Texas Ranks 30th in 2024 Bicycle Friendly State Report Card
December 13, 2024
The League of American Bicyclists released its 2024 Bicycle Friendly State Report Cards on Thursday, ranking Texas at 30th out of 50 states for biking and walking. This is a slight improvement over Texas’ 2022 ranking at 32.
The League’s Bicycle Friendly State program compares states on criteria that highlights their strengths and weaknesses in contributing to a bicycle friendly America for everyone. State lawmakers and transportation officials hold substantial influence on policies that impact local conditions and safety for people walking, biking, and rolling.
Texas’ Bicycle Friendly State ranking and status on bicycle friendly actions. (Source: League of American Bicyclists)
The 2024 Texas bicycle friendly state report card found that the state “spends a very low amount of federal funding on biking and walking per capita–less than the cost of one Whataburger Jr. annually per person.”
According to the report, Texas spends less than 2% of federal transportation dollars on walking and biking infrastructure. This is despite these road users making up far more than 2% of total traffic fatalities each year. In 2023, 21% of 4,283 traffic fatalities in the state were someone walking or biking.
The report card recommends key improvements for Texas to score higher in its next report card.
1) Adopt a safe passing law
Texas is among 10 remaining states that do not legally define a safe passing distance when a driver is passing another road user.
According to a Safe Passing in Texas webpage by Bike Texas, the statewide bicycle advocacy organization, a safe passing bill made it through the Texas House and Texas Senate in 2009 before being vetoed by then-governor, Rick Perry. In 2013, a similar bill passed the transportation committees of the state House and Senate but did not reach the floor for a full vote.
The most recent attempt to pass a Safe Passing law was in 2021. The bill passed the House transportation committee but was never scheduled for a vote on the House floor. Its companion bill in the state Senate was referred to the Senate transportation committee but never discussed.
State Representative Ray Lopez has already filed a Safe Passing bill, HB 535, for the upcoming 2025 session of the Texas Legislature.
2) Adopt a statewide bike plan
While not yet complete or adopted, the Texas Department of Transportation is currently developing its first Statewide Active Transportation Plan, which includes both walking and biking.
3) Improve clarity and guidance on how cities may set 20 mph speed limits on residential or urban streets
The State of Texas sets its default speed limit on all roads at 30 mph. According to The League, Texas “does not provide clear legal authority or guidance for how cities may establish 20 mile per hour speed limits on streets in urban areas.”
The difference in injury severity is significant in crashes at 20 mph versus 30 mph. According to the Institute of Traffic Engineers (ITE), a person hit at 20 mph has a 90% chance of surviving. If hit at 30 mph, the chance of survival falls to 60%.
Person chance of survival if hit by a person driving at different speeds. (Image source: Institute of Traffic Engineers)
Cities can save lives by reducing speed in areas with more pedestrian and bicycle traffic, like neighborhoods and urbanized areas. However, cities wishing to lower speed limits in these areas face a series of barriers from the state that can make the task difficult or impossible due to cost or time.
The Texas Legislature considered a Safe Neighborhood Streets bill in past sessions, but such a bill thus far has not completed the full journey to become law. Both the Texas House and Texas Senate have passed a version of this bill in recent sessions, but they must both pass the same version in order for it to reach the Governor’s desk. Time has run out in previous sessions.
4) Spend at least 2% of federal transportation funds on biking and walking improvements
Roughly 30% of the U.S. population cannot drive due to age, disability, finances, or legal situation. Nevertheless, the State of Texas allocates less than 2% of federal funding to bicycle and pedestrian projects, according to analysis from The League.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) budget for 2024-2025 is $37.2 billion. Of that total, 35% comes from federal funding to the tune of $12.8 billion.
While federal funding comes with restrictions on how it can be spent, states have enough flexibility to easily spend 2% or more of that funding on bicycle and pedestrian projects. Texas leaders have thus far opted to spend less.
Texas residents who would like to see the state spend 2% or more of federal transportation dollars on bicycle and pedestrian projects can send a short email to their state representative and state senator asking them to support increased funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Don’t know who your state representative or state senator are? Use the Who Represents Me? lookup tool on the official State of Texas website.
How You Can Help
State-level advocacy organizations are gearing up for the 2025 session of the Texas Legislature. To maximize their capacity and impact during the session, they need your financial support and participation contacting your elected officials at key moments.
Donate
Advocacy organizations often hire additional staff during legislative sessions to increase their impact. They rely on donations from people like you to pay the salaries of these additional staff.
If you can only afford to donate $3 or $5 per month, do that. Every bit helps. If you can donate more, please do.
Participate
Advocacy organizations send out action alerts if a particular bill is up for discussion or vote in a committee, the Texas House, or the Texas Senate. This is when you contact your elected representatives to tell them you support (or oppose) a particular bill.
As a constituent and voter, your opinion matters to your elected representatives. Always share your opinion even when you don’t think your elected officials agree with you. You can’t get what you don’t ask for.
Sign up for the newsletter of the organizations you support to receive updates and action alerts.
Support Texas Organizations
In Texas, two key advocacy groups focus on state legislation related to key recommendations from The League:
Bike Texas
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Bike Texas is the state’s bicycle advocacy organization. Each legislative session, Bike Texas promotes bicycle-friendly bills and guards against bills that would decrease bicycle access or safety in the state.
Farm & City / Vision Zero Texas
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Farm & City is the parent organization of Vision Zero Texas, which advocates for policies that improve road safety for all users in order to reduce and eventually eliminate Texas’ 4,000+ traffic fatalities each year. Each legislative session, Farm & City promotes bills to enhance road safety and transportation options for everyone.
