BIKESA and BIKESANANTONIO Project 1991

BIKESA and BIKESANANTONIO Project

Author & Inventor: Mark Sullivan

January 1991

BIKESA and BIKESANANTONIO will be a comprehensive bikeway system designed to serve San Antonio and Bexar County for many years. BIKESA will provide citizens and tourist alike with a safe alternative transportation system for commuting and recreation. BIKESA routes will connect major cultural sites, museums, parks, botanical and zoological gardens into a new infrastructure for touring San Antonio. The central downtown hub with radiating spokes design will help commuters quickly and safely reach their destinations throughout the city. For some people, BIKESA may be their basic transportation.

Our primary considerations in the design of BIKESA are the safety and enjoyment of the bicyclist. We plan to separate the bicycle paths from automobile traffic wherever possible, thus providing a safer and friendlier alternative to bicycle lanes merely painted on existing roadways.

The physical layout of the BIKESA system will direct bicycle traffic along paths on existing easements, floodplains and greenbelts, most of which are already managed by the City of San Antonio. Ultimately, BIKESA will extend north to McAllister and La Quinta Parks; connecting them through various off road routes with the central S.A. area and extend south through the Mission Parkway. We hope to begin initial construction on the North Spoke, which will connect the downtown Central Hub at Travis Park to the Airport via Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio River, San Antonio Museum of Art, Sunken Gardens, San Antonio Zoo, Witte Museum, Botanical Gardens and McNay Art Museum.

The downtown encircling central hub will consist of a partially elevated path connecting Travis Park at the Northeast point to the Southwest Craft Center, Market Square, La Villita, Hemisfair, The Alamo, the Visitor’s and Convention Center and the Alamodome. The east spoke will radiate on Montana due east to St. Phillips College and Joe Freeman Coliseum at Salado Creek. The south spoke will connect the Missions and the Mission Parkway to the downtown central hub. From this central hub we plan to extend the Bike S.A. system along the Olmos and Salado Creek flood plain north to McAllister Park and also encircle San Antonio.
Funding for BIKESA operations and construction will be secured through grants, corporate sponsorship, bicycle rentals, concessions and San Antonio citizens subscription memberships.

We have plans to include a bus shuttle service, (Bike and Bus) to transport cyclists and their bicycles from the airport to downtown San Antonio and from Mission Espada to McAllister Park and north to Austin on the BIKESA Hill Country trail bikeway.

BIKESA is a unique and innovative concept designed to address the issues of: SAFETY, by minimizing bicycle and automobile interfacing; ENVIRONMENTAL, encouraging bicycle transportation could considerably reduce air quality degradation; HEALTH, BIKESA will promote a healthy lifestyle for the citizens of San Antonio by allowing and facilitating bicycling in a more safe and pleasant fashion; TOURISM, BIKESA will provide San Antonio’s tourists with a safe and enjoyable way to tour the city’s sights and enjoy our favorable climate. Signs maps and information will be printed in English, Spanish, German and Japanese; QUALITY OF LIFE, BIKESA corridors will be enhanced by landscaping and other aesthetic improvements, providing BIKESA users with a safe, enjoyable and healthy alternative to automobile traffic.

BIKESA and BIKESANANTONIO aims to create a new infrastructure unique to San Antonio, which will become a model for integrating off road bicycle travel into everyday American life.

 

 

BIKESA and BIKESANANTONIO 1991 all rights reserved.