A few years ago, I wrote an article about biking in Shreveport, Louisiana. We had just implemented our first bike lanes, and I was excited about the progress that had been made in my home city, and how we were making Shreveport a stronger town.

The specific actions that excited me about the progress were (1) dedicated lanes for Shreveport bikers, (2) a public process that responded to feedback and accurately weighed citizens’ concerns, and (3) concurrent initiatives and events that brought awareness to alternative and active transportation in our community.

Two years later, the city of Shreveport recently implemented a second round of bike infrastructure. We found two low-speed streets downtown and implemented sharrows to designate the streets as a bike route, and we implemented a buffered bike lane along Marshall Street. The latter is one of our only slow speed entrances into downtown, and the closest thing to a complete street in Shreveport. These improvements have been complemented by new signage as well, designating preferred bike routes and how they connect to existing trails.

As an advocate for these improvements, I usually have a lot to say about why bike lanes are important, how they can be implemented incrementally, and how they can contribute to a strong fiscal future. Yet, one way in which the Strong Towns movement has affected me is in its call for humility. So, in writing this piece, I made it a point to seek out other opinions and perspectives from those who ride a bike regularly, or would like to but find very real concerns preventing them from doing so. I learned a lot, found inspiration in new places, and gained fresh insight on what can and will make Shreveport an even better place to ride a bike.

I hope some of the lessons I learned can work in your city too.

Education, Education, Education

Earlier in our community’s conversation about bike infrastructure, my advocacy efforts were mostly focused on pushing for bike lanes in useful locations. During that process, there was much debate on whether shared lanes (sharrows), bike lanes, or all-out complete streets were the answer. Do we go all out with an expensive but comprehensive solution right from the beginning that accomplishes all our goals? Or do we take an incremental approach that isn’t perfect but makes use of the funds we have?

While not everyone agreed on which course to take, the more I engaged in dialogue with people, the more one core concern kept emerging: we all felt education of drivers and cyclists regarding the rules of the road was imperative. Getting bikes and cars used to interacting at reasonable speeds with each other respectfully was one of the most important issues, and had to be addressed.