Petition:

Pedestrianize Akard Street in Downtown Dallas (Elm-Main-Commerce)

1,179 signatures on petition started by Hexel Colorado on February 27, 2024. Last update was on April 3, 2024

Lisa Jordan was crossing Akard Street when a speeding car hit and killed her in Downtown Dallas, Texas, on August 6th, 2023. Walking “correctly” — i.e., walking when and where Lisa was “supposed to” walk — did not prevent a collision with a car turning left onto Akard from Commerce Street. The vehicle continued to crash into the Chophouse Burger on the corner of Akard & Main Street.

Conflicts with cars are a daily threat to pedestrians’ safety in Dallas.

This petition calls upon the City of Dallas to convert the portion of Akard Street between Elm and Commerce into a pedestrian mall by placing traffic barriers at the south crosswalk of the Akard & Elm intersection and the north crosswalk of the Akard & Commerce intersection.

Using the definition on pedbikesafe.org, a “pedestrian mall” is a street segment that prohibits motor vehicle traffic, aside from emergency access and time-limited essential activities such as trash pick-up and service deliveries. In the context of this petition, the phrase “pedestrianize Akard” refers to conversion as described above. “The Akard segment” refers to the portion of Akard Street between Elm St and Commerce St.

Six Reasons to Pedestrianize Akard

  1. Prevent further injury and death.
  2. Car access is unnecessary in the Akard segment.
  3. Enhance walkability near public transit.
  4. Accommodate bicycles and scooters.
  5. Provide open space for retail and hotels on Akard.
  6. Make downtown more fun and interesting!

Reason #1: Prevent further injury and death

Headlines say Dallas has “the worst drivers” among large cities in the United States. This conclusion is based on a Forbes study that ranked Dallas as:

  • 7th-highest total fatal car crashes
  • 3rd-highest number of crashes involving a drunk driver
  • 4th-highest number of fatal crashes involving speeding

It’s useless to wish people would “just drive better” in Dallas. The best way to prevent crashes is by reducing the opportunities for conflict between pedestrians and cars in the first place. The easiest way to do that is by blocking car access to spaces where car access is unnecessary.

Reason #2: Car access is unnecessary in the Akard segment

There are no parking garages with entrances or exits in the Akard segment. Vehicle access to the segment can be limited to service, delivery, and emergency vehicles. Any car trips that would have taken Akard Street would not need to detour more than a block to reach their destinations on Elm, Main, and Commerce Streets.

Reason #3: Enhance walkability near public transit

Akard Street is at the center of a light rail station serving all train lines and two bus stops serving almost every bus route downtown. This means the Akard segment possibly has the highest amount of daily foot traffic in the city.

With so many people from all walks of life — all ages, abilities, classes, races, beliefs, physical and mental conditions — it only makes sense that walking on the Akard segment should be as useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting as possible. (Notice how these are the four qualities of author Jeff Speck’s 4 Ways to Make a City More Walkable)

Reason #4: Accommodate bicycles and scooters

There are only a few protected bicycle lanes and tracks downtown. Thus, people on bicycles and scooters often ride on the sidewalk alongside pedestrians instead of on the roadbed. By removing the danger of car traffic on the Akard segment, more people on bicycles and scooters will choose to ride on the roadbed instead of the sidewalk, resulting in even fewer crashes and injuries among pedestrians.

Pedestrianizing Akard also provides an opportunity for proper bicycle and scooter parking, keeping the sidewalks and curbs clear for other uses.

Reason #5: Provide open space for retail and hotels on Akard

Permanent establishments along the Akard segment, such as the Magnolia and the Adolphus Hotel, currently have little to no public outdoor space. By pedestrianizing Akard, permanent establishments would effectively have a “public patio” that they can use to enhance the street life for their customers and the general public.

As a new, flexible public amenity, the pedestrian mall may attract new tenants to the many available storefronts on Akard today.

Reason #6: Make downtown more fun and interesting!

For the small price of a one-minute detour for a handful of motorists, we make the center of our city safer, fun, and vibrant for everybody — pedestrians and motorists alike!

This petition will be declared a success when the City of Dallas puts forth a concrete plan for pedestrianizing Akard. Please sign and share this petition to help make that happen!

April 3, 2024

Akard Street Campaign Has Begun

With over 1,110 signatures and an interview on the front-page of Dallas Morning News, we held our campaign kickoff meeting last Thursday, March 28th. This campaign is about more than just fixing one street; our mission is to establish a blueprint for anyone to launch their own campaign in their neighborhood. This campaign is for anybody who wants to either help make the Akard Street pedestrian mall a reality and/or wants to learn the process for fixing a dangerous road and stepping up where our city won’t.

I’ve modeled this campaign after Strong Town’s Crash Analysis Studio, a free online course teaching you how to “conduct your own studio and change the conversation about safe streets in your place.” The course is easy for people without a technical background and takes around 2 hours to complete. You don’t need to take the course to participate in this campaign, but I highly recommend it if you’re considering launching a campaign!

Want to get involved? Send an email to hexelcolorado@gmail.com.
March 5, 2024

[ONLINE MEETING] Akard Street Campaign Kickoff 3/28 Thursday 6:00 PM

Our petition has over 1,110 signatures and three different news stories, including an interview on the front-page of Dallas Morning News, What’s our next move?

Please join our campaign kickoff virtual meeting this Thursday, March 28, 6:00pm! This campaign is about more than just fixing one street; our mission is to establish a blueprint for anyone to launch their own campaign in their neighborhood. Tomorrow’s meeting is for anybody who wants to either help make the Akard Street pedestrian mall a reality and/or wants to learn the process for fixing a dangerous road and stepping up where our city won’t.

Google Meet joining info Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ngs-hpyj-gjr Or dial: ‪(US) +1 405-346-8234‬ PIN: ‪960 877 694‬# More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/ngs-hpyj-gjr?pin=7299956925636

Here is our campaign road map outlining events and actions between now and the end of our campaign. The kickoff meeting is your opportunity to make suggestions for our roadmap and timeline, and to volunteer for tasks on the board.

If you have any questions, including media inquiries, please email me at hexelcolorado@gmail.com. For more urbanism events and actions, signup for emails at DallasUrbanists.com and/or follow @DallasUrbanists on Instagram.
March 5, 2024

700+ Signatures, Press Inquiries, New Visuals, Emails to Council, and Fixing More Roads

In our first week, 68% of signatures came from Dallas, and 91% came from across the DFW area. Our first news report came from CW33 within 24 hours of launch. I’ve since spoken with reporters from Dallas Morning News and D Magazine, who may post stories either about or mentioning our petition sometime this week.

If just a third of you reading this email ask one sibling, parent, neighbor, friend, or colleague to sign this petition, we will blow past a thousand signatures in record time!

New visuals, same proposal

One of the things that excites me the most about the solution proposed in this petition is how incredibly unsophisticated and cost-effective it is. Who would disagree that saving lives and preventing injury is worth the price of a couple of traffic barriers?

After a week of talking to people and fielding questions, I’ve added new photos and illustrations that clearly show how the pedestrianization of Akard St would work and what the result might look like.

Email this petition to City Council

If you’ve already signed this petition, you can support our cause further by emailing this petition to Councilman Paul Ridley (representative of District 14, which includes Downtown Dallas) and Councilman Omar Narvaez (chair of the City’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee).

CM Paul Ridley: paul.ridley@dallas.gov CM Omar Narvaez: omar.narvaez@dallas.gov If you don’t know what to say in your email, you don’t need to say much! It’s totally fine to copy-paste the message below.

Hi Paul Ridley,

I support this petition to pedestrianize Akard St in Downtown Dallas. https://chng.it/tpmqdW9GMz

Regards, [your name and city]

At this stage, making our petition impossible to ignore through quantity is more important than crafting a high-quality email. Although, if you did want to add your personal touch or story, you’re more than welcome to!

Fixing more dangerous roads in Dallas

In the days since launching this campaign, some of you have shared personal stories of tragic deaths or injuries on roads all across this city.

This petition was started out of the frustration we all feel when we report dangerous and fatal road conditions, yet nothing changes. I hope that by winning this campaign, we define a blueprint for justice. Every time someone dies in a vehicular crash in Dallas, we need to stop playing the game of “Who’s at fault?” Something about the road must change.

If you want to share a story, please email me at hexelcolorado@gmail.com or DM @DallasUrbanists on Instagram.

If you want to start or help lead a campaign to fix a deadly road, enroll in the Strong Towns Crash Analysis Studio, a free online self-paced course that teaches you how to start and run your own “crash analysis studio.” After finishing the course, email or DM me about organizing a campaign in Dallas.
February 28, 2024

Dallas Urbanists Happy Hour Social — see Akard Street & talk about petition!

Want to see what traffic is like on Akard Street today and/or meet fellow urbanists to talk about walkability, housing, and transportation?

Then come and meet us!!

From @DallasUrbanists on Instagram:

We’re having a joint @neighborsdtx + @dallasurbanists social because we’re excited about our new growth (over 7K new followers in just the last 3 weeks!) & want our community to grow IRL as well as online.

The DMs from many of you these last couple of months are inspiring & motivating!! I feel incredibly excited about what’s in store for #Dallas in the coming months.

To give y’all an idea why our community size matters… a “large public turnout” at a City Hall meeting usually means ~20 people. The vast majority of public meetings have 0 to 4 people show up. Yet these meetings decide the fate of the entire city! If just 1% of our followership showed up at City Council, that’s 125 people!! At 2%, there wouldn’t be enough seats in Council Chambers!!! Imagine how much we could transform our city if a fraction of us show up.

So, full transparency, next Friday’s social is me testing the waters: out of 12,575 followers, what percentage might show up in person? Of those who do come, what are your top interests? What energizes y’all the most? What topics need the most public awareness & educational material?

Mark your calendars. Bring a friend to make a friend from. See you soon!

Last sync with GitHub on April 10, 2024 7:27 am

Project Title: Akard Street Campaign

Project Description: Modeled after Strong Town's Crash Analysis Studio, this campaign is for anybody who wants to either help make the Akard Street pedestrian mall a reality and/or wants to learn the process for fixing a dangerous road and stepping up where our city won’t.