After only three days on the job, Julie Anderson was starting to realize her real office wouldn’t be in Denton’s city hall but instead on its streets and sidewalks.
"There's always room for improvement,” Anderson said, looking over the sidewalks along McKinney Street. “You can always improve the connectivity. You can in-fill your sidewalks. You can always make in safer for bicyclists."
Anderson started this week as the city’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, which is a position aimed at improving the overall landscape and situation for Denton’s non-motorists.
Anderson comes to Denton after working for the past two years to better the city of Topeka’s biking master plan and said she sees such positions becoming more common in the U.S.
"I think everywhere across the country ‘bike and peds’ is taking off,” she said. “Lots of people can see the benefits of riding your bike or walking."
It’s definitely been a topic on minds in Denton for some time.
With two universities in town the cyclist population has been steadily growing for years, and there’s been an ongoing push by many to see better infrastructure like bike lanes in the downtown area.
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More recently though it’s the pedestrian side of the city that’s been front and center.
On Jan. 15 Brenna Taylor, a Sherman native who was studying at Texas Woman’s University, was hit and killed crossing Bell Avenue near campus. Police determined that Taylor was not crossing at a designated intersection and failed to yield to the car.
Immediately following the accident, City Councilman Kevin Roden and other community members made a call for more attention to pedestrian safety and infrastructure in town.
“When it comes to pedestrian safety, you’ve got a lot of people that need to be watching out for one another,” said Roden.
Denton police spokesman Ofc. Ryan Grelle said since 2002, only 12 of the 123 people killed in traffic accidents in the city were pedestrians.
Some residents in town point to jaywalking near the universities and on the downtown square as safety issues, as well as vehicles going too fast in pedestrian heavy areas.
Anderson said that’s why education for both drivers and pedestrians is often one of the biggest needs she sees.
"I feel like lots of times knowing is half the battle,” said Anderson. “I just really feel like if people know what they're supposed to do and what they're allowed to do than that's the first stepping off point of getting people to be safer."
Anderson said she looks forward to working with safety leaders and the city council on ways to make Denton a stronger, safer community for everyone that shares the streets.
