Today a new member of the city staff, (new to the bike plan deployment, not new to the city staff) Samantha Frison and the manager of the Tom Thumb at El Dorado and Hardin, Keith Lauterbach, met to figure out where to put the new bike rack.
Keith and Lynda (the assistant manager) were both pretty happy about the bike rack being made available to the store. There are a lot of people riding around the area and it’s great that the city is providing the racks! The bike racks are expected to be installed under the entry roof line, so the bikes will be protected from weather, and they’ll be in a high traffic area minimizing the risk of vandals having unmonitored access to the rack.
This is the first deployment of the city’s money and hardware on the bike plan – awesome step!
Something I did notice on the way back from meeting with them today – the hike/bike trail that passes Ruschhaupt Park is being extended under Virginia into the construction north of Virginia Parkway between Hardin and the Texas Star Bank. This is also a really big step to getting off-street traffic from Towne Lake up and around the city! I didn’t have a chance to grab my family and the bikes and go ride around and see the changes, but if anyone else has had a chance, please drop a comment here.
Is there a list of stores/locations that will receive a bike rack? I hope Home Depot on Custer is on the list – I have to chain my bike to the rain downspout or leave it in the vestibule by the shopping carts.
Also – you are right about the final portion of the trail being nearly complete. We will be able to ride from Boyd HS all the way to Towne Lake. The 3 new bridges are set and most of the concrete path is poured. Last I heard at the Parks and Open Space mtg last month was the planned completion date was later in September.
Jeff – there is no list. The city has a limited supply of racks they can set up for free. It’s pretty much a first come first served thing. Talk to your Home Depot manager and see if they would be interested in getting one. Then we just have to make contact with Gary or Samantha from the city to make it happen.