Naked City

Not long after Austin activist Keith Vick was killed last December in a bicycle accident in front of the Travis Co. Courthouse, the City Council considered a proposal to install bike lanes on Guadalupe and Lavaca -- the most direct north-south routes between Downtown and the Drag. This would require removing street parking or an extra lane, and council members requested a feasibility report from city staff. Though a final report hasn't been made public yet, it doesn't look promising for the cyclists.

In a Jan. 28 memo to Council Member Danny Thomas, city transportation director Austan Librach calculated it would cost at least $270,000 to install bike lanes on Guadalupe and Lavaca between Cesar Chavez and MLK -- including an annual $100,000 in lost parking revenue from meters installed on those streets. That cost could grow since the state of Texas owns some of those meters in the Capitol Complex. Librach also cited costs and negative impacts that couldn't be assessed without further study or until the lanes were actually installed, including additional congestion at "nearly all" intersections, and additional air pollution and congestion as people drive around to find parking.

Urban Transportation Commissioner and cycling advocate Tommy Eden says it's "ludicrous" to argue that adding bike lanes will jeopardize air quality. Additional bike lanes might encourage more people to ride their cycles downtown -- a point Eden believes the city didn't consider. With additional study, he suggests, city staff could devise a plan that would take out a few parking spaces where necessary and remove a lane where it's appropriate, without having to completely sacrifice both. In recent weeks, he's collected at least 2,000 signatures from Austinites supportive of the bike-lane plan. "Most people I ask to sign say it's dangerous for bicyclists," Eden says.

The last time the issue appeared before the council, Vick's gruesome death was fresh in everyone's minds, making for particularly emotional discussion -- including a heated personal argument between Eden and Council Member (and cyclist) Daryl Slusher, who concluded that putting lanes on two of Downtown's busiest streets would be too disruptive. Slusher encouraged cyclists to ride on other, safer north-south streets like Nueces; for now, city transportation staff agree. "It's a matter of degree and trade off," says city bicycle and pedestrian program manager Linda DuPriest. On Guadalupe and Lavaca, "will you get enough bicyclists on them so that it displaces traffic? You probably won't."