Fort Worth’s bike plan is miles ahead of Dallas’

by Patrick Kennedy of Walkable Dallas-Fort Worth

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Every new bike lane Fort Worth adds is like a paper cut to Dallas's right arm in the competition amongst cities.

Fort Worth is full speed ahead when it comes to bicycling, as a culture and as a city recognizing it as a cheap, convenient, and serious form of transportation (despite Mayor Price suffering a recent bad accident). My favorite bit:

The best bit is what is only implied: that people over 18 aren't required to wear a helmet.

Meanwhile, apparently Dallas has a bike plan, a bike lane somewhere around the city, and a Complete Streets plan in progress that hasn't been terribly inspiring (though the jury remains in deliberation -- but as always, skepticism rules the day in the meantime).

The Sun Belt is incredibly young. And being young, means the cities are incredibly malleable, moreso than just about any other place in the world with regard to the degree of transformation ahead over the next 50 years.

While that is a localized issue, the overarching one is the invariable competition amongst cities, particularly when it comes to attracting and retaining human capital. Furthermore, it becomes far easier to attract and retain said human capital when it doesn't have to spend a large chunk of its income simply on transportation.

Car-dependent cities apply a tax on its residents. Want to participate in the local economy? You have to spend upwards of 40-50% of your income on transportation (or lower of course dependent upon salary, but I'm talking baseline).

The worst part is that the majority of that money leaves the local economy. Where Dallas ships money outward, Fort Worth is in the midst of empowering its citizens by removing the shackles of car dependency. Since it costs, on average nearly $9,000/yr to own and operate a vehicle, that is money Fort Worthers can put into housing improvements, starting new (local) businesses (which keeps yet more money in locally), saved or invested in whatever way the individual chooses.

As I've calculated before, Dallas County could keep over $4 billion per year in the local economy if:

Every new bike lane Fort Worth adds is like a paper cut to Dallas's right arm in the competition amongst cities. Unfortunately, every one Dallas doesn't add, it's administering paper cuts to its left. We might be worried about death by a thousand cuts if we didn't enjoy it so much. Such masochists we must be.

Interconnecting and empowering. Such a novel concept. When the public sector focuses on empowerment, via integration, you begin to see the full flower of local expression. The successful cities for the next century, the 21st century, are building the foundation for that success at present and with urgency. They will maximize local and global connectivity. Meanwhile, the cities that lose in this competition, and make no mistake, there will be losers, will be stuck in the mindset of 20th century regional connectivity, the kind that prevents local + global from flourishing.

Let's dig up Lewis Mumford to close us out:

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