City of Taylor seeks public feedback on upgrading sidewalks, trails for transportation plan

TAYLOR, TEXAS (KXAN) — The City of Taylor is looking for the public’s feedback on its sidewalks and trails for their Taylor Active Transportation & ADA Transition Plans.

On Thursday, the city hosted its first town hall meeting on this matter to gather public opinion. The City of Taylor told KXAN they plan to host more town hall meetings to continue that effort.

“We have a limited amount of funding, and so as we identify funding for sidewalk and shared use path and trail projects, we would like to already have a plan for where that funding should go,” said Daniel Seguin, the Communications director for the City of Taylor.

Currently there are two different sidewalk/trial projects set to begin for the city: One on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and the other in Bull Branch Park.

“This plan truly is going to affect how we build trails and sidewalks in the next five to 20 years,” Seguin said.

Public concerns over current sidewalk infrastructure

Eddie Chavez and Shannon Green work at the Taylor Bike Shop, and they both feel that investments are long overdue for the sidewalks.

“I tripped on one of the steps by my neighborhood and just fell over,” Chavez said. “These sidewalks are pretty rough.”

Following that fall, Chavez said that he injured his back and struggled to walk properly for a couple of months.

Moving around by foot, wheelchair, on bike, it’s just not it’s not very easy,” Chavez said.

“If you were on any sort of wheelchair, scooter, mobility helper—you have to go all the way up the block and come back down and around to get into the business over here,” Green said. “I think it deters people from shopping down here, for sure, and it’s dangerous, like I trip all the time, and I’m here every day.”

The City of Taylor told KXAN that they plan to finalize their Taylor Active Transportation & ADA Transition Plans sometime next Spring.