This November, Texas State was named one of 46 Bicycle Friendly Universities in the nation by the League of American Cyclists.
The League of American Cyclists developed the Bicycle Friendly University program in 1995 and 416 universities have been recognized since. In November, Texas State became the sixth university in Texas to receive a BFU award.
The goal of the League of American Cyclists is to promote better conditions for cyclists and guide communities to create successful road maps for bicycling.
Texas State was awarded a bronze medal by the BFU program. Universities are evaluated by criteria known as the five E categories when being considered. These five E’s are: engineering (the amount of bike parking), education (how well the university promotes safety bicycling), encouragement (how well the community promotes cycling), enforcement (how familiar law enforcement is with cyclist’s laws), and evaluation (how knowledgeable the university is with the general need of cyclists).
After Texas State became part of the BFU program, the San Marcos announced The Texas Transportation Commission had created a $4.5 million fund for bicycle and pedestrian projects in San Marcos, Liberty Hill and Dripping Springs. San Marcos will receive around $3 million of that funding.
The $3 million will fund a project consisting of a two-mile long, 10-foot wide path along the San Marcos River from the Hopkins Street Bridge to west of IH-35. Other improvements include a pedestrian bridge over Purgatory Creek, bike way signage, benches, trash receptacles, bike racks, under crossing at Cheatham Street and Union Pacific Railroad.