UTSA has recently accepted a $11.7M grant through the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Transportation Alternatives program to improve pedestrian and cycling paths on campus. The grant enables changes that will add 12-foot-wide pedestrian paths and an eight-foot-wide cycling track with barriers to protect pedestrians and cyclists from streets. It aims to make sure all pathways adhere to the standards set by the American Disability Association. These changes will allow all students, regardless of their ability, to safely traverse across campus. “Sidewalks are deficient on campus — these will come with lighting, benches and a nice place to walk,” Director of Sustainability Lani May said. “It will be simpler and more accessible to walk on campus.”
Improving walkability and bikeability on campus is a small part of UTSA’s Master Plan, which will guide the main campus through a series of modern improvements. “The larger vision is for us to be a fully walkable campus. We were a commuter campus, [but] that was 25 years ago,” May said. “We want people to be on campus, we want them to do everything here.”
The grant also influences future walkability initiatives. The proposed closing of Brenan Avenue for example, which connects the campus to many of the other parts students frequent, is slated to increase green space and recreational activity on campus by influencing students to be on campus more and to be “proud” of their campus. “It’s supposed to be a grant that makes pedestrians more comfortable on campus along with being able to access different parts of the campus easily.”
The changes made possible by the grant look to connect the campus and improve its sustainability by encouraging students to walk instead of driving and by creating safer and more secure paths for biking and walking. The grant will simplify pedestrian connections to major buildings on campus that students typically would prefer to drive to, making walking or biking easier than driving to their destination on campus, and hopefully lowering congestion on campus and single occupancy vehicle use. The UTSA Office of Sustainability works to lower the university’s carbon footprint, which with congestion and high traffic, is large. Providing bicycle tracks and pedestrian pathways that are safe and easily accessible is a step toward becoming more sustainable.
The walkability grant has been a collaborative project in mind with the connections that the City of San Antonio and the Texas Department of Transportation has been creating for sidewalks and bicycle paths around campus, further influencing riding and walking to school instead of driving. Students should look to see mass transit connections to and from campus in the coming years as alternatives to driving. “The goal isn’t to alienate people who drive their cars, but we have to make accommodations for people who walk and bike.”
The construction of the pedestrian and bike paths will occur in several phases to minimize disruptions to pedestrians and traffic. The time frame for changes will be roughly four years, ideally finishing in 2027.
