After a lot of hard work, Texas is finally on the League of American Bicyclists’ bike-friendly university map: Texas Tech University and The University of Texas at Austin both made the list on the Bronze level in the latest round of Bicycle Friendly University announcements on November 14.
Craig Cotton of Tech’s University Transportation and Parking Services says, “We have come a long way in a short time. When we first started focusing on the bicycle system about four years ago, we had three miles of on-street bike lanes. That has now blossomed into the three miles of on-street bike lanes and 60 miles of shared use paths with the implementation of our free-range policy, which allows bicyclists to ride on most sidewalks. Four years ago we had parking capacity for about 6,000 bikes. We now have bike rack space for around 8,000 bikes.”
BikeTexas was honored to make the trip to Lubbock to recognize Tech’s hard work and present the award to Texas Tech on behalf of the League. BikeTexas Ambassador Durwood Mayfield said at the presentation (according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal), “Cycling does two or three things. Not only does it bring less parking, but the students don’t have to pay for fuel,” he said. “If they ride to campus, by the time they get to class, they’re awake and ready to go.” He also commended Tech for their improvements for people who ride bikes, including the new bikeway from Greek Circle that opens up a route for students who live west of campus. See the full article here.
The Austin Post reports that UT also added cycling amenities, including 1000 new bike parking spaces, expanding hours at Kickstand (the on-campus bicycle hub), and developing an online safety course. Sam Cortez, UT bicycle coordinator, said to the Austin Post, “I think our steady increase in amenities and services for cyclists have earned us this status.” See the full Austin Post article here.
Congratulations to TTU and UT! We hope this is the beginning of Texas being covered with bicycle-friendly universities. To start the process at your college or university, see the Bicycle Friendly University page at http://www.bikeleague.org/content/universities.
