Pharr District Bicycle Plan

If you have any issues navigating or interpreting the content, please call 512-486-5977.

Welcome

Welcome to the Pharr District Bicycle Plan! This Story Map provides an interactive way to view existing conditions and needs of people using Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) roadways to bicycle across Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Starr, Willacy, and Zapata counties.

The Pharr District Bicycle Plan presents a data- and community-driven set of priorities and guidance for meeting the specific biking needs of the Pharr District. This plan provides:

  • An analysis of existing bicycling needs that prevent people from being able to ride safely;
  • A set of prioritized segments of TxDOT roadways;
  • Bikeway functions indicating how bikeways are likely to be used; and
  • Refinements to regional long-distance bicycling routes.

This Story Map is a companion to the  Pharr District Bicycle Plan Summary Report , a more detailed written document that is available on the TxDOT website. The Summary Report includes background about this project, its process, and next steps for meeting the needs of people bicycling in Pharr District.

We encourage you to use this Story Map to view conditions and priorities in your community! Scroll down to view bicycling conditions and analysis in Pharr District.

Please note that the geographic and mapping information presented on this web page is for informational purposes only, and is not suitable for legal, engineering, or surveying purposes. Mapping products presented herein are based on information collected at the time of preparation. Toole Design Group, LLC makes no warranties, expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of the underlying source data used in this analysis, or recommendations and conclusions derived therefrom.

Plan Timeline

The Pharr District Bicycle Plan kicked off in August 2022 and was developed in four distinct phases over a period of a year and a half: Existing Conditions, Needs Assessment, Prioritization, and Plan Development. It was developed in coordination with Connecting Texas 2050, the statewide long range transportation plan, which provided data and planning goals to the bicycle plan.

Pharr District Today

Pharr TxDOT District

The Pharr District spans eight counties throughout the Rio Grande Valley and along the United States-Mexico border, and includes 11 border crossings. The combination of international overland shipping plus the significant agricultural activity across the Rio Grande Valley leads to high levels of freight truck travel, which creates major barriers for people bicycling along or across the state highway system. These roadways can present barriers to safe bicycling, especially in areas with high trucking volumes on many of the district’s routes.

The following maps describe general conditions on the TxDOT system. A more detailed exploration of these conditions is available in the Summary Report; key highlights are summarized here.

State Highway System

Connecting the Pharr District’s cities and places are 2,418 centerline miles of TxDOT roadways. People may bicycle along 90% of the Pharr District’s state highway system, including rural highways, at-grade roadways that function as thoroughfares in cities and towns, and frontage roads adjacent to access-controlled highways. The remaining 10% of the district’s roadways, or about 235 miles, are limited access highways where bicycling is not allowed.

Existing and Planned Bikeways

Though bicycling is permitted in most places, many TxDOT highways in the Pharr District do not feature dedicated bikeways. The most common bikeway type is bike-accessible or paved shoulders where users may ride in the wide outer area of the roadway adjacent to the travel lane. Overall, 52% of roadways along the state highway system where bicycling is permitted feature some form of bikeway.

There are approximately 69 miles of striped bike lanes, 4 miles of buffered bike lanes, and 1 mile of shared lanes in Pharr, with the majority of the bike lanes located in Hidalgo County. Meanwhile, paved bikeable shoulders are present in all counties across the District, including along state and US highways in more rural areas. At the local level, there are growing networks of both on-street bikeways and hike-and-bike trails in incorporated communities such as McAllen, Pharr, and Brownsville.

Collisions Involving People Bicycling

From 2017 to 2021, 292 bicycle-involved crashes occurred on the state highway system, resulting in 14 fatalities and 29 serious injuries. Bicyclist-involved crashes in the Pharr area have historically been concentrated in larger communities such as Brownsville and the greater Harlingen area, with major hot spots along I-69E frontage roads and other high-speeds highways.

Other areas of safety concern include TxDOT highways that also function as main thoroughfares through cities, and highways that connect to international bridges. Important examples include SH 4 and SH 48 through Brownsville. These important connectors for residents and visitors who travel across the border with a bicycle endure key safety challenges.

Community Needs

Expanding access to safe, comfortable bicycling options in across the Pharr District would allow residents greater access to jobs, transit, day-to-day needs (e.g., grocery stores) and other community resources.

Improved transportation options are particularly important given the socioeconomic conditions across the Pharr District – demonstrated in the map to the left of census tracts with high shares of zero car households. In addition, over half of households (56%) fall below the 200% federal poverty line, while approximately 30% of Pharr District’s households are cost-burdened by their housing situations. In addition, a higher share of residents are below the age of 18 than the state overall.

Bicycle Needs

This map displays needs across Pharr District for people bicycling along the highway. Geographic data from TxDOT and other public sources provide insight into places where on-system bikeways and roads may not meet the needs of people traveling by bicycle. Some bikeway needs extend along segments of state highway system roads, while other types of needs affect intersections or other crossing locations.

Overall, 87% of the state highway system in the Pharr District exhibits at least one bicycling need. Locations are identified as having needs if they met one or more of the following criteria:

  • High Stress Bikeway
  • No Bikeway
  • Gap between Existing Bikeways
  • Access to Schools
  • Bicycle Tourism Trail Needs
  • Lack of Crossing Opportunity
  • High-Stress Crossing
  • Water Crossing Need
  • Locally Identified Needs

Recommendations

To guide TxDOT’s future efforts to improve bicycling in the Pharr District, the bicycle plan recommends:

  • Priority locations for advancing bikeway projects,
  • Bikeway functions that indicate how different routes may be used by people bicycling, and
  • A refined set of Bicycle Tourism Trails routes to support long-distance riding.

These recommendations are meant to guide TxDOT and its partners as they determine where, when, and how to invest in bikeway improvements. The plan does not identify specific projects or determine the best way to meet a particular bicycling need.

Prioritization

The priority categories assigned to highway segments indicate where bikeway improvements are most needed in the district, as determined through a set of factors related to safety, connectivity, community input, and other TxDOT goals. Priority categories are only assigned to highway segments where bicycling needs have been identified.

For the Pharr District, high-priority segments include US 77 Business Loop through Harlingen, SH 48 from Brownsville towards South Padre Island, and various segments along US 281, including central Brownsville and around the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge near the City of Pharr.

Bikeway Functions

The bikeway functions identified for the Pharr District provide guidance for bikeway design decisions. Nearby land uses provide insight into how residents and visitors are likely to use the state highway system to travel by bicycle. Bikeway functions are only assigned to highway segments where bicycling is permitted.

Roadways located within the cities and more urban areas are predominately identified as all-ages bikeways. More vulnerable riders including children and older adults may want to use these routes to bicycle to nearby destinations such as recreation centers and schools.

Daily travel bikeways are identified within cities and other urbanized areas where people live in close proximity to destinations. These should be designed to meet the needs of riders who travel by bicycle to get to work, run errands, and meet other daily needs. Examples include segments of SH 336 and SH 115 to the south of Military Hwy and SH 336 in the greater McAllen area.

Long distance bikeways indicate routes that may serve recreational bicycle trips and support bicycle tourism. They are primarily located on rural roadways and may attract recreational riders of varying skill levels. These routes include Bicycle Tourism Trails, which are described in the next section of the Story Map. Examples of long-distance bikeways include US 77, SH 186, and US 83 to the west of the McAllen metropolitan area.

The majority of the Pharr District’s rural highways are designated as basic bikeways. These are routes where only occasional bicycle travel may be expected. Examples include FM 1420 to the north of Rio Hondo through northern Cameron County and Willacy County and FM 3167 to the north of Rio Grande City in Starr County.

Bicycle Tourism Trails

Texas’s Bicycle Tourism Trails are a series of recreational and tourism-focused bicycling routes that connect to statewide and regional destinations, with regularly-spaced stops at small towns and other travel resources.

The Pharr District Bicycle Plan recommends several refinements to the original 2018 Example Network developed by TxDOT in the  Bicycle Tourism Trails Study  and identifies new connections that can expand the set of destinations that are accessible for residents and visitors to the region.

Important revisions include the designation of US 281 between Hidalgo and Los Indios as a BTT route in lieu of US 83. This realignment reflects the presence of continuous lower-stress bikeways with direct access to recreational and tourist destinations such as the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

Next Steps

The Pharr District recognizes that this plan is a first step that, while significant, only begins to address the need for bicycle improvements on the state transportation network. Planning for a multimodal system is an ongoing process, and needs evolve and change over time. The Pharr District is committed to working with partners on making the state transportation network safer and more comfortable for all users, especially those on bikes.

TxDOT and its partners will be able to use this plan’s analysis and recommendations to advance bikeway improvements in a number of ways:

  • TxDOT can improve bikeways as a part of a larger roadway project.
  • TxDOT and its partners can seek dedicated funding for a standalone bikeway project.
  • TxDOT can find low-cost ways to improve bikeways through quick-build, maintenance, and pilot projects.
  • Local and regional government partners can work with TxDOT to champion, fund, and even construct bikeways on the state highway system.
  • Local governments can require developers to improve bikeways when they construct new buildings, campuses, or neighborhoods.

The  Summary Report  contains more information about the different ways the Pharr District and its partners can fund and build bicycling improvements.

Thank you for viewing the Pharr District Bicycle Plan Story Map!