Planning is under way to add more bicycle lanes in Denton in coming years by restriping and widening streets and updating city codes, the City Council heard Tuesday.

Some changes could come soon, including proposals to restripe parts of Eagle Drive and Welch Street to remove one of four traffic lanes to create space for bicycles. Such a change would convert the four-lane streets to two-lane with a center left-turn lane.

Other changes, such as expensive road widening projects, would likely wait years until funding is available.

In the meantime, city staff members are working on various fronts to improve bicycle connectivity in Denton — a longtime goal at City Hall, city engineer Frank Payne said during an hourlong presentation to the council. Ideas include hiring a consultant to develop a bicycle master plan; creating a focus group of government officials and cyclists to advise the city; and working with the state transportation department, local universities and others to find ways to connect Denton through bicycle lanes and trails, Payne said.

“Our transportation system has historically been focused on the movement of motorized vehicles,” said Payne, who presented a 54-page report on bicycle connectivity to the council before the meeting. “But as far back as 1974, bicycling and pedestrian movement have been mentioned in our plans as concerns, and it’s something that the city needs to focus more attention to as we move forward.”

The presentation came on the heels of a public meeting on bicycle facilities that drew more than 60 people to the Civic Center on March 22. Attendees overwhelmingly favored adding more dedicated bicycle lanes in Denton, rather than the alternative of wider outside lanes shared by cyclists and motor vehicles, Payne said.

Council members asked questions throughout the presentation but did not make any decisions.

Council member Dalton Gregory, who has been pushing the issue, thanked Payne for a comprehensive report. Gregory attended an alternative transportation conference in Austin earlier this year and addressed the council’s mobility committee in February on ways to make Denton more bicycle-friendly.

“I’m particularly pleased that you guys are already finding … things that we can do right away to start addressing this,” Gregory said Tuesday, noting that the city’s 1999 master plan encourages walking and bicycle riding. “We’ve been saying it for a while, so what I’d love to see is for us to come back and … set specific goals.”

Bicycle riding should be a safe and legitimate form of transportation for anyone in Denton, not just expert riders, Gregory said. As it stands, Gregory said one of his daughters, who once rode a bicycle from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, doesn’t want to ride in Denton.

“The wide-lane concept doesn’t seem to be working in terms of drivers paying attention, and nobody seems to pay attention to the share-the-road signs,” he said.

The meeting attracted a group of cycling enthusiasts, many of whom arrived on bicycles. Tera Smith said she was encouraged to hear Gregory call for a planning process that focuses on moving people, not just vehicles, from one place to another.

The presentation was thorough, said Remington Pohlmeyer, another cycling advocate. But Pohlmeyer worries city engineers are making the process more complicated than it needs to be.

“I know this based on friends who have talked with engineers in Austin and such that some things are a lot easier and a lot faster and a little bit more efficient” than what Payne presented, Pohlmeyer said. “But I’m definitely happy to see that this is finally under way. It’s a little overdue.”

Denton currently has few dedicated bicycle lanes, although city leaders plan to add more as part of an ongoing drive to implement a 2002 downtown master plan and connect the University of North Texas campus to the planned commuter rail and bus station east of the Square.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .