Why did the Malone bike lanes disappear?
August 2, 2022
Malone facing south near Carlton Street.
All striping on Malone Street, including the bike lanes, are temporarily absent as the city applies a layer of microseal, to extend the life of the road, along the stretch between Scripture Street and Crescent Street. The microseal process typically takes a day or two to complete. Stripes are reinstalled shortly after.
Malone Street is one of several street segments receiving microseal treatment in the month of August. Other bike routes undergoing microseal include:
Jagoe / Avenue C from Scripture to Mulberry
Panhandle between Thomas and Hillcrest and Malone and Ponder
Cedar between McKinney and Oak
Paisley between Frame and Ruddell
Hercules between N Locust and Stuart
Kings Row between Marianne and just west of Loop 288
A full-sized map of all upcoming microseal projects is available on the Street Operations page of the Discuss Denton website.
Upcoming micro seal projects. Click image for full-sized map.
Asphalt roadways typically last 30 to 50 years before they must be completely replaced. Concrete roads typically last 40-60 years. In recent bond elections, Denton has budgeted about $1 million per lane mile to reconstruct streets which have reached the end of their useful life.
It is cheaper for cities to extend the life of a road through regular maintenance, replacing the road less often, than to skip maintenance and let the road deteriorate more quickly.
Cost of no maintenance, reactive maintenance and pavement preservation. (Source: Streets and Roads; New Fairview, TX)
Common types of maintenance include:
Sealing cracks to prevent water from entering.
Microseal - a protective layer placed on top of an existing roadway to seal minor imperfections. It’s one of the first types of maintenance used on a roadway still in good condition.
Mill and overlay - Scrape away the top few inches of roadway and replace with a new surface.
Reconstruction - Complete removal of the roadway down to the dirt and full reconstruction of all components.
Read more about construction types.
The lifespan of each roadway depends on several factors including automobile traffic volume, speed and weight. Weather also plays a role. Malone Street was fully reconstructed in 2018 and by 2021 developed cracks and tire ruts from automobiles.
As average automobile size increases to SUV’s and ever-larger pickup trucks, Denton’s roads will deteriorate more quickly, especially if city leaders prioritize fast vehicle speeds. One way to lengthen the life of Denton’s roads is to encourage and enable increased use of lightweight travel modes by providing safe, convenient networks for walking, bicycling and other small mobility devices.
A person damages roads much less on a 40-pound bicycle than in a 3,000 pound sedan or 5,000 pound pickup truck.
“Walking and cycling impose minimal roadway costs. Shifts from driving to walking or bicycling provide roadway facility and traffic service cost savings of approximately 5¢ per mile for urban driving and 3¢ per mile for rural driving, including indirect travel reductions leveraged by active transport improvements.”
Evaluating Active Transportation Benefits and Costs: Guide to Valuing Walking and Cycling Improvements and Encouragement Programs (July 14, 2022)
