Bike lanes along Avenue B and North Alamo Street, part of the 2017 municipal bond, are expected to fully open this summer after a few delays and design changes, city officials said.
The $6 million project started nearly two years ago created a two-way bike corridor, known as a cycle track, that runs next to car traffic on Avenue B and connects to North Alamo Street via McCullough Avenue. It involved changing Avenue B from a two-way street to a one-way southbound street to accommodate the protected bike lanes and reducing traffic lanes on McCullough between Broadway and North Alamo.
Business owners in the area requested wider sidewalks, larger trees, and electrical conduit to be included along Avenue B.
The Avenue B bike lanes have been open to cyclists for several months, but as of early July work on the three blocks of Alamo Street lanes was continuing. No specific date for completion was given but the city said the lanes will be finished later this summer.
In early March, the city scheduled a press conference to mark the opening of the bike lanes but quickly canceled it because they hadn’t been completed. The city needed to re-stripe the new lanes but had trouble doing so due to frequent rain during the spring, according to Brian Chasnoff, assistant director for the city’s Communications and Engagement Department.
On McCullough Avenue, the original design of the lanes included planters between the bike lanes and traffic lanes for the protection of bicyclists. However, the planters proved to be inconvenient for business deliveries, so the contractor for the project is awaiting new dividers and bollards as replacements for the planters. At the same time, the contractor is working on finalizing striping and signage in some areas.
As part of the 2017 bond, voters approved money for a reimagined Broadway corridor complete with curbs, sidewalks, trees, bicycle amenities and lighting, among other improvements from East Houston Street to East Hildebrand Avenue.
In 2019, City Council agreed to use $6 million in special area tax revenues to fund protected bike lanes on Avenue B and North Alamo Street instead of having them on a one-mile portion of Broadway. Construction of the lanes was started in August 2021.
Jeff Moore, founder of SATX Social Ride, which organizes group bike rides, likes the design and safety of the Avenue B and North Alamo bike lanes but says they’re not really geared toward commuting cyclists.
“I see it as it’s been put there, more than anything, for tourists mainly,” Moore said. “Not so much for San Antonio cyclists or commuters who are traversing the city.”
Rather than Avenue B and North Alamo, protected bike lanes are “needed most where the cyclists are” — on streets such as St. Mary’s Street and lower Broadway, he said.
Bryan Martin, a leader in the group Bike San Antonio, helped push the city for bike lanes on Broadway Street in hopes of creating a commuter route downtown from the city’s North Side.
“As much as I want to applaud the city for making efforts … it’s not really what we asked for,” he said.
Martin continues to bike downtown alongside regular traffic on Broadway from his home on the northeast side of the city. “It’s not going to help any real commuters,” he said.
San Antonio, which landed at No. 152 among 163 large U.S. cities in a recent ranking of bikeable cities, is updating its master plan for improved bike infrastructure. On Monday, the city launched a community survey to get residents’ input on how to make biking safer and where better facilities like bike lanes are needed.
Government and Politics Reporter Andrea Drusch contributed to this report.
