Steve's Commute Route

First things first - my overall commute route takes me from Colleyville to Alliance Airport. It's got a lot of different conditions that illustrate the finer and the less fine aspects of bicycle commuting. But first, here's the entire route, at least as close as I can make it on Google Maps.I'll refer back to this post when I talk about things like "the freight train workaround" and "failsafe turning."

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You'll note that some parts of it look somewhat like a maze, but most of them represent the quickest and shortest option.

Just a few notes, warts & all:
I actually take Bear Run and the MUP from there to reconnect with Bear Creek. Shorter & cooler, though it has wooden bridge decks that are slippery when wet.

I unapologetically cut through the Colleyville PD overflow parking lot (you'd have to see it to understand) to take Church Street over to Pleasant Run (the street's been realigned & Google is wrong)

Only in the morning, I cut through the Walmart parking lot (it actually shows as a road on Google Maps). There's not much action there at 6:30AM and it allows me to bypass two slow traffic lights that are difficult to trigger on the best of days. A word of warning here - parking lots are not ususally a smart move for people or machinery, but hold your tongues until I explore the rare exceptions in a future post. I'll also post experiments you can run yourself if you're from the "trust but verify" school of cycling.

Route home is slightly different to take advantage of traffic patterns. For example, I turn from Katy to Keller Hicks and then south on Hwy 377. This lets me get across 1709 easily and quickly, with few conflicts and no sluggy cars slowing me down. I also shoot home down Hall Johnson - it's four lanes and signals are much more pleasant than the narrow Glade or Cheek Sparger, and their clogged up four way stops. I also go up Westport to Old Denton Road. Alliance Gateway Fwy doesn't work well for the trip home.