The City of San Antonio announced Tuesday that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has awarded almost $16 million for a cycle track along Market and Commerce streets downtown.
Plans call for one mile of separated bike lanes to be built from Flores Street to Interstate 37, across downtown San Antonio. Construction is expected to start in 2026.
Similar to a conventional bike lane, a cycle track is physically separated through a barrier system from vehicle traffic, parking spaces and sidewalks, and is intended to be used only for bicycles. In San Antonio, electric BCycle bikeshares also would be permitted on the track.
TxDOT made the call for grant applications in November 2022 for “projects that improve safety and mobility for nonmotorized travelers and mitigate congestion,” — less than a year after the Texas Transportation Commission nixed voter-approved lane reductions and protected bike lanes on part of Broadway Street.
The planned route for the downtown 10-foot-wide cycle track will include Dolorosa, Market, Alamo and Commerce streets. The project includes upgrades to traffic signals, signage, and bicycle and pedestrian safety lighting. The project also includes a cycle track further west on Dolorosa and Buena Vista streets from Flores to Frio streets in order to establish a protected east-west bike lane across downtown.
San Antonio was awarded a $15.8 million piece of the total $345 million pie funded to various projects throughout the state. The Federal Transit Administration funds provided through TxDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Set-aside grant program cover the full cost of the project, according to a statement from the City of San Antonio.
“At the City of San Antonio, we actively seek federal and state funding to allow us to take on new projects and further benefit residents,” said Public Works Director Razi Hosseini. From City Hall to the Convention Center, this cycle track will provide a safer experience for all who travel down Market Street and Commerce Street.”
In 2021, the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO) granted $2.8 million for the cycle track project. The city is working with AAMPO and TxDOT to determine how those funds will be used toward the project, said Timothy Hayes, senior engineer for Public Works and project manager for the Market Street cycle track project.
“The genesis of the project goes back as far as the original 2011 bicycle master plan that identified an east-west corridor through downtown,” Hayes said.
But the initial funding from AAMPO was key in getting it started because the metropolitan planning organization is responsible for identifying which projects get funded by TxDOT, said Catherine Hernandez, interim director of the city’s Transportation Department,
“We know that cities have limited funding availability — there’s not a lot of funds that can build all the wants and needs that people have,” she said. “So the [metropolitan planning organizations] help TxDOT distribute that money — they’re the funnel.”
In early 2022, state transportation officials surprised San Antonio leaders by voting to reclaim part of Broadway Street north of Interstate 35, putting an end to the city’s plans for lane reductions needed to create the new bike lanes and sidewalks.
TxDOT viewed the lane reductions as a threat to traffic congestion along Broadway.
Hernandez said the new grant-funded bike lanes and pedestrian improvements downtown align with the city’s Bike Network Plan and Vision Zero efforts.
“It’s a great opportunity to make our bike facilities safer because that’s what we’re hearing from people,” Hernandez said. “More and more people want to ride their bicycles, but they also want to ride them on safe routes,” she said.
A 2022 Bike Network Plan is in the works, she said, with the first phase underway to collect input from the community. That data, along with maps and event schedules, are expected to be posted online at sabikenetwork.com in late November.
Meanwhile, construction of bike lanes along one mile of Avenue B, parallel to Broadway Street, is complete and a ribbon-cutting event is planned for Dec. 5, said a city spokesman.
Other projects in the San Antonio TxDOT district to be awarded funds through the Set-aside grant program include:
- City of Castroville: Reconnecting Castroville’s Alsatian History through active transportation, $179,797
- City of Alamo Heights, Loop 368 shared-use path, $10,916,591
- City of Lytle: SH 132/FM 2790 Business district sidewalks, $4,259,809
- City of Seguin: Joe Carrillo Boulevard/Countryside Boulevard shared-use path, $2,002,496
- University of Texas at San Antonio, main campus: Safe, dedicated bike/pedestrian facilities, sidewalks, separated bike lane, $11,767,63
Castroville Mayor Darrin Schroeder said pedestrian and micro-modal transportation has many benefits in the small but growing city.
“Using these grant-planning funds, we will explore non-automobile means of travel to both bring historic Castroville within reach of neighboring expansions and develop standards for the new developments on the edge of town to reduce the local traffic’s dependency on Highway 90 to access goods and services,” he said.
