Richardson Rider Commutes To Work
Image From Suburban Shift
I love reading stories about Richardson folks commuting to work. It’s good to know that the bike friendly efforts of our city are being utilized by its residents.
Bob, a guest writer for BFR, has an amazing blog about sustainability while living in the suburbs called Suburban Shift.
Suburban Shift covers stuff like organic gardening, bike commuting, home energy efficiency, alternative transportation, alternative energy, minimalism, simplicity, recycling and personal finance. It inspires me to become more responsible with my life and the world I live in – even from my little corner.
Today, Bob wrote about returning to his bike commute routine. Here’s a snippet from his post that made me smile:
That’s right folks. North Dallas Suburbs are making bicycle progress, and I’m tremendously proud that my town of Richardson is really leading the way. The bike trail system in Richardson will be one of the city’s nicest and most useful amentities. Read more.
As you can see, Bob is also a big fan of what’s going on with Richardson biking. We love the city’s momentum and want to see it continue – making Richardson a truly bike friendly city.
If you have a bike commute story to tell, please contact us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you and share it with other riders.
Bike Friendly Richardson 
Adam – here is my route. I live at Waterview and Arapaho.
I ride up Westshore to Campbell Rd.
Cross Campbell, get on bike trail, ride east then north around UTD.
Turn right on Lookout, take lookout to Custer.
Get on the northbound Custer bike lane. Ride up to Renner.
East on Renner bike trial to Alma.
North on Alma, on the street. Very little Northbound traffic in the morning.
Up to Plano Parkway. At Plano Parkway, I stay in the lane (I take the right lane the whole way), and cross into the Mall parking lot.
Go East and North around parking lot ring-road, then to into the parking lot of one of the strip malls on the east side of the mall. Through the parking lot to 15th.
Take the lane, eastbound, on 15th, cross into downtown Plano. Up to city hall. I’m then at work.
Same in reverse going home, except I don’t get on the street on Alma southbound — it is like a freeway in the afternoon. I go south, on the northbound sidewalk, cross under the tollway, and get on the wide sidewalk next to the T.I. plant, back down to the Renner bike trail.
I like the bike lanes, but they rarely go my direction, shameful since they are nice and wide. Further, I enjoy the lack of potholes, tire hazards and lack of junk in them. Riding the streets are not too bad, I follow a couple of rules:
1. Avoid streets where the speed limit is over 35 during rush hour or when traffic is heavy.
2. Avoid streets with more than 2 lanes in one direction.
3. Avoid malls or mall like objects, people lose their mind around them.
These are nice streets to ride around here and all the new master plans can make it great.
I bike to work a couple of times a week (depending on how much I have to take and weather). From Beltline and Lois Lane, I go south through the neighborhood to Spring Valley, over to Abrams, and south on Abrams to Richland College. The neighborhood is perfect and relaxed, Spring Valley’s ok, and Abrams is fine (though pretty trafficky).
I could take the bike lanes on Grove, but they take me a little out of the way and only let me skip the neighborhood ride (which is the most pleasant part).
I think Greenville should have bike lanes between Brick Row (Spring Valley) all the way up to the bike trail just south of Post East side. This would also tie in to the Grove lanes and the Arapaho DART.
Alternatively, leave Greenville alone and make Spring Valley more bike friendly (traffic calming – maybe bike lanes) between Greenville and Grove. Most of the motor traffic is on Centennial anyway.