(Credit: City of San Marcos)
San Marcos officials have announced that, as part of the current Texas Department of Transportation street overlay project underway on Guadalupe Street, the striping portion of the City’s future Guadalupe Street Improvements Project will be completed by late August.
“This joint effort between the City and TxDOT will allow us to have the striping completed with this current roadway project and not require the street to be resurfaced again during the City’s upcoming project,” said Laurie Moyer, Director of Engineering & Capital Improvements. “We appreciate TxDOT including this work in their current project and saving us time, money and the additional inconvenience for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.”
The upcoming Guadalupe Street Improvements include installing a two-way bike lane with a physical barrier from traffic from University Drive to Grove Street. The third vehicle lane of Guadalupe Street will be removed for bike lane placement, to enhance continuity and to slow traffic going through the downtown area.
Along with the bike lanes, there will be sidewalk improvements along the east side of Guadalupe between MLK Drive and the railroad tracks, signal improvements at intersections along Guadalupe Street to accommodate cyclists, and water quality features at the railroad tracks and MLK Drive. The City expects a net loss of four parking spaces in this area, but expects that the 27 new spaces in progress on CM Allen Parkway will make up for the loss.
“The goal is to highlight downtown as a pedestrian and bike-friendly community center rather than a speedy thoroughfare,” said Moyer. “We want visitors and residents to visit downtown and enjoy restaurants, shops and the farmer’s market on Saturday morning and have the option of walking or biking in a safe and inclusive atmosphere.”
Although the striping portion of the Guadalupe Street Improvements project will be completed in late August, the remainder of the project will not begin until early 2020. Barricades will be placed in the new bike lanes until the additional construction is completed in late spring 2020, weather permitting.
