Roads in the city of Rollingwood will soon receive new bike lanes, and Walsh Tarlton Lane in Austin is getting buffered bike lanes.
Rollingwood bike lanes
Rollingwood City Council voted June 17 to proceed with its planned bike lane project.
LNV, Rollingwood’s engineering firm, is in talks with the Texas Department of Transportation to review plans and confirm they are meeting all the requirements of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization bike lane grant, which was given to the city in 2003.
Rollingwood City Administrator Charles Winfield said $3,766 of the grant was used when the city first received the funds to construct a trail in Upper Rollingwood Park. However, most of the grant sat untouched for 13 years while the city repaved some streets and a water and sewer project was completed.
As a result, the city lost $12,554 of the grant because of inactivity, Winfield said. Now the city is expected to contribute $56,364 to the bike lanes, and CAMPO will pay $99,515 of the project’s total cost, he said.
After confirming plans with TxDOT, LNV will prepare and submit plans to TxDOT, assist the city with obtaining contractor bids and help with the coordination of construction.
Rollingwood bike project steps
Rollingwood’s engineering firm, LNV, is tasked with executing the following steps to create bike lanes on designated roads: 1. Data Collection LNV reviews design criteria, obtains desired bike lane routes from city of Rollingwood 2. Meetings (Current stage) LNV meets with Rollingwood city staff and Texas Department of Transportation to review and confirm grant requirements and design criteria, routes and installation requirements 3. Preparation and Submission LNV prepares construction plans and submits them to TxDOT for approval 4. Bidding LNV assists Rollingwood city staff with advertising the project to obtain contractor bids, answers contractor questions and creates amendments to construction plans as needed 5. Construction LNV helps coordinate project with contractor and periodically visits the site
Walsh Tarlton Lane
New buffered bike lanes on Walsh Tarlton—from Tamarron Boulevard to Pinnacle Road—are expected to be completed by the end of August, said Laura Dierenfield, program manager for active transportation in the city of Austin.
She said Austin had originally considered extending the buffered bike lanes to Loop 360, which would have required traffic lanes to be reduced in some short sections along Walsh Tarlton. The buffers will consist of short white diagonal lines between two long white lines.
“After considering the network connectivity benefits as well as public feedback, we will be installing [buffered bike lanes] to Tamarron,” Dierenfield said.
