City Council Rejects Proposed Auto-Free Bicycle and Pedestrian Corridor on Bell Avenue
September 29, 2021
Draft design proposed by city staff.
During their work session on Tuesday, the Denton City Council rejected a proposed auto-free bicycle and pedestrian corridor on Bell Avenue. The corridor, which would have maintained emergency vehicle access, was proposed for a one-block stretch between Chapel Drive and Administration Drive on the campus of Texas Woman’s University (TWU).
Draft design proposed by city staff.
Bell Avenue is a city roadway dividing one half of the TWU campus from the other, which leads to frequent foot, wheelchair, and bicycle traffic crossing Bell back and forth. According to a presentation from city staff, the TWU Campus Master Plan calls for a car-free zone in the core of campus to improve safety for students, faculty, and staff moving about campus outside of an automobile.
In 2015, just south of campus, someone driving an automobile struck and killed a TWU student who was crossing Bell on foot near Withers Street, highlighting the danger that the presence of motor vehicles pose on students and other residents in the area. While the fatal crash did not occur on the TWU campus, an auto-free portion of Bell could reduce the overall number of people driving along Bell between University Drive and Mingo Road, which would reduce the threat to people traveling outside of a car.
Bell Avenue has been closed for utility and road work since December 2020 and is expected to be closed until December 2021. City staff performed a traffic study during the closure and did not note any significant traffic impacts on surrounding roads as a result of the closure. Staff estimated that no significant automobile traffic impact would be seen until 2045.
Though staff indicated they’d heard few complaints about the current closure, multiple city council members shared that they had heard complaints from residents wishing to access Bell Avenue by automobile. No council members mentioned hearing from residents wishing to access Bell Avenue on foot, by wheelchair, or bicycle.
The full proposal presented to Denton City Council included the City paying for the reconfiguration of the one block of Bell Avenue in exchange for Texas Woman’s University gifting land from their former golf course to accommodate future city projects along Mingo Road and Ruddell Street.
Value comparison of the city’s and TWU’s contributions to road projects bordering TWU.
Multiple council members expressed concern about the packaging of the Bell project with the Mingo and Ruddell projects. “I don’t like that these particular projects are coupled,” said Council Member Jesse Davis, “because I think they’re very different interests.” Council members Brian Beck, Paul Meltzer, and Vicki Byrd later echoed similar concern.
“I think the accounting in this value comparison is just entirely off,” said Meltzer, concerned that it did not consider whether TWU would find additional value in the future widening of Mingo and Ruddell or how much the city would invest to construct those projects. Further, Meltzer expressed that there is value lost to people traveling along Bell by automobile if a portion of it were closed to motor vehicle traffic. “The value of a street in Denton is at least in the millions.”
Metzler concluded by pushing for a more equitable arrangement between the City and TWU. “This is an entirely inadequate analysis.”
Focusing on the proposed design of the project on Bell, Davis suggested that, instead of re-engineering the road to create an auto-free corridor, perhaps shared side paths could be provided to keep people traveling on foot, by wheelchair, or by bicycle off the roadway entirely. In addition to shared side paths, he suggested perhaps automobile access could be restricted during certain times and permitted at other times, such as evenings or weekends.
“I’m not in favor of closing [Bell],” said Davis. “I’m in favor of access control for pedestrian and bike safety, to the extent necessary, during school hours.” “To shut the thing down from taxpayer use,” he continued, “basically into perpetuity, I can’t be behind that.”
Council Member Brian Beck also expressed discomfort with the auto-free proposal, arguing that Bell Avenue is a significant north-south route for people traveling by automobile across University Drive to and from neighborhoods north and east of TWU. “To some degree, [Bell Avenue] is already more bike-friendly in its existing condition […] than Elm, Locust, or other north-south pathways.”
“Proceed with Mingo post haste,” Beck concluded, “but I’m not on board with the Bell Avenue construction.”
Council members Alison Maguire, Vicki Byrd, and Deb Armintor expressed some concern with the proposal.
Byrd noted that an auto-free core has been a desire of TWU since at least the 1990’s, when Byrd was an employee there. Given how long TWU has desired this, Byrd suggested, there must be “a missing piece,” and “TWU may need a little more time on it.” “I just don’t think it’s right right now,” Byrd concluded.
Armintor expressed support for the bicycle and pedestrian corridor on Bell but wondered if the city could complete the widenings on Mingo and Ruddell before building the auto-free corridor on Bell.
Maguire stated her general support for the project but that she had an open mind and was undecided, needing more information. She observed that the bicycle accommodations would only run for one block and argued that all of Bell Avenue between University and “all the way down” needs safe accommodations for people traveling in the core of Denton by bicycle.
Mayor Gerard Hudspeth stood alone in supporting the proposal as presented. He noted that Bell Avenue divides residence halls from a new dining hall, which has increased foot and wheelchair traffic across Bell at Chapel Drive. Regarding the coupling of the Bell project with right-of-way acquisition along Mingo and Ruddell, he noted that the city would need to negotiate land acquisition from TWU either way if those road projects are to happen. Acquiring the land now would help those projects move along more quickly.
The proposal failed to move forward, with a strong majority of council members expressing concerns with the proposal as presented.
Video Recording of Meeting
To review the full discussion and individual comments from council members, a recording of the meeting is available online.
Click image to link directly to the Bell Avenue presentation and discussion.
