4 June 5 -11, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents A Very Long Trail Bike lane miles approved, but is Dallas working fast enough? BY EMMA RUBY T he Dallas City Council approved the first update to the city’s bike plan in 14 years on May 28, but some council members and advocates warned the plan to bolster bicycle infrastructure over the next two decades isn’t fast enough to keep up with other major cities. The updated plan has been in the works since 2022 and outlines three phases of de- velopment that would build up a network of bicycle infrastructure that can be used by “all ages and abilities.” The plan outlines en- vironmental and health benefits that would come from a more robust bicycle culture and aims to increase the percentage of Dallasites who utilize a bike for short trips—journeys of three miles or less—which currently ac- count for around 40% of vehicular travel. Unlike the 2011 bike plan, which merely outlined infrastructure needs for existing bikers, the plan approved last week will en- courage development that targets non-bik- ers interested in the transportation method who hope to see increased protections be- fore taking to the trails. “We know that making our streets safer for bikes means that they will be safer for pedestrians and drivers as well. With more people dying in our city from car crashes than homicides, it is more important than ever that we start investing in safer streets,” Council member Chad West, who wore an orange bicycle pin in support of the plan at the Horseshoe, said. “I want to make sure we sufficiently fund transportation and pub- lic works, to give them the resources they need to make sure this plan doesn’t just sit on a shelf that actually gets built.” Earlier this month, the Dallas City Coun- cil was presented with an update of the Vi- sion Zero plan that outlines the city’s goal of eliminating traffic-related fatalities by 2030. Between January and March of 2025, 55 motorist and pedestrian fatalities had been recorded across the city. As of the end of March, 30 victims of murder had been re- corded in Dallas, police data shows. Accord- ing to the bike plan, increased bicycle infrastructure is believed to help with the safe streets initiative by encouraging slower speeds and separating walking pedestrians and vehicles. Despite his support for the bike plan, West said he is “concerned” about the time- line presented, which calls for a second phase of development to run from 2030 to 2045 and a third phase to be evaluated after that. The first phase, which will last until 2030, comprises projects that have already been funded or projects identified as high- priority and low-cost. Dallas currently has around 204 miles of bike paths — 89 miles of on-street bikeways and 115 miles of paved trails — many of which are not protected alongside vehicular traffic or abruptly end, spitting cyclists into busy roadways. The plan calls for more in- vestment into lanes that are visually or phys- ically separated from traffic, as well as trails that do not run alongside traffic at all. The first development phase will see 83 miles added to Dallas’ infrastructure. Sixty- nine of those miles are funded, the plan states. Because the city plans to remove sev- eral existing paths, Dallas should start 2030 with 231 miles of paths. That’s a fraction of what Houston, Austin and San Antonio of- fer. “As a city, we have a history of falling short on safe streets,” Rebekah Kornblum, president of the Dallas Bicycle Coalition, told the council. “What can we do as a city in the next 10 years, not 20, 30, 40 [years]?” Kornblum urged the council to move the development of a stronger bicycle network along faster by investing more funding into the work and offering more transparency into the construction process. Dallas’ gen- eral fund allocates $2 million annually to the bike lane program. According to the plan’s financial outlook, the second phase would rely on continued general fund financing, money from a future bond program and grants for a total of $300 million. The plan states that $300 million would create around 197 additional miles of bike trails by 2045. In Houston, a 2017 bike plan has led to the construction of 162 miles of bike lanes in the last eight years. The plan identifies Dallas’ South Central and South Eastern quadrants as the most high-need quadrants for further invest- ments in biking infrastructure. That need is based on an analysis of existing trails, health outcomes, transportation access and pedes- trian fatalities. Though the plan’s first phase does introduce some additional infrastruc- ture across Southern Dallas, those paths won’t offer much connectivity to Dallas’ other trails until the project’s second phase. “We teach people how to go to the gro- cery store, how to bike to the doctor’s office, how to bike to school when the kids get their Christmas or their birthday bikes,” Ashley Fletcher, founder of Bike Friendly South Dallas, told the council. “We don’t bike for fun. It is fun … [but] it’s economical for us. It’s affordable. It’s a legitimate transporta- tion method.” The plan estimates that by 2030, a third of Dallas residents should live within a quar- ter-mile of a bike trail. That number could be as high as 53% by the end of the project’s second phase. According to the plan, the planned trail system will offer increased connectivity to DART rail lines, schools and parks for residents who don’t want to travel by car. “I think it’s a dream that we shouldn’t have to wait until the next generation to see happen, to have a city we can get around safely and without fearing for your life in other ways besides just being in a car,” West said. “I’m excited today. I mean, there’s a lot more we need to do. This is an incremental step in the right direction that a lot of work has gone into.” ▼ EDUCATION A CLOSING DOOR UNT GRAPPLES WITH LOWER INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT. BY EMMA RUBY G eopolitical tensions, visa troubles and anti-immigrant sentiments have left leaders at the University of North Texas bracing for a dropoff in in- ternational student enrollment, University President Harrison Keller recently told the Board of Regents. During the 2023-24 academic year, in- ternational student enrollment was at an all-time high across the United States. In Texas alone, 89,546 international students contributed to a $2.4 billion economy across the state in 2024, according to the annual Open Doors report on international educational exchange. And while the state- wide enrollment increased 10.9% between 2023 and 2024, North Texas universities saw a 22% international boost between the school years. Keller told the board that the university’s master’s program growth over the last 10 years is primarily due to increased interna- tional enrollment, particularly in STEM fields. He said That trend waned some be- tween 2023 and 2024, despite the region’s overall growth. “We were down more than 1,300 stu- dents in our master’s programs because of different market issues and also geopolitical issues around visas,” Keller said. “We are an- ticipating that international master’s stu- dents in particular could decline somewhere on the order of 25% for this next fall.” That expectation isn’t specific to the Uni- versity of North Texas. When the Open Doors survey was first released last November, the Observer asked researchers if the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant sentiment posed a risk to growth. Already, preliminary data showed a 3% increase in enrollment for the fall semes- ter from last spring, and the belief was that nothing would slow that growth. “Students are typically affected only by actual shifts in policy or due to other intan- gible factors. They’re largely unaffected by shifting perceptions or rhetoric,” Julie Baer, a research and learning lead with the Insti- tute of International Education, said. In the months since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, though, policy shifts have happened. Funding for university re- search has been slashed, and federal immi- gration authorities have arrested individuals on student visas for rhetoric the administration deems harmful. In April, hundreds of Texas students had their visas revoked overnight. That included 77 stu- dents from the University of North Texas, Texas Woman’s University, the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Dallas. In further retaliation against interna- tional students, the Trump Administration blocked Harvard University from admitting any new foreign students last week. That de- cision has been challenged and blocked by a federal judge. Already, some early data is showing a steep dropoff in international interest, al- though the International Education Ex- change is still anticipating the U.S. will end this school year with more internationals than it had last year. A recently released study by the National Foundation for American Policy predicts a “catastrophic” dropoff in international enrollment across undergraduate and graduate programs based on the current trajectory. | UNFAIR PARK | Taylor Adams The updated bike plan has been a long time coming, and it will be even longer before it’s implemented. >> p6
