The city of Austin presented major updates to its Bicycle Plan through its “Walk Bike Roll” initiative to a joint meeting of the city’s bicycle and pedestrian advisory councils on Feb. 6.

The Bicycle Plan updates as well as updates to sidewalk and urban trails plans through ATX Walk Bike Roll are now open for comment on the city’s website.

In 2014, Austin released plans for a 215-mile network of protected bicycle lanes through the city as part of an effort to boost ridership. The “All Ages and Abilities Network” was designed to be safe and intuitive enough for children and those with disabilities. The city was 60% complete with construction of the AAA Network by the end of 2022.

Changes included in ATX Walk Bike Roll for 2023 build on top of the AAA Network with greater emphasis on routes that connect neighborhoods, nature and city-wide destinations. The plans also seeks to boost connections to buses and light rail, and places greater emphasis on addressing the affordability crisis and displacement in Austin.

The current infrastructure for cycling has come under scrutiny. KXAN reported that an unidentified cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run at the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Rutland Drive in February 

Sean Moothart, an Austin resident who regularly rides on the AAA Network, said that sometimes he feels uncomfortable riding in certain place in Austin.

“I was actually involved in a bike wreck about a month and a half ago where a truck hit me in my bike lane, and I am pretty self-aware of my surroundings,” he said.

“I can only control myself and even that didn't work. I would be really afraid of, you know, all it takes is the kid to swerve out into traffic a little bit,” Moothart said.

John Morton, another cyclist, rides on the Veloway, a recreational bike track in Austin.

“Cycling on the roads and Austin is basically insane. And I don't do it anymore,” he said. “I mean, the young guys still do it. But I think they're crazy,” Morton said.

Chris Riley, Co-founder of Safe Streets Austin, said situations in which people are exposed to high-speed, high-volume car traffic tend to make them feel unsafe.

“Ideally, you'd have greenery, or concrete or something fixed to provide physical protection from the car traffic,” Riley said.

Safe Streets Austin bills itself as a grassroots movement dedicated to making Austin a safer and more convenient place for cyclists and pedestrians. Riley was appreciative of the progress Austin has made in building bike infrastructure but emphasized that more needs to be done.

“The network that we envision is really up around 1,200 miles so it's really going to be a very long-term effort,”

Leslie Case is the chair of the Bicycle Advisory Council, an elected body that issues recommendations and commendations for cycling infrastructure projects in Austin. The council has reviewed the 2023 updates to the AAA Network as a part of Walk Bike Roll. Case acknowledged some of the current problems with the AAA Network.

“I think it's definitely a work in progress” Case said. “There are places in Austin, for instance, where bicycle bike infrastructure just abruptly ends. Most specifically between 25th and 29th (Street) on the Drag over by Dirty’s.”

Austin Active Transportation and Street Design Division Manager Laura Dierenfield, who works with the council, also acknowledged some of the challenges the city has faced.

“We’re definitely a Southern Sun Belt city built on sprawl,” she said. “It’s very difficult. We’re in a retrofit environment.”

“The uninitiated or the unconvinced were wondering why are you building a bike lane from here to here, when it connects to nothing, and it's like, well, you got to start somewhere.” Dierenfield said. “We can deliver a project at a tenth of the cost of a standalone project where we can follow our colleagues in street and bridge (operations).”

With regards to equity, Dierenfield said the city has found that portions of the “eastern crescent” of Austin suffer higher crashes for pedestrians, and that Austin is seeking to prioritize investments in these areas going forward.

“It's not as if we only build bikeways in vulnerable areas. We need to think about how vulnerable people who live there get to their basic needs,” she said.

The 2023 updates to the bike plan seek to correct these sorts of imbalances for cycling.

“It is, in my opinion, very well intentioned, particularly with regard to addressing equity,” Case said.

“We still have a long way to go to be a to be a city that is as multimodal as we want to be,” Riley said.

Riley also spoke highly of the city’s responsiveness to Safe Streets Austin’s feedback. 

“They are very receptive to input,” Riley said. “We are very fortunate to have very competent and skilled planners working on these bicycle and pedestrian facilities.”