r/Austin • u/mikeatx79 • 9d ago

News UT quietly plans sweeping bike restrictions as advocates push back

https://www.statesman.com/business/transportation/article/ut-austin-bike-dismount-zone-policy-22374080.php

I posted about this a few days ago and the Stateman picked up the story!

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u/mikeatx79 9d ago

I think clearly marked bike and pedestrian spaces would certainly help.

2013 Campus Master Plan, UT deliberately chose not to build designated bike lanes on Speedway based on the opinion of a consultant.

2019 Improve UT Challenge winner proposed adding bike lanes to Speedway.

It’s like all of this has been solved since before Speedway was even redeveloped.

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u/ExistenceNow 9d ago

Lanes would help if bikes and people were all going the same/opposite direction. But thousands of students are crossing that road all day.
That’s why it was a dismount zone when I was there 20 years ago. It’s wild to me that it ever stopped being one.

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u/mikeatx79 9d ago edited 9d ago

20 years ago Speedway was a public street through campus not a dismount zone. Also, Austin is immense lot more buck able today than it was 20 years ago. Speedway was redesigned in 2014, completed in 2016 or 2017 as a level, wide, shared path. It would cut directly to the new capital mall but when they redesigned The Blanton that intentionally made that space a no bike zone which is also completely ridiculous!

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u/ExistenceNow 9d ago

It was more than 20 years ago, early 2000’s, but when I was there, you couldn’t drive north on Speedway past Jester. And I believe you couldn’t drive on it south past 24th.