Meanwhile, Dallas is moving forward with its bike plan with or without a bike czar. Since engineer Ashley Haire left for Denver in November 2015, the city hasn’t been able to find her replacement to design the bike lanes called for in the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan.
The city council approved on January 11 spending $171,000 to hire a consultant with Kimley-Horn and Associates to design the eight miles of bike lanes that would be spread throughout the city. Although the new contract gets the plan going again after a yearlong stall, Jared White, the only City Hall employee overseeing the plan, says it’s not ideal.
In other news, eco-friendly Plano and Richardson residents can rest easy now that recycling services have resumed. The City of Plano had to dispose recyclable materials in the landfill for nearly two weeks after a fire broke out at the local Republic Services recycling center.
After the December 28 fire, officials could not find an alternative location, so services were suspended until further notice. Services resumed on January 10 in Plano and on January 12 in Richardson.
Republic Services found a temporary site to process recyclable waste. With services back up, the City of Plano says it will prevent 90 tons of materials from going into the landfill each day.