BYE, BYE BIKE LANES
After a year of fighting for relief, the finish line is in sight for residents of Mallard Lane: The bicycle lanes are being removed.
While neighbors applauded the 4-1 decision by City Council during the Thursday, March 13 meeting, others decried the measure, saying it made the street unsafe or wondered if other roadway projects would be delayed.
The changes to Mallard are part of an overall road-repair package for the city. Completion for all betterments is expected by November.
“I’ve been greatly impacted
“
Spending $237,000 to undo safety features sounds like a huge waste of money.”
— Lisa Drummond.
by the bike lanes. The residents on Mallard Lane have to deal with this every single day,” neighbor Monica Zavala told council members. “No one came knocking on our doors before the decision was made to talk to us about the impact (this) was going to have on the residents.”
Mallard, from Carlos G. Parker Boulevard to North Drive, will undergo micro-surfacing to remove the bicycle lanes and will have the striping reconfigured with parking shoulders on both sides and a center lane instead of a center turn lane.
There will be room for a possible future shareduse path on the north side of the street.
The bicycle lanes, added early last year, eliminated street-side parking. While the bicycling community applauded Taylor’s foray into multi-modal transportation, residents said the inability to park along the curb had a negative impact on their ability to enjoy their properties.
Last June, Zavala reported the lanes were disruptive to daily life, citing that delivery drivers, garbage trucks and mail carriers were having to stop in the driving lane rather than pull off to the side, causing frequent delays and stoppages.
Traffic was often blocked, and without street-side parking, Zavala said residents could not have family gettogethers or graduation parties.
The cost to restripe Mallard will be $237,721.26, due mostly to the cost of removing the existing striping.
While Zavala was happy with the upcoming change, some members of the community asked the council to put the brakes on the project.
“For a City Council that’s supposed to be so fiscally responsible, spending $237,000 to undo safety features sounds like a huge waste of money and also kind of an invitation for liability. Bicycle lanes make roads safer,” Lisa Drummond said.
Justin Irving told council, “I want you to think about the folks that are next on the roadrepair master list that have to wait a little longer because we have to rip out a bike lane.”
Though council members voiced concern over the cost, they voted to approve the change as part of the overall 2024 Street Maintenance Project with Robert Garcia dissenting.
The project contract includes six streets to be repaired, including Mallard. Among the enhancements:
• Bill Pickett Trail, from Parker Boulevard to T.H. Johnson Drive, will be re-striped to have a center line and shoulders on both sides.
• Johnson, from North Drive to Main Street, will receive full-depth reclamation. It will then be re-striped to have shoulders for parallel parking on both sides, with room remaining for a future shared-use path on the north edge. A left-turn land will be added from Main to Pickett.
• West Lake Drive, from Parker to Main, will have full-depth reclamation on some portions and micro-surfacing on parts that are less damaged.
• Second Street, from Park Drive to Doak Street, will have fulldepth reclamation done, as will Fourth Street, east of Gym Street.
The overall construction contract was awarded to Texas Road for $2,658,771.54, the lowest of the five received bids. The highest bid submitted was over $3.5 million.
The winning bid was lower than the $3,150,000 budgeted, which will allow for flexibility in case of unexpected field conditions.
In addition to the construction contract, the council approved a materials engineering and testing contract for $32,065 with Raba Kistner Consultant Inc. This will assure construction materials and installation adhere to specifications, including the concrete compressive strength, officials said.
A third contract on the project for $195,955.00 was awarded to HDR Engineering, Inc. to act as project manager and perform construction administration and inspection.
All contracts are being funded through the 2024 certificate of obligation bond funds.
