In a packed City Hall, Rollingwood City Council members and residents debated creating bike lanes on some city streets during the council’s July 15 meeting, culminating in a vote to add the estimated cost of the lanes to the city’s proposed fiscal year 2015-16 budget set for discussion in August.

Many residents expressed concern for the safety of children riding in local streets as well as for drivers who could get into an accident while trying to navigate around cyclists in the shared roadway.

“To not [add bike lanes] would be to fail in our duty to look after everyone’s welfare,” said resident Russell Heinz, the father of 8- and 10-year-old sons.

Mayor Thom Farrell said the majority of the city’s streets are 30 feet wide, and a bike lane width can range from 4 to 7 feet. He said a vehicle travel lane is 8 feet wide, and street parking would still be allowed in a bike lane.

“If we have bike lanes we can limit bikes to stay in that lane, and, depending on how wide we make it, [riders] can remain single-file,” Farrell said.

Residents split

Traffic in the community has changed a great deal since resident Flo Macklin moved to the neighborhood in 1970 with her young child, she said.

The issue of cyclists running stop signs in the area has become one of police enforcement—officers are reluctant to give the cyclists tickets, she said. She has seen local cyclists violate the state’s Transportation Code requiring them to ride at most two abreast and signal at turns, she said.

“[By adding bike lanes], I think you are compounding a problem you don’t even have,” Macklin said.

Farrell said he has received many complaints about drivers speeding on Rollingwood Drive, now a cut-through for people who do not want to drive Bee Caves Road. With bike lanes the driver has the perception of a narrower roadway, forcing him or her to slow down, he said.

“We need to do something to damper traffic,” resident and parent Wendi Hundley said. “One of the things that has been proven to work is to visually narrow lanes. If we do have a bike lane it will be easy to show where the bike riders should be. A white line painted on the road is a reminder that you have to share the road with pedestrians, [and] you have to share the road with bikes.”

She said her 8-year-old son will feel safer riding in bike lanes, and the lanes will improve property values.

However, resident Kee Castaldi said the bike lanes are unnecessary since she has never seen cars get too close to cyclists.

“Everyone is careful around people on bikes,” she said. “We know the law, and [cyclists] should know the law, too.”

The majority of the speakers in favor of the proposed bike lanes said they were parents of young families, with most of the opponents saying they were empty-nesters.

Farrell said he received 15 emails from residents supporting the bike lanes. He and other City Council members said they calculated about four residents advocating for the measure to every resident opposed to the bike lanes.

Police view

Police Chief Dayne Pryor said the city is next to Zilker Park where there are many bike riders. He said he has seen riders four abreast in the street and hopes a bike lane would encourage them to ride single-file. He said officers have been writing citations to weekend cyclists who come through the city in groups, riding four abreast and ignoring stop signs.

“Rollingwood Drive is a designated route for cyclists—off highways and into a community where they feel safe,” Pryor said. “[We] hope bike lanes will solve some of these issues.”

Council member Joe Basham said bike lanes would also serve as a pedestrian pathway since the cost of adding sidewalks is expensive and requires a taking of residential property.

“Cyclists are here and will ride the routes available—they are going to go on that route regardless of whether we have bike lanes or not. We are not going to keep cyclists out of Rollingwood,” he said.

Funding

Although a 2003 grant providing $125,000 of funding for the project expired, a refiling of the grant would still provide $115,000 of the project cost, with the city paying 20 percent of the project, Farrell said. A new grant permit would address the specific streets to receive the bike lanes, which he said should include the streets that feed into Hatley Park. The original grant included every city street, an action that would not be feasible now, he said.

Farrell estimated the city may need to budget about $20,000 for its share of the bike lane project.