Richardson City Staff Presents Bike Plan To City Council
On Monday, April 20, 2015 Richardson City Staff presented their Bike Plan to Richardson City Council. The presentation was a combination recap of what they’ve done, as well as their next steps.
It was nice to see how important bicycling is to our city officials and how they continue to see the value of what it brings to our community. It was also nice to see that our little grassroots, advocacy group has been recognized—not only for what we’ve done, but also as a partner moving forward.
You can catch the presentation, online. Click the link below and go to Item D in the list:
http://richardsontx.swagit.com/play/04202015-1034
The video shows Michael Spicer, Director of Development Services and Lori Smeby, Director of Parks and Recreation. Dave Carter, Asst. Director of Development Services, Transportation and Traffic – who helped put it together – was there as well.
The were lots of people who were engaged in the conversation, but we really appreciate our City Council’s positive reception of the Bike Plan and their enthusiastic support of cycling in Richardson. Thank you Laura Gibbs Maczka, Bob Townsend, Mark Solomon, Scott Dunn, Kendal Hartley, Paul Voelker and Steve Mitchell.
This is a great opportunity to have a voice for all people who ride bikes. We should work to build our community as a diverse group with a broad perspective. If you have any friends or neighbors who are interested but concerned about cycling, please invite them to join our Facebook page, engage our City and be part of the conversation.
This is an exciting time to live in our city and we look forward to the next steps.
Our First Trail Cleanup Day Was A Success
My Trail Cleanup Rig
Richardson continues to impress us with their network of great bike and pedestrian access routes throughout the city. As part of that, we have some really nice multi-purpose trails. However, over time and through excessive usage, they have’ve gotten covered in litter, animal waste and broken glass. Instead of complaining about the mess, Bike Friendly Richardson decided to take the maintenance and care of our trail network into our own hands.
My Bike with Howard and His Goat, Billy
We scheduled our first, hopefully of many, Trail Clean Up Days. Given such short notice, and everybody’s busy schedules, our first turnout wasn’t that great. We did get a few volunteers from all around the city, as well as somebody from our neighboring city, Plano. The plan was to try and fill as many trash bags (provided by the city) as possible in two hours.
Overall, we were pretty successful in filling 8-10 bags—not bad for a small group of people. Think about what we could have accomplished with more volunteers. There was still a lot more trash on the trail that we couldn’t get to. Perhaps we’ll get it all the next time.
Our goal is to do this more often than not—hopefully in other parts of the city as well. We only hope is that we’ve inspired other people to get out there and care for the public areas near them. This is our city, and we need to take responsibility for it.
Getting The Trash Beyond The Trail
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ATTENTION: MONDAY IS A BIG DAY FOR RICHARDSON CYCLISTS!
There are two big bike events happening on Monday, June 2. Please try to attend either one, or both.
The first is the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the new Central Trail extension in Richardson. It’s a much needed extension of an existing trail, providing some great connections between our local DART rail train stations and neighborhoods. The City of Richardson and Dallas County are hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the trail on June 2.
Here are the details:
Date: Monday, June 2. 2014
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Spring Valley DART Station/Central Trail – Spring Valley Road at Lingco Drive
The next is the Bike Friendly Richardson, Bike Parking Initiative presentation to the Richardson City Council, that evening.
We were asked by City Council member, Scott Dunn, to present information about creating a functional and comprehensive bike parking plan that would benefit, not only cyclists, but local business owners as well as the city. Our new Bike Parking Initiative’s lead, Mark Adams, will present a brief introduction to a bigger plan that will, hopefully, pave the way to a system of well designed and well placed bike racks that will encourage more cycling around town.
Date: Monday, June 2. 2014
Time: 6:00 p.m. – During the City Council Work Session
Location: Richardson City Hall – 411 W Arapaho Rd, Richardson, TX 75083
WE NEED TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT FOR THESE EVENTS! Let’s try to get as many cyclists as possible to the ceremony and council meeting, and show our appreciation and support.
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Central Trail Nearing Completion
According to last week’s city newsletter “Week In Review”, the Central Trail extension is nearing completion:
The expansion of the Central Trail is about 90 percent complete, and the City plans to celebrate its grand opening with a ribbon cutting June 2. The 1.9-mile southern expansion connects the 10-foot wide multiuse trail from the Arapaho Road DART Station to Richardson’s southern city limit. A future connection in the City of Dallas is expected to eventually tie it into the White Rock Creek Trail. The $4.5 million project is funded through Dallas County, $1.4 million from the City of Richardson’s 2010 Bond Program and Regional Tollway Revenue funds.
The City is also working to expand the Central Trail half a mile to the north to Richardson’s northern city limit. The existing trail ends at Renner Road, but the expansion will tie in to the CityLine development and eventually connect to the Plano trail system. The $1.8 million northern expansion is funded through Regional Tollway Revenue and the City’s Tax Increment Finance Zone #2. It is expected to be complete in the summer of 2015 and will allow the trail to run from city limit to city limit.
Watch a City Council work session presentation about progress on the Central Trail at bit.ly/1lDwyxu.
We can’t wait to ride this. It’ll be fantastic once cyclists are able to ride from the north end of town, eventually to the White Rock Creek Trail and into Dallas.
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Come Down For The Owens Trail Celebration
Oncor is just about finished with the Owens Trail beautification project and would like to invite you to their celebration.
From Oncor:
We are looking to get the word out about the celebration to be held on Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to noon that marks the end of the Owens Trail beautification project. There will be free, springtime family-friendly activities centered around the trail and the Oncor Texas Trails project.
As part of the promotion next week, we will be posting an invitation on our newsroom website, TheWire.Oncor.com, and similar messages to our social media networks.
We would love for all neighbors and members of the community to come out and join us!
We are grateful that Oncor has chosen on of our trails as the first in this beautification project, and we hope to see it become available on more of their right-of-ways.
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More Progress On Central Trail South
This section is heading south to Spring Valley Station.
We’ve been following the progress on the Central Trail South (what we are calling the DART Trail section between Arapaho Road and 635 LBJ) and we are seeing some great progress. The last time we checked, the biggest barrier – which was building the trail over some creeks and drainage systems (between Belt Line Road and Spring Valley Road) – was requiring some major, time consuming construction.
From our latest inspection over the past weekend, we discovered that most of that construction is complete. All that remains, of the full trail extension, are just a few small pockets of missing trail, as well as the final, finishing touches. We’re hoping these are finished soon.
This section is covering the new drainage systems.
We’ve also discovered a new addition to the Central Trail south – trail construction NORTH of Arapaho. You may remember us pointing out the ‘gap’ in the original plans for the trail extension, back in 2010. We were concerned that the connection to the south extension was nothing more than a narrow sidewalk. We are glad that this issue was addressed and they are now continuing the wider trail from Arapaho Road, all the way to Arapaho Station. We would love to see that gap eventually connect to the north part of the Central Trail.
This is the new section north of Arapaho Road.
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Landscaping Improvements Are Coming To A Section Of Owens Trail
Here is some great news from this week’s Week In Review newsletter from the City of Richardson:
Council Awards Bid for Oncor Signature Trails Landscape Project
Landscaping improvements are coming to a section of Owens Trail south of Collins Boulevard as part of Oncor’s Texas Trails Program. Oncor, North Texas’ regulated electric transmission and distribution service provider, is providing $250,000 for the project, which will be maintained by the City.
The section of Owens Trail being improved winds past Oncor transmission towers and lies within Oncor’s right of way. The improvements to the Owens Trail are designed to serve as an example of how Oncor can work with community partners to create landscaped trails that do not interfere with transmission lines.
Construction is expected to begin this month and wrap up in April.
On a personal note, this is good news for me. It happens to be in my neighborhood and on one of my usual routes. I can’t wait to see the completed improvements.
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New Pics Of The Central Trail Construction – Buckingham To Spring Valley
The Central Trail, southern extension – from Buckingham to Arapaho – is coming along nicely. The Central Trail goes north and south along the DART rail line which runs through Richardson. It will eventually connect Richardson, Plano and other suburban communities to the various parts of Dallas.
We’ve already posted pics of the ‘northern’ end of this extension that runs from Arapaho to Belt Line. Now, we’re seeing some great progress on the southern end, between Buckingham and Spring Valley. The trail isn’t officially open, so don’t head that way yet.
We’re not there yet. Even when complete, there is still a huge gap between Buckingham and the White Rock Creek Trail. Although more trail is needed to complete the connection, this Central Trail extension takes bicycle trail commuters one step closer. This is something DFW cyclists can get excited about. Here are some pics and observations.
This is the southern most end at Buckingham (facing north):
Here is the Spring Valley End (facing south):
Here is the Spring Valley End (image, not bike, facing north):
Here is the path along Spring Valley, heading to the signal crossing at Business Parkway. When we saw the plans for this, it originally seemed to be pretty narrow. It actually appears to be wider than a standard sidewalk. Without proper marking it may be confused as one.
Here is the trail connection on the north side of Spring Valley. As you can see, this is pretty wide and feels more like a multipurpose trail. This leads right into DART’s Spring Valley Station.
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Richardson City Council Approves Resolution for Work on New Trails
State Farm Campus – Plano Road, just south of the PGB Tollway
From last week’s city newsletter:
The City Council on Monday approved a resolution that advances the development of a trail system near the future State Farm campus and surrounding area. The resolution authorizes BCS West Land Investments to design and construct the trail along Routh Creek Parkway from Renner Road to the nearby DART rail station.
The City has obtained a Regional Toll Revenue grant to fund approximately 80 percent of the trail. Once complete, the trail will tie in to the City’s Central Trail, which will eventually run from north to south across the entire City.
Trail Along Routh Creek Parkway, heading north to Renner Road
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The City of Richardson Talks About Their Trail Expansion
The City of Richardson is starting to realize that they need to really promote their bicycling friendliness. Over the past few years, they’ve made great efforts to improve awareness, expand the trail network and add traffic-calming bike lanes. However, aside from us at BFR and our cycling neighbors, folks in Texas rarely get to hear about it.
It seems like that is starting to change. Here is a video that they produced to promote the expansion of the Central Trail, along the DART rail line.
They are also talking about the expansion on the front page of the city’s monthly newsletter, Richardson Today. Here is a digital copy of that issue, featuring BFR friend and local cyclist, Marshall Hallberg.
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Bike Friendly Richardson 
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