The Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas is a bike friendly city, which is a good thing considering the champion rider and worldwide inspiration Lance Armstrong calls this city his home when he is not on his bike in some far away land.  Travelers will find that when they bring their own bicycles along with them, a myriad of options open up before them.  To find a bike friendly hotel, click here. To find the best places to ride and to get a map for the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, visit Armstrong’s own bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s.  This is an incredible project, the bikeway. 

Eric Anderson conceived of the idea, he is a local activist and an avid cyclist.  His vision of a boulevard for bicycles, that will run through the heart of the city from the east to west, which will link up with pathways heading off to other parts of Austin, much in the same way subway or an elevated train system is designed.  This was proposed by Anderson to the 1999 Transportation Enhancement fund for the state of Texas, and received the approval for the funding at the beginning of 2000.  This was the only program of the city of Austin to receive funding that year.  Anderson and his Lance Armstrong Bikeway project received 3.2 million dollars to begin work on the bicycle highway. 

A few years later, in 2007 Austin was awarded with a level of Silver for being one of the most bike friendly cities in the country, by the League of American Bicyclist.  The city was evaluated in several areas including the encouragement and promotion of cycling, the educational programs and the engineering of safe bike paths for bicycle commuters and enthusiasts. The western section was recently open and provides a quick and safe way through that portion of the city.  More cities across the country are stepping up their participation in ensuring that their residents and visitors have access to safe transportation routes when they chose to pedal their way through town, and the city of Austin is right up their amongst the top.

Related posts:

  1. Some Hole-in-the-wall Restaurants in Austin are Good
  2. The Bike Share Network Surrounding Central Park

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Thursday, January 28th, 2010 Travel

2 Comments to The Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin, Texas

  1. [...] The Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin, Texas | AffairBoard by Tina Austin, Texas is a bike friendly city, which is a good thing considering the champion rider and worldwide inspiration Lance Armstrong calls this city his home. … [...]

  2. Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for January 28th « Texbiker.net on January 29th, 2010
  3. Hello affairboard.com folks:

    Please pass on my thanks to Tina for http://affairboard.com/2010/01/the-lance-armstrong-bikeway-in-austin-texas/

    New news re: Lance Armstrong Bikeway will be 2012 reconstruction of 8 blocks of 3rd St. downtown where ~ $8.5 million will transform one-way four-lane street into 3-lane two-way “bicycle-priority” street with 18 ft sidewalks, a six-ft east-bound “monolithic bike-lane” and a ~ six-ft west-bound “cycle-track” (parallel parking separates bikes and traffic) with bicycle signalization.

    Pretty Awesome!

  4. Eric Anderson on September 17th, 2011

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