Update: Denton High School Bicycle and Pedestrian Access
City staff provided additional information on Friday about bicycle and pedestrian access to the new Denton High School campus located on the west side of Bonnie Brae and north of Windsor Drive. Staff anticipate permanent solutions will be installed by the end of 2024.
Full Report: “Denton High School Access,” Denton Friday Staff Report, 08/12/2022, pp. 80-86.
To prepare for the opening of the Denton High campus, the city installed a new all-way stop on Bonnie Brae at Riney Road and a sidewalk along Bronco Way from Bonnie Brae to the entrance of the high school.
Map showing walking routes along Windsor, Bonnie Brae and Bronco Way.
Sidewalks line at least one side of the road along Windsor Drive, Bonnie Brae and Bronco Way leading to the high school.
New, wide sidewalk along Bronco Way leading to the high school.
City staff added flashing lights to the all-way stop at Bonnie Brae and Windsor and installed a new all-way stop at Bonnie Brae and Riney. Some drivers do not notice the signs and run the stop signs at speeds that could be fatal to students. As photos were being collected for this piece, a southbound driver in a large SUV ran the stop sign at full speed while eating a sandwich.
New all-way stop at Bonnie Brae and Riney Road.
Denton has worked for years on a project to widen Bonnie Brae from Vintage Boulevard to US 77. The project includes a ten-foot sidepath on the east side of Bonnie Brae and a sidewalk on the west side. Westgate Drive is slated for updates including a sidewalk. Both the Westgate project and the Bonnie Brae project near Denton High School have a completion date of late 2024.
According to the report released on Friday, residents who live along Westgate have requested a temporary path for students walking or biking to school. Temporary solutions on Westgate for bicycle and pedestrian access are not feasible nor safe, according to city staff, due to steep bar ditches on both sides of the road, right-of-way issues that would take at least one year to resolve and concerns of attracting drop-off automobile traffic onto Westgate.
History of Bonnie Brae Widening Project
Denton has worked to widen Bonnie Brae since at least 2010, though planning began well before then. The City divided the six-mile project into seven phases. Phase 7 between US 77 and Loop 288 was later removed from the project.
Location of each phase of the Bonnie Brae widening project.
Staff in 2012 hoped the $57 million project to widen Bonnie Brae from Vintage Boulevard to I-35E and widen Vintage Boulevard from I-35W to US 377 would be completed by 2017 if all of the right-of-way could be acquired. The project faced delays. A portion of this project, from Vintage to Roselawn, was completed in April 2021.
In 2014, Denton voters approved $15.6 million to widen Bonnie Brae between I-35 and Scripture Street and between University Drive and Windsor Drive. In 2019, voters approved another $27 million to fund Phase 4 between Scripture and US 380, Phase 6 between US 380 and US 77 and Phase 7 between US 77 and Loop 288. Phase 7 was later removed from the project and is no longer planned.
According to the Bonnie Brae Street Capital Improvement Project page on Discuss Denton, the project to widen six-miles of Bonnie Brae has a current budget of $117 million, about $837 for every adult and child who lives in the City of Denton. Voters will consider another $16.1 million towards the widening project as part of the Denton County bond election set for November 2022.
In 2019, city staff hoped to complete Phase 6 by February 2022. However, many things can delay construction projects, including delays in purchasing or using eminent domain to acquire right-of-way from property owners, funding or supply constraints, contractor issues, weather and pandemics.
Becky Diviney, Denton’s Director of Capital Projects, told the Mobility Committee on August 17th that the city has been working for about two years to get right-of-way from one final property owner. Due to the urgency to complete Phase 6 as soon as possible, staff are moving the project forward despite the difficulty of doing so without all the necessary right-of-way.
The City is finalizing designs for Phase 6 and currently anticipates a completion date of late 2024.
In May 2018, Denton voters approved a $750.5 million bond for Denton ISD that included the construction of a new Denton High School. At that time, both the City of Denton and Denton ISD expected Phase 6 of the Bonnie Brae widening to be complete by February 2022 before the new Denton High School opened in August 2022. However, due to many moving parts on these projects and unanticipated delays, anticipated timelines were not met.
Major road projects like Bonnie Brae take years to acquire funding and right-of-way and then to design and construct. External delays are common even without worldwide pandemics.
For updates on the Bonnie Brae widening project, residents can visit the Bonnie Brae webpage on Discuss Denton.
Project status of each phase of the Bonnie Brae project (From: Discuss Denton)
Final Designs of Westgate and Bonnie Brae
In addition to safety concerns on Bonnie Brae Street, parents requested safety improvements along Westgate Drive for students walking, biking or rolling from the neighborhoods south of campus.
The permanent solution for Westgate will be part of a project to widen Windsor Drive between Westgate and I-35. The project will include a full street reconstruction, new sidewalk, street lighting, water and sewer line updates and a drainage system.
The permanent solution for Bonnie Brae includes dividing the existing four lanes with a median, building a ten-foot sidepath on the east side, a six-to-eight foot sidewalk on the west side and adding a sixth lane to move automobiles more quickly on Bonnie Brae at Windsor. Traffic signals will be added on Bonnie Brae at Windsor, Riney and US 77.
The ten-foot sidepath should substantially improve safety and comfort of students and other Denton residents traveling along Bonnie Brae outside of an automobile.
However, the widening project may increase danger for students crossing Bonnie Brae. Currently, students crossing Bonnie Brae at Windsor must travel roughly 57 feet across five lanes of automobile traffic.
Current design of the intersection of Bonnie Brae at Windsor Drive.
When the intersection is widened, students will have to travel roughly 88 feet across six lanes of automobile traffic and a large median.
Concept design of wider intersection at Bonnie Brae and Windsor.
The plan to add a dedicated right turn lane will also make the intersection more dangerous for students needing to cross Bonnie Brae. Dedicated right turn lanes make it easier for motorists to illegally turn right on a red light without stopping. Motorists who do stop often block the crosswalk or look in only one direction before proceeding, making it easy to not notice and then hit or run over someone in the crosswalk.
Cities seeking to improve safety for people traveling outside of cars prioritize compact intersections that reduce crossing distance and exposure to automobile traffic while also encouraging slower, more attentive driving through the intersection.
“Compact intersections reduce pedestrian exposure, slow traffic near conflict points, and increase visibility for all users. Limit the addition of dedicated turn lanes and pockets, and remove slip lanes where possible. Break large, complex intersections into a series of smaller intersections. Use existing pedestrian behaviors and desire lines to dictate design.”
- Intersection Design Principles, National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)
The safety issues may never be fully resolved because Denton ISD leaders placed the school along a roadway designed primarily to move a high volume of automobile traffic quickly, not to provide safe or convenient routes for children or adults traveling outside of an automobile.
“School walking routes and big roads do not mix. High-speed, busy, multi-lane roads are a barrier to walking and bicycling. Schools should be built within neighborhoods, not on the other side of busy streets from students’ homes.”
Other School Updates
Londonderry School Zone - City staff ordered flashing light equipment in early June, but the delivery has been delayed due to supply constraints. The supplier said the equipment should arrive soon. Staff will install the equipment as soon as possible after receiving it.
Hanover Drive Construction - The city began construction on August 8th of a ten-foot sidepath along Hanover Drive leading to Nette Shultz Elementary. Staff had hoped to complete the project before the start of school, but concrete delays pushed back the timeline. The project should be completed within approximately two weeks.
