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The White Rock Creek Trail is one of the most heavily used hike and bike trails in Dallas. It is also the route many cyclists use to enter White Rock Lake Park from the north. In a move that will make the trail much more difficult to use, TxDOT will be closing the trail crossing at West Lawther Drive (along with the entire W. Lawther intersection) for two years during construction on Northwest Highway.
TxDOT is planning to detour trail users up over Flag Pole Hill to cross Northwest Highway at the busy Buckner Boulevard intersection and enter the park on East Lawther Drive (see map). Many Dallas cyclists and BikeDFW have raised concerns with TxDOT, city council members, and state representatives about this plan. In addition to having to pedal over Flag Pole Hill (difficult for casual cyclists and kids), crossing the intersection of Northwest Highway and Buckner on foot or bike, especially during heavy traffic, raises a number of safety concerns. NW Highway and Buckner is a busy, complicated, and high speed intersection. It is not clear how TxDOT proposes to safely manage pedestrian and cyclist crossings. There is a tentative meeting scheduled with BikeDFW, TxDOT and City of Dallas officials next week to discuss how best to accomodate the needs of trail users during the two-year long construction period. We will update when we know more.
Watch the stories at:
WFAA News - Dallas cyclists bemoan White Rock trail detour
NBC5 News - Detour Pedaling Toward White Rock Lake
Read the story at:
Dallas Morning News - White Rock Trail cyclists worry about detour plans
UPDATE: (July 7, 2010)
Bob Murdoch of the BikeDFW Government Relations Committee attended a meeting yesterday (July 6th) organized by TxDOT to discuss options for maintaining the usability of the White Rock Creek Trail during the 18 month-long construction of the new elevated roadway on Northwest Highway. Also in attendance were representatives of TxDOT, the city of Dallas, and the C.C. Young Retirement Community (located on West Lawther just south of Northwest Highway). Bob was also representing the owner of Dallas Bike Works (located at the southwest corner of West Lawther and Northwest Highway) who was unable to attend.
TxDOT listened to the needs and ideas of the three user groups; cyclists and pedestrians from BikeDFW, DART riders working at C.C. Young (who must cross NW Highway on foot), and Dallas Bike Works (to maintain access to cyclists riding the trail). Based on their needs and recommendations, TxDOT decided to maintain a crossing for pedestrians and cyclists at West Lawther, rather than moving it to the NW Highway/Buckner intersection.
TxDOT will be working with the engineering firm handling the NW Highway project to come up with a solution to safely move pedestrians and bicycles across (or under) the traffic and construction at West Lawther. There may be short, temporary closures due to the construction, but there will not be long, continuous closures of the trail.
While we don't know what the final outcome will be, we applaud the decision to keep the trail crossing at West Lawther open. BikeDFW would like to thank TxDOT and City of Dallas officials for their willingness to listen and respond to the needs of West Lawther and White Rock Creek Trail users... and all of you who contacted your City Council Members and State Representatives to make this happen.
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