Dallas Dallas boasts a vibrant cycling community, but riding in and around the city requires nerves of steel. Fast, multilane highways choked with traffic dominate the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metroplex, which some suspect might soon even sprawl over the Oklahoma border. "Because we're an oil state, people think we should drive," says Eric Jackson, president of Bike DFW, a cycling-advocacy group. He isn't exaggerating: The Texas House of Representatives nixed a bill last summer that would have required motorists to give bicyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing. While the city does have an ambitious cycling plan called Velo Web, which would create a 300-plus mile network of bike lanes, it has been stalled for a decade. Jackson hopes that, based on a recent positive meeting with officials, the plan will finally move forward in 2008. We hope so, too, but will believe it when we see it.
Memphis, Tennessee No bike lanes exist within the city limits of Memphis. And the city government, comprised of layers of bureaucracy, has repeatedly ignored or rejected requests from bike clubs, shops and other organizations to create facilities. For example, in 2005 the Tennessee department of transportation and the city engineer's office conducted a study of Walnut Grove Road, a main artery in Memphis which leads into Shelby Farms Park, a 4,500-acre urban park run by Shelby County. The study concluded that the road would be unsuitable for bikes, and recommended a few simple changes to its design to accommodate a bike lane. The lane would allow access to the park for bikes, instead of just cars. Officials promised to explore a plan, but new curbs, gutters and sidewalks were built without explanation, effectively eliminating the possibility of a lane.
Miami In Miami, the terrain lies pancake-flat and the sun shines bright nearly every day--perfect conditions for cycling. But Miami-Dade County has done little to foster safer streets for bikes, despite the fact that Florida ranks second in the nation in bicycle fatalities and that much of Miami's poorer population relies on bikes for transportation. The county enacted the Bicycle Facilities Plan in 2001, but it failed to state any specific goals. The city of Miami has no finished lanes, and the only one under construction is less than a mile long. The rest of the county's lanes are just as short, appearing randomly and disappearing a few blocks later. "We're so far behind and in the dark with bikes it's absurd," bike-shop owner Chris Marshall told the Miami New Times in January. "I'd say we're stuck in the '60s, but it's worse than the '60s. In the '60s you could still get around by bike."
