Members Cliff Walden- Manager Ty Wolosin- Assistant Manager John Karras- Web Master Ran Kataoka- GIS Analyst Rusty Rex- GIS Analyst

The optimization of the current City of San Marcos and Texas State University Bicycle System Prepared by: T.R.A.N.S.

Scope Texas State University Population: 44,781 / 27,171 (2005) Location: San Marcos, TX Texas State University Population: 44,781 / 27,171 (2005) Median Age: 22.7 City Area: over 25 square miles Focus: City Master Plan Campus Master Plan

Introduction Texas State University (TxState) has a student population of over 27,000 and growing and the City of San Marcos is seeing substantial growth A survey completed for the City of San Marcos showed that new bike trails and lanes are the second highest priority for city development

Summary The Texas State University master plan, widely promotes the development of an campus bike system The City of San Marcos plans on developing the city into a bike friendly city with multiple bike lanes, routes and off road tracks

Purpose Examined the current bicycle infrastructure and proposed new additions based on impediments to a bicycle network Bicycling for Transportation Starting Points: Student Addresses and Census Blocks Destinations: High Flow Facilities, Central TxState Campus Problematic Areas Traffic- Flow, traffic light wait time & RR wait time Terrain- distance & slope

Data Transportation: Demographic: Physical: Roads Bus routes Bus stops Stop lights Existing bike routes Traffic flow Traffic accident occurrences Railways Railroad crossings Sidewalks Demographic: Census blocks TxState student addresses Physical: Digital Elevation Model (DEM) San Marcos parks Zoning San Marcos schools TxState parking lots TxState buildings Historical District boundaries Historic District sites High volume facilities Safe school crossings Hydrological

Sources Software Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS) US Census Bureau Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) San Marcos Police Department City of San Marcos Paul Hamilton and TxState Auxiliary Services Software All data was defined and analyzed using Environmental Systems Research Institution (ESRI) ARCGIS Desktop 9.1 and the Spatial Analyst extension. Deliverables utilized Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat 5.0, Macromedia Studio 8, and Roxio Easy Media Creator 8.

Literature Review CURRENT TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS HOW THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORTATION AFFECTS SAN MARCOS ALTERNATIVES SAN MARCOS AND A BIKE PATH NETWORK: A GOOD FIT IT CAN WORK: USING DAVIS, CALIFORNIA AS AN EXAMPLE HOW WOULD SAN MARCOS CITIZENS BENEFIT?

TxState Transportation Master Plan

City of San Marcos Master Plan

Methodology Data was spatially defined using the North American Datum of 1983 and the projected coordinate system: NAD_1983_Stateplane_Texas_Central_FIPS_4203_Feet The first objective was to prioritize the areas of greatest need Divided analysis into two segments of population groups - Non-resident Students - Residents determined by census block demographics Identified constraints that needed to be overcome Identified areas that can be used in their current state and areas that needed expansion or improvements TRANS examined the current infrastructure and integrated our findings into a final plan for recommendation

FLOW CHART Secondary Data- cost surface DEM Convert to Slope Traffic Light Wait Time Raster Railroad crossing raster Slope Traffic Flow Raster Normalize Normalize Normalize Normalize Weight 32% Weight 10% Weight 6% Weight 23% Normalized Weighted Slope Normalized Weighted Lights Normalized Weighted Railroad Normalized Weighted Flow Corridor Cost Surface

FLOW CHART Secondary Data- shortest path Cost Surface Cost Weighted Cost Distance Cost Road Destinations Raster Calculator Cost Surface with roads Cost Direction Starting Points Shortest Path

Results A majority of our least cost routes did not follow major roads Aquarena Springs Dr and Ranch Road 12 were identified as the highest ‘cost’ (safety, difficulty, time) roads. These avoided roads are primate candidates for bike lanes. Bike lanes have been proposed on several of the roads that we found to be high cost. Several proposed bike lanes were identified as low cost roads under the current infrastructure and should be lower priority.

Post Rd N. LBJ RR 12 Sessoms Aquarena Springs Hopkins IH 35

Final Deliverables Detailed final report Professional poster for display Website containing: Online presentation Updated online access to documents Links to related online resources CD containing: All data Metadata Report PowerPoint presentation CD instructions

Website Screen Shot

Discussion Limitations to San Marcos Bike Network. - Distance, Slope, non-landscape impediments Five major areas of student locations outside of TxState campus: Post Rd., Aquarena Springs, North LBJ, RR12, and Wonder World Cost of new bike lanes and/or routes: $7,758,308 based on 45 miles of new bike lanes Extensive research uncovered no previous studies on bicycle analysis that would have provided a blueprint for guidance

Conclusion Both the City of San Marcos and TxState have implemented bike networks into their master plans TxState campus master plan, calls for limiting car transportation through campus This data can be used for determining the safest and most efficient routes for bike trails in San Marcos and the TxState campus. The results can be used to study transportation needs and obstacles of San Marcos. This will allow sound decisions to be made for future growth and expansion of both San Marcos and TxState. Bicycle analysis is very objective and open to individual interpretation

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