Farmers Branch sustainability committee previews Active Transportation Plan and Complete Streets policy before council review

At a Farmers Branch Sustainability Committee meeting, city staff previewed the Active Transportation Plan and a proposed Complete Streets policy and told members the consultant-led study will be presented to City Council in a June 3 study session and could return for a vote in July.

City staff said the plan, developed with consultant input and community outreach, maps existing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, highlights crash hotspots and proposes short- and long-term projects prioritized by safety, connectivity and community input. The Complete Streets policy is intended as an internal guidance document to keep transportation projects eligible for external funding and to ensure new street work considers pedestrians and cyclists, staff said.

The plan maps existing pedestrian infrastructure, bicycle facilities and areas with frequent pedestrian or cyclist crashes; staff said consultants used community meetings, surveys and multi-factor scoring to rank projects. Proposed actions include improving connections to destinations within five- and 10-minute walk-sheds, adding shared-use paths and on-street bicycle facilities where feasible, and designating lower-stress east–west connections south of Valley View. Staff said consultants also produced a prioritized project list that will appear in the plan document.

"They adopt a plan, but if a project looks like a number exceeded funding threshold... they could still say, no," the staff presenter said, explaining that council approval and project-specific funding decisions remain separate from plan adoption.

Committee members pressed staff on specific tools the plan might recommend. Staff said ‘‘road diets’’ (removing a traffic lane to create space for bike lanes or wider sidewalks) are possible candidates where vehicle counts show excess capacity but noted such changes have met resistance at council in the past, citing a previously rejected Valley View road-diet proposal. Staff also said consultants ran traffic simulations during earlier Valley View discussions to test performance and that some streets with excess capacity could be candidates for lane reallocation without materially degrading traffic flow.

Staff requested the committee review the finished document when consultants deliver it and consider an advisory recommendation to council at the committee’s next meeting. The staff presenter said the package will include the full project list, maps showing safety hot spots, the Complete Streets draft policy and a prioritized schedule of short- and long-term projects.

Committee members asked about roundabouts and other traffic-calming tools; staff said the plan did not emphasize roundabouts but noted the public works director on staff has experience with roundabout programs and can advise if council or the community raises the option.

Staff said exceptions would exist in the Complete Streets policy for projects where a particular treatment would be cost-prohibitive or unnecessary, and emphasized the policy is intended to formalize decision criteria across administrations.

Staff will circulate the final consultant documents to committee members for review and the committee may make a recommendation for council consideration at its next meeting. The plan and the Complete Streets policy will be included in the City Council presentations in June and July, staff said.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the plan or the policy at the meeting; staff sought only feedback and signaled it will request an advisory recommendation at a future meeting.