New Bike Lanes – North Collins
New Bike Lane On North Collins
These projects are in the Richardson Bike Plan, but you never know when they’ll pop up. It’s always a nice surprise when you take a turn onto a road, only to discover that it’s been turned into a bike lane. North Collins Boulevard is the newest part of a more bike friendly Richardson.
Entrance From The Renner Road Trail
Rider Taking Advantage Of The New Lane
Unfortunately, it doesn’t go very far. Running from the north end of Collins, at Renner Road, the lane goes south until you pass Palisades Creek Drive. From there, it ends and and you get a “Share The Road” sign. According to the Richardson Bike Plan, it is supposed to continue all the way to Campbell Road. We’re not sure why it ends short of that goal or if there are plans to complete it.
Bike Lane Ends
Share The Road From Here
Click here to see a map of completed Richardson bike lanes.
In our opinion, the entire length of Collins Road needs to go on a diet. We wouldn’t mind seeing either bike lanes or sharrows all the way to Garland, on the far east side of Richardson. The Richardson Bike Plan has this route (just south of Campbell Road, all the way to Jupiter Road, where Garland begins) marked as a “signed route”. Although the signs will be nice, we feel that there is missed opportunity to create a more centralized, bike friendly route through the entire length of town, from the east end all the way to the west side (via Melrose Drive).
UPDATE: Video on Suburban Assault.
I found out from a gentleman with the city of Richardson that there will be a bike lane on the Collins bridge over Central and that there will be an actual bike lane on Collins from Greenville (at the base of the bridge) to Plano Rd, slated for 2012.
We discovered this northern-most Collins bike lane about a month ago while taking a Sunday afternoon jaunt around Richardson…. We also wondered why it stopped at the top of the hill, but it at least got us up there… figured they must have run out of paint or something… actually I think that they didn’t want to give the impression that it was done all the way along Collins, particularly south of Campbell, but I don’t know that for a fact…
Ride On!
Howard & Rita Maher
Great news about Collins. 2012 can’t get here soon enough.
I typically don’t ride that part of Collins and was taking a short cut today. I need to keep a closer eye on the other planned lanes. Let me know if you run across any more.
Howard is right. The most recently updated bike plan map (from January 2010) shows Collins as a potential bike route all the way to Plano, I believe. This updated map is not on cor.net, but I can help you get it from the city.
To me, it makes sense to put lanes in at least to Alma Road (which turns into Grove Road and is where the Collins bridge lands on the east side of Central) so that people can get to the DART station from the west.
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I like the signs, because they are visible, give the message, and are EXTREMELY durable. Signs can last 20-30 yrs if not hit/shot at. Street painted sharrows have a high maintenance cost relative to signs because they have to be repainted. I say the signs are a fantastic start, and I used to commute on this low traffic route when Spring Creek was closed with the Routh Parkway construction. Keep in mind that there are some situations where shared lane markings are a better solution than bike lane marking and visa-verse.
I asked Dave Carter about Sharrows as well, and for the same concerns over wear and tear, they are opting for more bike only (or bike and parking space) markings. Anything that shares with cars needs sooner replacement.
I’m already noticing that some of the markings on Grove and Custer are showing signs of wear.