The City of Houston is kicking off the Houston Bike Plan, a 12-month planning effort to update the City’s Comprehensive Bikeway Plan originally adopted in 1993. The City and the Houston region have made great strides in improving people’s ability to bike to more destinations, earning a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community award from the League of American Bicyclist in 2013. New trails are being built along our bayous, new protected bikeways have been installed, and more people are riding all over the City.
The Houston Bike Plan will build on these efforts to help make Houston a safer, healthier, more bike-friendly city. The Plan will clarify a vision and goals for biking in Houston and identify future projects to create a citywide bicycle network. This improved citywide network will serve a broader spectrum of people who bike at all skill levels, providing more transportation choices, with both on-street and off-street facilities and building on current efforts such as the recent Bayou Greenways Initiative to create a well-connected citywide bicycle system. The Plan will develop better connections for more people to key origins and destinations like job centers, entertainment venues, parks and schools. The Plan will identify supporting programs like motorist and bicyclist safety education, expansion of end of trip facilities like bike racks and bike share, and improved integration with transit. The Plan will also look at best practices in bicycle facility maintenance, bike program funding, and bicyclist and driver enforcement.
Public input will be gathered throughout the planning process. A Bicycle Advisory Committee made up of representatives from Houston’s bicycling community, implementing authorities, community leaders, and other representatives will guide the development of the Plan
The City of Houston Planning & Development Department in coordination with the Public Works & Engineering Department and Houston Parks and Recreation Department is leading the update to the plan. The City will be working with our funding partners, BikeHouston, Houston Parks Board, Houston-Galveston Area Council, FTA, FHWA, and TxDOT to develop the plan. For additional information on the City’s bicycle programs and projects please also visit the Houston Bikeways Program website.
Visit our website at www.houstonbikeplan.org for more info!