That’s the question that was put to a number of Dallas residents as part of the city’s Complete Streets initiative, and the answer is surprising: 85 percent of us said we would happily give up at least 5 percent of our streets to facilitate walking and biking in the city.

Or maybe the answer isn’t so surprising, given that the 85 percent who said “yes” were talking about generic city streets as opposed to the street in front of their home or the one they use on the way to school or work every day.

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We’ll see if there’s a NIMBY backlash, I suppose, as the initiative gains steam. 

I noticed the discussion on the DMN’s website (the story is behind the paywall), and the question being raised was why the City couldn’t begin taking action now, as streets are being restriped and otherwise maintained, as opposed to waiting for another study to determine how and when to do whatever is going to be done. While things are being hashed, and re-hashed perhaps, Downtown, here’s a little light reading for you — I’m attaching a link to the Complete Streets presentation to the Council’s Transportation and Environment committee, which includes all kinds of statistics and maps and gives you a pretty good idea what’s going on, as well as reproducing two slides from the presentation here.

One slide shows the initial streets being targeted for walking/biking lanes and the other shows the question/answer to the 85 percent question referenced earlier.