Your help needed! The Houston Bike Plan is finally expected to go before Houston City Council for a vote in late January or February. Please join citizens across Houston in asking City Council to vote YES on the Plan (sample letter below). Even if you are not a bicyclist, please support this plan. Better bikeways will provide an environmentally friendly transportation option that will benefit all citizens.
The City of Houston developed the Houston Bike Plan through a 12-month planning effort to update the City’s Comprehensive Bikeway Plan originally adopted in 1993. The City and the Houston region have made great strides in improving people’s ability to bike to more 
destinations, earning a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community award from the League of American Bicyclist in 2013. New trails are being built along our bayous, new protected bikeways have been installed, and more people are riding all over the City.
The Houston Bike Plan builds on these efforts to help make Houston a safer, healthier, more bike-friendly city. The Plan clarifies a vision and goals for biking in Houston and identifies future projects to create a citywide bicycle network. This improved citywide network will serve a broader spectrum of people who bike at all skill levels, providing more transportation choices, with both on-street and off-street facilities and building on current efforts such as the recent Bayou Greenways Initiative to create a well-connected citywide bicycle system. The Plan develops better connections for more people to key origins and destinations like job centers, entertainment venues, parks and schools. The Plan identifies supporting programs like motorist and bicyclist safety education, expansion of end of trip facilities like bike racks and bike share, and improved integration with transit. The Plan also looks at best practices in bicycle facility maintenance, bike program funding, and bicyclist and driver enforcement.
Here is the website link for the new Houston Bike Plan:
You (and City Council) should support the Houston Bike Plan because it is the blueprint for how to make bicycling in Houston safer, easier, and more fun! It sets a vision for Houston to become a Gold Level Bike Friendly City. It identifies projects to more than triple the number of comfortable bikeways in Houston – to create a safe, connected bikeway network.
Below is a sample letter that you can copy and paste.
Or you can send an automated letter via the Bike Houston website at this link:
https://bikehouston.org/2016/06/06/ask-city-council-to-vote-yes-on-the-houston-bike-plan/
Address info for the copy & paste sample letter below:
Send your email to bikeways@houstontx.gov, sylvester.turner@houstontx.gov; atlarge1@houstontx.gov; atlarge2@houstontx.gov; atlarge3@houstontx.gov; atlarge4@houstontx.gov; atlarge5@houstontx.gov and your District Council member (example: districtd@houstontx.gov , substituting the correct district letter)
SAMPLE LETTER (edit as you wish):
Honorable Mayor and City Council Members,
My name is [Your Name] and I live in [your location]. I ride a bicycle [when and/or where]. I understand that you have an opportunity to review and discuss the Houston Bike Plan at upcoming meetings. I strongly urge you to support the approval of this new Plan. The Plan addresses the health, safety, and connectivity improvements our city so greatly needs and reflects the community’s desires. I also encourage the City of Houston to work to implement the plan as soon as is achievable.
My friends, family and colleagues all look forward to using the proposed new bikeways for our daily errands, commutes, and recreation in the years to come. I look forward to having safer streets for our children, for active commuting, and for a casual ride. Good bikeway infrastructure will provide many with an alternative transportation option. I am excited to see that our city recognizes the importance of promoting safe places for people to bicycle and I am proud to be part of a community that is taking a necessary step forward.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]