kf5nd
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Why not a Grand Parkway bike path? - 2008/01/14 01:03
There has emerged a new precedent for highway projects that I would like the planners of the Grand Parkway to pay close attention to.
That new precedent is the fact that a bi-directional, ten foot wide (plus buffer on each side) bike path is planned to be built as part of the Harris County Toll Road Authority-tolled Hempstead Highway corridor project. And no, the sky has not fallen, the stars have not ceased to shine, and it has not rained frogs as a result.
The cycling community and those interested in sustainable development are, frankly, thrilled about it.
If it is possible for Hempstead Highway, why not for Segment E? Segment E's frontage roads are going to be covered with retail and workplace destinations, and there will be new residential subdivisions in the area, served by east-west roads which are now known as bikeways; the official one is FM529, others not officially designated but de facto bikeways nonetheless are Longenbaugh, Sharp, House-Hahl, Stockdick School, Clay, Morton, and Franz. I have bicycled on all of these roads. In fact, I bicycle on Clay as part of my route to work.
Adding a north-south bikeway as part of Segment E which connects to east-west bikeways would be a powerful adjunct transportation mode. This would be a "spine plus ribs" bike grid.
This area has serious problems with ozone non-attainment, greenhouse gas emissions (just wait until the next U.S. President takes office; there will be a carbon restricting treaty for us to obey), bike/ped-unfriendly sprawl, and obesity. A Segment E bikeway, consuming only an additional 15' of ROW, and requiring a very lightly-constructed pavement surface, which could be integrated into an attractively landscaped greenbelt could be part of the environmental "give-back" or mitigation for this project, which might make it politically acceptable to those who would otherwise oppose it on environmental grounds.
Post edited by: kf5nd, at: 2008/01/14 10:04
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