Living in San Antonio, there are many parts of town that have high quality access to grocery stores. Within 410, the Alamo Quarry Market is home to two great grocery stores: Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes. Recently I decided to take an adventure and expand our biking with our toddler to include grocery shopping.
The Question:
Is biking to the Quarry feasible with a toddler?
If the ride was feasible, then we could start regularly biking to go grocery shopping and benefit from:
- enjoying the outdoors to a greater degree;
- saving money on gas;
- getting more exercise; and
- engaging in additional conversations with our little one, as we discuss everything around us.
The First Half of the Ride to Trader Joes Was Great
I find that riding with a toddler involves a lot of decisions. Which roads are the least crowded? Which roads might have the best potential for construction and animals? Riding from our home in Beacon Hill, there are also decisions I have to make as the one powering bike — which is weighed down by a growing toddler. So how can I get there without too many hills?
We meandered through Beacon Hill along Breeden to Summit, across into Monte Vista. This path allowed us to avoid too many grand hills — which is important since I am limited to seven gears on my bike. It turned out that Howard Street, between San Antonio College and Hildebrand Avenue, had a proliferation of great views, including construction vehicles, people mowing their laws, large gardens of cactus, and squirrels and birds. Very entertaining for Rizo, who sits in a seat mounted to the front of my bike.
Crossing over Hildebrand, we traveled along McCullough Street having a great view of locally owned stores. Most of that area is highly regulated at 30 miles per hour which meant that when drivers passed us, it was at a fairly low speed. On a related note: Olmos Park has been sung about by a Texas musician who is known for performing in San Antonio.
Even people near the roundabout were very helpful, acknowledging our presence and allowing us to proceed in the center of the lane as there is no room for cars to go around a bike within the roundabout).
The Second Half of the Ride was Treacherous
After crossing the railroad tracks in Olmos Park, the speed limit goes up and suddenly drivers become a bit more aggressive as they get ready to merge onto Basse Street. There are parts of this later section of McCullough that have a sidewalk — which can become an alternate route for bikes when the road is too dangerous. Bikes can even be walked along the sidewalk, but it abruptly ends within a couple feet on Basse. While there are two lanes on Basse in each direction, the speed limit increases and some cars merge onto Highway 281, which was the part of the trip that felt the most treacherous. There was neither a place to safely stop and wait for cars to merge onto 281 nor a crosswalk for us to use. For instance, these amenities exist at 410 and San Pedro Avenue.
We did, however, manage through Basse without any extreme problems. It took a huge amount of concentration and hyper-awareness to ensure that I was making eye-contact with drivers who might come into our lane. Drivers didn’t honk at us, but it felt like we were unexpected and unwanted visitors on the roadway.
Once inside Quarry Village, a great sense of relief cascaded over us, as our son could see Trader Joes and shrieked in delight. I slowed down to ride with traffic through the parking lot.
As cars circled around looking for parking spaces, we could ride straight up to the grocery store and park. Although there are no bike racks currently available, after talking with some people at Trader Joes, they were very excited about the possibility of covered bike parking along the side of the building.
The Answer to the Question
Riding to go grocery shopping at the Quarry is feasible, however, because of its current treacherous nature, I would not recommend it for high traffic times of the day. We took our ride in the early afternoon during the week, when many people had already finished lunch and were back at work.
Two Simple Solutions to Encourage Bikers (and Pedestrians) to Visit the Quarry
- Create a bike lane along Basse between McCullough and the Quarry — or ideally all the way up to Broadway to encourage shopping and use of the entire corridor. A protected, seperated lane would allow some additional safety between high-speed vehicles and bicyclists. Bike lanes can be created in a variety of ways, such as having bikes go only on one side of the street or cyclists to go with the traffic on each side of the road.
- Add a protected left-hand turn signal at each of the highway exits for those leaving Quarry Village onto Basse. This would streamline both car and bicycle traffic. An extraordinary example of a variety of ways this could be achieved focuses on protected intersections.
Imagine the impact of improving the Basse corridor, connecting living, work, and shopping, and energizing the city in progressing towards the community goals for SA2020. Ultimately, a great thing about these potential solutions is that we have organizations and people in our city who are experts in figuring out how to make cycling fun and safe.
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Hi Anna, here is an alternate route to keep you off McCollough and Basse. Two blocks south of Hildebrand (in Monte Vista), go east on Rosewood, crossing McCollough, and go to Shook. Left on Shook and, crossing Hildebrand, take the half right onto whatever that street name is. Then take the first left and continue on to Olmos Dr. Left on Olmos to the first right onto Contour. Take Contour to Dick Fredrich (about 0.25 mi) and turn right. This will take you down into Olmos basin , passing under 281. Just past 281 there is a parking lot to your left. Go into there and you will see a pedestrian bridge into the park ahead and to your left. Go through the park and, when come out, go left to the Quarry. This last stretch to the Quarry has the least bike friendly features of the ride. There is a narrow, short (30 ft) bridge with no shoulder. Afterwards there is a shoulder to ride on. The hill climb at the end, to cross Basse into the Quarry may challenge you to get started from a standing stop but it is the same hill you would climb if turning left off Basse. This segment is 90% through residential areas and much more pleasant than the route you took. Ride safe!
Great point JimS about taking a slightly different route. An additional benefit of that route is the incredibly beauty. The only part that’s still missing is making Basse a bit (or a lot) more bike/pedestrian friendly. Turning right onto Basse to get to Quarry Village could be addressed in a very simple way. So here’s hoping that a bike lane will be added!
Anna, thanks for sharing your riding experience. I hope Councilman Bernal reads this story too!
Absolutely Patricia! Councilman Bernal is a great supporter of this type of progress and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can make happen.
Protected bike lanes seem to be the best option. I wish there would be more awareness and respect for those using bicycles but the creation of that would take time and a considerable cultural shift.
I cannot think of a more valuable infrastructure investment than a city increasing access and safety to pedestrians and cyclers, not to mention the health benefits created by encouraging such. There has been much discussion on this forum about what San Antonio must do to attract and retain young professionals. Continued efforts to expand the trail system, bicycle lanes/paths, pedestrian walkways and effective public transportation all contribute to enhancing the attractiveness of the city.
Ed, you make really great points about the valuable infrastructure investment and the ways in which it relates directly to improved health. Have you heard any discussion about converting rails to bike/pedestrian trails, which could create both a transportation avenue and also a recreational path through the city?
Anna:
I am familiar with the Rails to Trails project:
http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html
Not sure where we stand on that locally.
Certainly, the concept creates mixed feelings as I feel that railroad is a neglected form of public transportation that should be expanded.
Suburbantonio.
JimS beat me to the punch. I was thinking of a slightly different alternative route, so there’s more than one. Riding through the Olmos basin isn’t nearly as traumatic as McCullough up to Basse. However, there’s no avoid that nasty final stretch in the Quarry area. And folks along that part don’t seem to care the least about bicycles!
You hit the nail on the head Page with that description of the final stretch to the Quarry! Here’s looking to some change. Even a Kickstarter project (if we had to) to create (protected) bike lanes on Basse!
*cough*cough* http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/bicyclings-top-50
No. That list is just plain wrong!
How could San Antonio with its wonderful bicycle pathways….the beautiful loop around the missions starting at the Blue Star Brewery and loops at most city parks not be in the top 50 cities? I lived in Seattle for 13 years before moving to San Antonio. The streets up there are narrow, wet, slippery and dangerous to cyclists yet it is near the top of the list?
Yes, Seattle has the “cool factor” as a tech city but it is not just all about image.
Looking forward to changing along this route
Anna, I LOVE this series. I’m not a bike rider but your thorough discussions of your biking adventures with your son make me very curious about using that mode of transportation. I find your courage to bike just about anywhere inspiring!
Thanks so much Colleen! It is an incredibly liberating, fun, enjoyable, and even thought provoking mode of transport. Let me know if you’d like to try out a ride sometime!
This is an old thread, but I just saw it today.
I often bike from southtown/Blue Star neighborhood to the Quarry, and it is a fairly bike-friendly route. I sure don’t like to bike on streets like McCullough or Basse.
My route:
Through La Villita on Presa, then north on Jefferson past the Auditorium (Tobin Center).
After the First Baptist Church, cut over to Ave. B.
Where Ave. B ends at the dog park, make the jog past the Pig Stand, then back to Ave. B past the Pearl.
From Josephine, continue on Ave. B (which is perpetually torn up, but there is a sidewalk), continue through the Lion’s Field on the bike path, then at the Kiddie Park, you can either continue to Tuleta (at the Witte), or from Mulberry you can wind through the various paths through the woods.
Cross the river at the pedestrian bridge which is just below the entrance to the zoo.
Continue NorthEast on Tuleta toward Trinity University. This part is steep, and I always have to push my bike up the hill (Trinity campus is a nice leafy place to rest in the shade by the fountains near the tower).
Turn right (uphill again) on Devine. Devine is a very smooth road, and has fairly wide shoulders, so I think it feels quite safe for biking. It’s a bit up and down, so if you aren’t in a big hurry, you can just push the bike up the steepest hills.
Continue on Devine into the Olmos Basin, past the soccer fields and picnic area. Shady picnic area with toilets and drinking fountains. On weekends there are kids’ soccer and softball games going on. It becomes Jones-Maltsberger, which goes all the way to the Quarry.
Don’t take the Basin route if it is raining very much, because there can be more than 2 feet of water on that road.
If you are starting from SAC, Beacon Hill or Tobin Hill, take Dewey > Josephine > Ave. B., etc.
I heard they are starting work on a hike/bike path from the Olmos Basin along Jones-Maltsberger to the Quarry. That will be a big improvement because the last section before the Quarry is not quite wide enough as it is.
There is a bike lane on Broadway, but it’s SO much more pleasant to bike on Ave. B