Bike plan underway for TxDOT Lufkin District
NACOGDOCHES — A bicycle infrastructure plan is well underway for the Texas Department of Transportation’s nine-county Lufkin District, where cyclists say the perils of riding a bike range from high speed vehicle traffic to inhospitable road surfaces.
Bicycle plans are currently being developed for multiple TxDOT regions, with the goal of prioritizing locations for bicycle travel improvements and identifying routes for a larger bicycling network.
Began in 2025, the Lufkin District’s plan is expected to be complete in 2027. Each plan incorporates feedback from the public and stakeholders, according to Anish Tailor of Toole Design Group. The firm is contracted by TxDOT to work on the Lufkin District plan and has developed more than 350 bicycle and pedestrian plans across North America.
“We are about three quarters of the way through,” said Tailor, who gave a presentation on the plan Friday for Nacogdoches County Chamber members. “Our next step is to develop draft recommendations.”
Recreational cyclists attending Friday’s event provided firsthand perspective of riding both inside and outside city limits.
“There’s a lot of chip seal in this county, and it is a real pain,” said Trey Cartwright, who urged TxDOT representatives in attendance to consider cyclists when planning road surfaces.
Others agreed and said a recent repaving of Appleby Sand Road turned what was once a smooth, wide shoulder for cyclists into a gravel-ridden hazard.
“It’s very dangerous when you’ve got skinny tires on a bike,” Caroline Garner said. “When a surface is recovered, think about the cyclists already using those shoulders.”
TxDOT manages interstates, U.S. and state highways, farm-to-market roads, park roads, loops and spurs.
“We are talking about comfort and safety for bicyclists on these types of roads,” Tailor said. “Appleby Sand has come up multiple times, so that’s noted.”
An analysis of bike-ability in TxDOT’s Lufkin District, which includes Nacogdoches, Shelby, Angelina, Houston, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto and Trinity counties, shows little access for bikes in the area, Tailor said.
“Where there are facilities, it’s usually a wide shoulder, which aren’t safe or comfortable due to the high speeds and high volumes traveling on state roads,” he said. “Another takeaway is that they are disconnected; there is not a connected route between destinations.”
Particularly in rural areas where poverty is high, making communities more accessible for bikes is about more than tourism, Catie Munguia said after the presentation.
“Places like the WIC office, the SNAP office, clinics that serve people who are uninsured — those kinds of key services are in very bad locations in our county,” she said. “Those are unlikely to come up as places people are biking to, because it’s extremely unsafe. Our Health and Human Services Office is out on the loop, and I can think of no safe way to get there on a bicycle or on foot.”
Biking on shoulders and roads is particularly hazardous in a university town, where younger drivers aren’t always aware of sharing the road, City Councilwoman Kathleen Belanger said.
“They’re just not as experienced,” she said. “Anything that has a segregated bike path, anything to keep people safe, I would really like to consider that.”
TxDOT bike plans will focus on practical connections such as safer shoulders, lower-stress bike routes and transitions between local streets and improved access to schools, parks, downtowns and other destinations, planners said. Once complete, they are incorporated into local future transportation plans, said Leigh Hornsby, consultant with PIA Communications, the firm handling public engagement.
“When you’re working with your metropolitan planning organizations, your local governments, when they develop the transportation plans, this is something they will have that can be considered and implemented with it,” she said.
While bike infrastructure plans focus on regional connectivity, a smaller plan within the city of Nacogdoches is expected to get underway later this year. Funded through a $173,000 TxDOT grant, the Active Transportation Plan will focus solely on bicycle and pedestrian mobility between downtown and Austin Street along the North Street corridor.
“We’re getting a consultant on board to do that now, so there should be some local engagement for that,” TxDOT Traffic Systems Administrator Donald Maddux said. “Once we get that plan, it helps get funding for installing sidewalks and shared use paths.”
Nicole Bradford's email address is nicole.bradford@dailysentinel.com.
