The
Austin Transportation Department is looking to raise $151 million as part of
the newly enacted 2014 Austin Bicycle Master Plan.
The
money will be used to fund 47 new miles of urban trails and 200 additional
miles of on-street facilities which would more than double the city’s current bike
capacity.
Austin
currently has a Bicycle Friendly Community ranking of silver, which is based on
the ratio of biking facilities to the city’s total population. Portland, a
platinum rated city with a comparable population, is the inspiration for
Austin’s expansion.
The
city is looking at both public funding and private partnership opportunities to
help move the project along.
Robert
Spiller, Austin’s Director of Transportation said that funding for the bicycle
lanes and facilities will be provided by the department’s budget and other
public funds.
“We
have an annual budget and an annual plan where we take advantage of where
Public Works is completing their repaving,” Spiller said. “So that is where we
coordinate with them to capture streets once they have been repaved – change
the striping, change the control technique…as new funding opportunities come forward,
whether a future bond cycle or future grant, we want to make sure that we have
access to those funds.”
The
2014 Austin Master Bicycle Plan outlines major potential funding sources. The
Transportation Department’s general fund will provide money through their annual
allocation used for urban growth development and public recreation. The department
will also look for potential funding through bonds, transportation user fees,
grants, and federal and state funding sources.
The
Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a federally mandated
organization for central Texas, has a financial forecast between 2015 and 2040 of
$398 million towards bicycle and pedestrian projects, according to the Texas
Department of Transportation. The amount of that money going toward the 2014
Master Plan is currently not set.
Nathan
Wilkes, engineering associate and coordinator of the 2014 Austin Bicycle Master
Plan said that the Austin Transportation Department will also partner with
other organizations to help fund the project. Wilkes said that gaining partner
and private funding will help leverage federal funds.
“I
think too often in the past we have been focused entirely on the public
investment side of it and getting bond funding for our facilities,” Wilkes
said. “A lot of the facilities that we are getting that are all ages and
abilities are actually partnerships with TxDOT…there are a lot of exciting
partners we can bring in to this.”
The
2014 Austin Master Bicycle Plan will cost $35 million less than the North Mopac
Managed Lane Project, but will be able to support 1,000 more vehicles per day
through the downtown and university areas, according to the Austin
Transportation Department. This will be assisted by the creation of five times
the number of bicycle share rental systems, or Austin B-cycle facilities.
Austin
is hoping to replicate the success of Seville, Spain, whose instillation of
only 87 miles of trails resulted in an increase in bike usage from .5 to 7
percent.
The
project’s timeline will depend upon the availability of funding, but Spiller
said that it should be completed in 10 to 15 years.
“We
are also looking for ways on how we can close the network because we have been
taking advantage of the opportunities over the last six years and we have a lot
of infrastructure,” Spiller said. “We can expand the overall network faster by
doing connecting projects. I would hope to move forward with this as quickly as
possible, the next 10 years or so.”
Austin
does not specifically know how much funding they will receive from each of
their possible sources, and all previous funds for bicycling have been spent,
encumbered or committed to projects in progress, according to the city.
Phillip
Tracy
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