LUBBOCK, Texas — The City of Lubbock said its working to make the city a safer place for both bicyclists and pedestrians, helping those like Patricia Burell, who rely on their bikes to get everywhere they need to go.
“It’s good for exercise, it’s good for your heart, it’s a healthy way to get around,” Burell said. “A bike helps me get around when I need to, whether it’s the library, or Walmart or here or to Open Door, or wherever I need to go.”
Burell said she was also in a crash with a car in May, while on her bike near a local Walmart.
“I ran into a moving vehicle and I ended up in critical intensive care, but there’s no bike lanes over there by Walmart,” Burell said.
David Bragg is the city traffic director and said the city has big plans to implement what are called pathways.
“Wide pathways, not just a normal sidewalk,” Bragg said. “It’s a wide path that allows room for not just pedestrians, but also pedestrians and cyclists or multiple cyclists to pass each other.”
Bragg said those pathways are already located around the Texas Tech campus, but through the 2018 Master Thoroughfare plan, they will soon make their way through the city.
“The first place you’re really going to see that with city roadway projects is going to be on 114th Street, which is currently under construction right now between Quaker,” Bragg said.
Future pathways are expected to be placed on 34th to Avenue Q and Quaker Ave.
Burell said she wants the city to consider more areas that are in need of safer areas to ride.
“I would say we need more bike lanes around town, around the city. It helps the ones not only the tech students, but the ones that ride bikes every day, like the homeless,” Burell said.
Bragg said there’s another project designed by the City’s traffic management department and funded by the Lubbock Metropolitan Planning organization in the works. He said it’s going to enhance pedestrian and cycling safety in several different locations around the city.
“It’ll impact several different neighborhoods, several neighborhoods around the Canyon Lakes,” Bragg said. “It’ll increase the connectivity to Canyon Lake, so it’ll hit other neighborhoods.”
Bragg also said there are multiple pedestrian hybrid beacons being installed all over the city, which help pedestrians safely cross higher-speed roadways at midblock crossings and uncontrolled intersections.
“That’ll go in at 26th Street and University, one at 13th and Quaker, there’s some on Martin Luther King Boulevard, some on Avenue Q, that allows pedestrians to safely cross,” Bragg said.
