The overview
Presented by Catherine Hernandez, San Antonio Transportation Department director, the Bike Network Plan addresses multiple gaps in the outdated 2011 Bike Plan, including focused and safe corridors, policy issues that were not addressed in the 2011 plan and provides guidance on how to build a citywide bike network.
“The plan provides guidance on the type of bike infrastructure that prioritizes safety for all of our users on the roads,” Hernandez said.
Purpose of Bike Network Plan:
- Enhance San Antonio’s transportation system, providing better connectivity
- Provides facility guidance that prioritizes safety on city roadways
- Provides guidance during the development process
- Help steer program improvements over the next two decades
Types of bike facility designs:
- Bike Boulevards, where cars and bicyclists share a lane
- Traditional bike lanes
- Buffered bike lanes, with a painted demarcation
- Protected bike lanes
- Shared-use paths
“Every major city in the United States has a Bicycle Advisory Commission. We don't. They all have bicycle networks, but we don't, and I think that we're missing a piece here,” Pelaez said.
The vote to amend the plan passed 7-4, with District 2 council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, District 3 council member Phyllis Viagran, District 5 council member Teri Castillo and District 10 council member Marc Whyte voting against the amendment.
The vote to adopt the plan passed 10-0, with Whyte abstaining.
How we got here
According to city documents, the city first adopted a bike plan and implementation strategy in September, 2011, which was an update of the Bicycle Master Plan first adopted by City Council in April, 2005, as part of the 1997 City Master Plan. In 2022, City Council approved a professional services agreement to provide consultant services to update and develop a Bike Network Plan.
The updated plan included community engagement, recommended networks, prioritization, typologies and a policy action report. The first phase of the updated plan was public engagement initiative, which lasted from May 1,2023 to Sept. 31, 2023. The community engagement phase was designed to gauge residents and visitors on issues with San Antonio’s current bike system. During Phase 1, the BNP project team conducted and collected roughly 1,700 surveys and attended 15 public events throughout each district to disseminate the survey.
The second phase of public engagement, which lasted from Oct. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023, gathered feedback from residents and visitors on the perceived opportunities to improve the bike network. This phase included educating residents on the different types of facilities available and observing how, when and why they would travel by bike. According to city documents, the BNP project team collected 1,100 survey responses at 11 public events held in all 10 council districts.
In the final phase of public engagement, which lasted from April 1, 2024 to July 30, 2024, the BNP project team educated residents on public bike infrastructure typologies, explained the recommended bike network and introduced a phased approach to build the network. A final survey was sent out on April 7, 2024.
In this survey, residents were able to select what type of cycling infrastructure they would like to see. The BNP project team collected 919 survey responses, which pinpointed 483 roads that encompass the city’s road networks.
Reasons for a bike plan include:
- San Antonio was ranked as the 16th deadliest city of cyclists in the nation
- 7.9% of San Antonian households do not have access to a vehicle
- Private vehicles account for 90% of San Antonio’s transportation emissions
- Replacing short vehicle trips with walking and biking will help the city reach its net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050
- Houses in areas with above-average walkability and bikeability are worth $34,000 more on average
- San Antonians spend 22% of their income on transportation on average
Quote of note
“Almost 8% of households, with more than 200,000 people in San Antonio, do not have access to a vehicle. Many of them are relying on bikes or transit or both to get to their destinations, whether it is work, school or day-to-day necessities,” Hernandez said.
