humid, 80+ degree afternoons or evenings at peak travel times to go all eco and risk their lives on a bicycle. Not going to happen. Keep Broadway WIDE and maintain all bi-directional car lanes as are. Unless you want a gridlocked Broadway just so less than .5 % can have their bikes. The bicyclists dream of doing their daily Tour de France directly on Broadway everyday will rapidly become OUR collective nightmare if any CAR lanes are reduced. Bicycles are not practical for 99.5% of people and don’t drive the economy. Who can’t see that???
Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or propel or park or stand any vehicle upon any sidewalk.
(b) Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel while using bicycles provided by governmental agencies and while in the performance of their authorized duties are exempt from the provisions of subsection (a). Any person, while parking a bicycle in city installed bike racks, is also exempt from the provisions of this section.
(Code 1959, § 38-54; Ord. No. 53243, § 1, 1-15-81; Ord. No. 88129, § 1, 7-23-98)
Your comment seems to lack basic knowledge on what you’re talking about. Please YouTube “Cycling in the US from a Dutch perspective” from the channel BicycleDutch to become informed.
Really, Mr. Day… very interesting… so where are the mass arrests of the scooter people then? Not being enforced. (a) is not relevant. Code needs to be reviewed as it is outdated, not written in stone.
Change the city code, widen the side walks only. Redirect bike flow to side or parallel streets. Thats all it would take.
Only a few, young, athletic people use bikes for workouts or leisure. Not to make a living! Let’s not effectively shut down (by constricting) a VITAL (to-our-life-and-work) ARTERY by bowing to the tyranny of the few pedal-extremists who want to own the road. Cars/vans/trucks first. Elementary. Use the side/parallel streets near Broadway and widen the sidewalks for scoot and bikey people. Nobody can seriously get around and accomplish family business, cart kids to activities, go get groceries, etc., on a bike. Ridiculous. We are *not* Holland. We are a SPREAD OUT, HOT WEATHER car/vehicle – centric culture. Let’s accept that. Bikes on trails – in parks, yes, for recreation. On side streets, fine for the VERY FEW pedal pushers. Sure. We don’t transport emergency patients on the back of bicycles. The MAJORITY want a WIDE Broadway for the ambulance to scream quickly down the road – not be jammed up in gridlock for what? – a pleasant yet very naive, adolescent dream of “bicycles” that gets out of control and turns Broadway into a noxious parking lot traffic jam. See how many of these B cycles never get used?? with all the infill going up, we’ll need MORE LANES on Broadway, not less. DON’T CONSTRICT BROADWAY!! Broadway as a gridlocked parking lot is a pollution factory. Let’s be SANE
I agree let’s be sane, and also be open to various lifestyles for people who don’t own cars.
I used to work for an office downtown and I did not own a car. I took advantage of what I did have, a 25 yr old steel frame road bike and a degree of athleticism. Use what you’ve got, right? I rode my bike everywhere. To and from work, to friend’s houses. Groceries included. Since the HEB on Flores was not even a concept at that time I had to ride either 6 mi south to Walmart or up to Central Market on Broadway. Neither was a safe trip, especially loaded down with groceries. I can tell you more than anyone that yes, it was hot…and then really cold. I still made it work. I wasn’t going to be a baby about it because it was hard. Hard was just part of it, and I started to take pride in the fact that it was hard and I could do it anyways. That you didn’t have to be in a car to actually make it here. Growing up in Texas, I thought that was impossible…it really isn’t. Just more challenging. I still made it to work, paid my bills, ate plenty of food, had lots of friends, and enjoyed my life. Guess what I didn’t have? Car insurance payment or a car payment, and I didn’t care about the price of a gallon of gas. It was nice. There would be more people willing to go for this lifestyle were it safer to do so.
I also experienced really bad accidents. While trying to avoid the street in downtown traffic I once rode on the sidewalk and came off of a curb at high speed. The impact on my front wheel sent my wheel loose from my front fork and I slammed my head into the pavement, bleeding profusely. I had to have stitches in my forehead. Had there been a bike lane, I wouldn’t have tried to bike sidewalks or attempt to jump off of curbs on an old road bike to avoid back to back traffic. I’ve also been hit by a car off of my bike by a truck in Austin, no bike lane on that street either. An ambulance was able to get to me in a very short time at 5:30p traffic on a single lane backed up street, so your point about EMS is from my experience, wrong. If there had been a bike lane I doubt there would have been a situation for an ambulance in the first place.
I haven’t stopped riding but it definitely made me think twice about taking chances on streets that aren’t easily navigated on bike. It has made my owning of a truck feel like a huge privilege. If I ever lost my truck, I would know how to get by. It wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. Nowadays I especially am weary of streets that aren’t bike friendly, like Broadway. Experience has taught me that yes it can be you on the news for the wrong reasons. It makes it worse when the attitude of the citizenry is that bikes don’t belong, or when there isn’t the proper infrastructure in place for cyclists. When you don’t make room for cyclists, then no one thinks to look out for them, or cares to tolerate them as part and parcel of city life.
Let’s design the city around you.
Very well articulated. You are a salt of the earth, red blooded, great American. I will reply this SIMPLE way, with TRUTH: society is AGING QUICKLY. OLD PEOPLE RIDE IN AND SIT IN AIR CONDITIONED AND HEATED CARS. OLD PEOPLE DONT RIDE BICYCLES. OLD PEOPLE CANT OR DONT WANT TO SWEAT OR TAKE RISKS ON TWO WHEELS ANYMORE. OLD PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO SIT IN TRAFFIC JAMS BECAUSE THE STREETS THEY PAID FOR WITH TAXES ARE NOW TOO NARROW, BECAUSE OF UNDERUTILIZED BIKE-ONLY LANES ON MAIN THOROUGHFARES. I WANT TO GET TO MY MED APPT ON TIME, NOT SIT IN TRAFFIC.
Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited.
(a)
It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or propel or park or stand any vehicle upon any sidewalk.
(b)
Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel while using bicycles provided by governmental agencies and while in the performance of their authorized duties are exempt from the provisions of subsection (a). Any person, while parking a bicycle in city installed bike racks, is also exempt from the provisions of this section.
(Code 1959, § 38-54; Ord. No. 53243, § 1, 1-15-81; Ord. No. 88129, § 1, 7-23-98)
Which countries would this be? Because of all the countries I’ve lived in and worked in and visited, bikes absolutely do not use sidewalks. Sidewalks are for pedestrians. Bikes are on the street, often in their own lanes, often protected lanes, or on the roads.
These countries would be:
UK
Switzerland
Netherlands
France
Luxembourg
Germany
Austria
Denmark
Sweden
Thailand
Mexico
Costa Rica
Canada
(and likely many more, but these are the ones I can vouch for)
Japan is sidewalk use country, especially Tokyo. Other Asain countries, yes, variable. Even where streets are to be used, depending on enforcement, sidewalks get used.
I am not truly rabidly anti-bike, just anti-gridlock on Broadway by crippling a street that works by narrowing it. Three objections to bike use: sweat, safety, weather. The majority are not going to go to their office in professional or workplace in work clothes all sweated up! San Antonio’s HILLS AND HEAT do not make it prime use case for bikes. Let’s accomodate bikes but *not* inconvenience motorists or jam them up for the vast minority of bikers. San Antonio is not relatively mild Northern Europe. And we don’t want China’s problem with bikes. Just google bike share and China and see what’s going on. We already see the nuisance of scooters.
cars are the most inefficient mode of transportation we have / a 4,000 pound vehicle carrying a 180 pound person to a (usually) predetermined destination exhausting poison gas into the air we breathe all along the way – and then the parking / cars should be disincentivized in urban areas and alternative transportation prioritized whether it’s bicycles, walking, scooters or whatever comes next. Broadway is no longer a transportation corridor like it was before 281 was built, Broadway is a destination where people go to do business, eat, play, hang out and it should be built for people not cars. It is the premier boulevard of our fair city – bookstores, parks, museums, the Pearl, a university, so many restaurants and cafes, such a diversity of people. Before the Europeans arrived and started developing everything it was a footpath between the headwaters where a thousand springs flowed and the rich alluvial valley downstream where the river horseshoed and San Pedro creek drew near. That pathway meandered thru a truly enchanting and beautiful river valley. The natives called it Yanaguana, peaceful waters or spirit waters. The Riverwalk, the convention center and the 26 million people a year that visit are part of that ancient heritage and Broadway should be an expression of that heritage. For the native people this place was a sacred site and a pilgrimage destination. For many thousands of years they came here in reverence and awe and gratitude for the bounty that Mother Nature offered them. The springs and it’s surrounded marsh and the gentle river valley were full of life, not to mention wood, chert and river reeds. Let’s not forget the story of our past as we build our city of the future or we’ll make a mess of it.
Truly, very wonderfully worded and great description!! I live right off Broadway. I would like to use 281 more but Hildebrand is becoming a problem waiting to get on. Once on 281, IT is often jammed – north or south!! I find it easier to just go down Broadway to go to downtown or Southtown for dinner. Broadway is a relief valve for those in the know. Broadway to the airport and back is AMAZING, comfortable and convenient. Living off Broadway is GREAT. LETS NOT CONGEST IT BY NARROWING LANES.
as long as we prioritize car transportation there’s going to be congestion / we need to think different not just what’s the most convenient and familiar way to get from point A to point B / it’s a cultural change but if we’re talking about being a progressive modern city then we need to tackle this issue / in mexico city you can only drive your car on alternate days / in peking they wear air filters on their face / new delhi is off the charts / how are we going to accommodate a million more people if they’re all driving their cars ??
Mr. Andorra,
To be honest, I like your approach of reinventing the alternative (to cars) modes in San Antonio based on our unique circumstances like heat, distances etc.. Let’s imagine, for the sake of this conversation, Broadway is dedicated to cars only with a small sidewalk. In other words, let’s imagine cars will be utilizing Broadway to the max. Do you think it will solve the problem of congestion when that area, in and around downtown towards Pearl, is fully developed with high-rise condos, offices and commercial activities? Is there any other community on earth solved the problem of congestion in the long-run by adding travel lanes while its population is increasing?
I think time has come for us to readjust our approach for our urban transportation. I strongly believe prioritizing cars on Broadway will not make us any better. We have to find ways to accommodate and prioritize other options in urban areas and Broadway should be the starting project.
Thank you.
i totally agree with you / cars are the past / we’re trying to move forward isn’t that what the vision 2020 and vision 2040 and sa tomorrow is all about ?? cars are the most inefficient mode of transportation we have – a 4,000 pound vehicle carrying a 180 pound person to a (usually) predetermined destination exhausting poison gas into the air all along the way – and then the parking !! we need look at our lovely cars in a realistic way / in reality they are one of the biggest problems we have in terms of building a livable healthy city but we’re addicted to them so nobody really wants to point out the harsh truth
Coma, you are correct and I can’t actually disagree with you and be intellectually honest. Any “too-large” population at any future point in time, will make all roadways untenable anywhere – independent of vehicle type. Here’s where we need to understand the economy of Broadway: it depends on automobile traffic from all areas of Bexar county and far beyond. People who live miles away from Broadway have to drive cars to get there! Only close-in persons like myself who live within a short distance of Broadway will be able to effectively use Broadway with the plethora of emerging low kw alternative modes, if we make a protected lane for these low KW vehicles. But listen, if I start out my day on an ebike, from Hildebrand and go to Houston street via Broadway, but then need to continue to go on to Floresville to see my sister, I am just going to start out with and take my Toyota in the first place! I’m not going to go back home to switch out vehicles. Likewise my relatives coming to visit from Floresville or Houston are going to use their Chevy to get to me, not an ebike! Yes someday Broadway will be congested, but not before it’s time please by reducing lanes for pedal-bikes only?? Let include scooters, ebikes, rickshaws and everything else too. Now let’s go to a BUSY CITY AND A BUSY DISTRICT: Ginza, Tokyo. Every weekend and holiday the streetS are converted to NO CARS during the day for pedestrians. Broadway is as wide as these Ginza avenues. We could do a hybrid on Broadway, to include bikes, etc., in effect, a cyclovia every weekend. Wow. But how would people get to Broadway? Subways bring the people in, in Tokyo, and business just booms in these pedestrian zones.
https://blog.gaijinpot.com/tokyos-pedestrians-paradise/
I suppose people could Uber up to near Broadway. Then get an ebike, or whatever at designated areas. Tokyo has more cars per square Km than anywhere last time I looked. It’s all cars M-F though, in the Ginza, but weekends it’s a whole different experience. Alternatively, we could make a full-time protected and exclusive center lane (yes reduce an automobile lane) down Broadway for just ebikes, scooters, pedal bikes, hover-boards, whatever, and see what happens over two years… if it booms, keep it. If we don’t like it, deconstruct it – and go back to what we got. In essence, experiment. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The only bicyclists I see on Broadway are the people that ride bicycles for recreational purposes, not for means of transportation or taking a bike stroll to downtown. We shouldn’t have to bend over backwards for bicyclist that use a busy street like Broadway and add bike lanes just for their workout purposes, that’s why we have bike trails at parks.
Yes – EXACTLY!
not true / i ride broadway every day for shopping and commuting and meet others who are doing the same / one guy i met at the light at hildebrand told me he’s been riding for 20 years doesn’t have a car been knocked down 7 or 8 times (was missing a few front teeth) and used broadway as his main bicycle thoroughfare
Broadway is just a dangerous and unpleasant place to cycle. Cyclists who know that part of town bike on Ave. B– a safe, smooth, low-and-slow traffic route I’ve never understood why people cycle on Broadway.. dodging buses, drainage grates, cars turning into and out of businesses, the 45 mph traffic, etc.
Thanks for the update on the Broadway plan. It is certainly an improvement. If dedicated lanes won’t be provided throughout the roadway, great care should be given to transitions. The road user on a bike or scooter should have intuitive, seamless and quick access to the route they should go to when the lanes disappear. The example of the bike lane transition at Newell and Broadway is a great example of what NOT to do. I’m actually not sure that there are any adequate design in San Antonio for this, probably a good time to go look at what other cities have done.
I say elmininate a travel lane and put in a protected bike lane – stop prioritizing cars over people waking and biking! Other great cities do it all the time.
According to this story, the city of San Antonio should just admit that it’s not interested in #VisionZero, in any future of meeting the EPA clean air requirements, or attracting the tech jobs it claims it wants to attract. For if it did, we would see a Broadway that had a protected bicycle lane from Houston to Hildebrand and there’s plenty of room for a 12ft Protected Bicycle Lane and on street parking.
Some people like to tell me that those naysayers to protected bicycle lanes will wake up when the federal government decides that we aren’t deserving of federal transportation funds for not being in EPA compliance, but I doubt it. They’ll never believe Wired Magazine when they say that making cars move faster at the expense of other transportation options (think bikes) don’t clean up the air.
Mr. Luevano, your idea to make Broadway one-way southbound at Cunningham (and Alamo northbound from the Alamo) makes so much sense that I wonder whether some powerful interest is opposed? Traffic into downtown would improve with Broadway running one-way, even with a nice bike lane. Once Alamo Plaza is closed, northbound traffic on Alamo from downtown should diminish in any event as through traffic will be cut-off. The city could improve access from downtown onto 281 north at McCullough to take more of the load of anyone heading from downtown to Hildebrand and beyond. Then Broadway and Alamo could be complete streets with walkable sidewalks and protected bike lanes, maybe someday feeding into a pedestrian-friendly downtown.
I must say, my bad, I did not catch the point about southbound only from Cunningham… so this has “some” merit. However logjams at Casa Blanca, Grayson, Josephine streets travel north on N. Alamo street if this is done. And with SAISD, and large commercial development at N. Alamo and Grayson, whew! Not sure this dog will hunt…
Density may increase traffic, but my thinking is that the traffic on N. Alamo would be largely local — to points south of Hildebrand. People heading north of Hildebrand would take 281, and anyone on the west side of downtown would take San Pedro or other northbound arteries. People traveling/living between downtown and Hildebrand along Broadway and N. Alamo are the very people most likely to use bike lanes, scooters or buses, potentially reducing the current logjams on these streets.
Generally agree. But don’t underestimate Broadway as the defacto relief valve for 281 – both directions! I use Broadway to AVOID the jam on 281 during certain times of the day. And I do think the casa Blanca, Josephine, Grayson crossings are untenable…
Really!? Avenue B Street is almost always vacant, Alamo St. at E. Jones is almost always vacant, Avenue B is again vacant from E. Josephine, then turns into a bike trail all the way up to the Witte Museum, that only leaves about a half mile to Hildebrand, where a bike lane, totally away from Broadway can be constructed through Brackenridge Park, which could probably continue on through Incarnate Word U, then onto to Olmos Basin Park, etc. etc! Is Broadway being used as an example as to why the city doesn’t need protected bike lanes!? We’re only shooting ourselves in the foot, if bike lanes are added to Broadway, that’s all commuters will see, congested roads due to bike lanes! Horrible horrible optics! Who the hell is running these city departments!? Good gosh no wonder some people have less than a positive impression of our city! I’m beginning to conclude that the city is being run by people who fear losing their jobs. Being run by “yes Sir, yes Ma’am” people. Where is the creativity, imagination!? San Antonio leaders need to to start shaking things up, WITH TANGIBLE RESULTS! Theatrics like this have no place for a “City on the Rise.” If the city can’t find competent staffers, then San Antonio has extremely serious issues. Cut the BS, and get serious!
Agree that Ave. B should be designated as a pteferted bike route.. i tegularly take it from Tobin Center to The Witte/Nrackenridge Park.. then on to The Quarry, Airport area. Focus should be on insuring that the on-going developments along Ave. B do not make it less safe and pleasant for cyclists. The solution is so simple.. why do people have to make it so complicated??
Rogelio, we mean untenable for northbound vehicular traffic, not bikes per se. We were talking about making Broadway south of Cunningham a south bound street and N. Alamo a northbound street. I think I agree with you we should not take away lanes for bikes only – that’s why we paid for Ave B bike only…
Why does the email address for Richard not work?
I work on Broadway near the Pearl. I have seen traffic increase over the past few years as more businesses have opened in the area. Right now there are four major projects under construction that will bring several hundred more people to this area. Will they be riding bikes to work? A few maybe but the majority of people will be using a car. I know we want to be a cutting edge city but Broadway is not wide enough for both bike lanes and cars. Putting in bike lanes in this area will be a traffic nightmare. It will endanger bike riders and cars. Avenue B is where the bike riders should be riding, not Broadway. The city needs to rethink their planning of this. On another subject related to bike lanes. I live off of Powhatan St. on the north west side off of IH-10. A few years ago the city put in bike lanes all along Powhatan. I have lived in that neighborhood for 30 years and I have never seen anyone ride a bike down that street. I have to ask why our taxpayer money went to that project? That was Ron Nirenberg’s district.
Broadway is just a dangerous and unpleasant place to cycle. Cyclists who know that part of town bike on Ave. B, which is ALREADY a safe, smooth, pleasant, low-and-slow traffic route that parallels Broadway. North Alamo can be another alternate bike route.
I’ve never understood why people cycle on Broadway.. dodging buses, drainage grates, cars turning into and out of businesses, etc.
Instead of spending to put bike lanes on Broadway, the focus should be on insuring that Ave. B REMAINS a safe bike route. Leave Broadway for the trucks, cars and 45 mph traffic.