As a community so proud of our annual cycling event, “home of the Hotter’N Hell Hundred,” known the world over for our hospitality during the HH100 weekend, it’s time Wichita Falls extends that same hospitality to its own cyclists year round.

As classes began this semester, while driving to campus, I watched as a classmate fought her way across the traffic on Taft. Like a live action version of Frogger, she bobbed and weaved between cars while trying to make it onto campus.

I have been riding my bicycle in major urban areas for more than ten years. Dallas, Austin, New York, San Francisco, and more, but never have I been as nervous as I am while riding my bike eight blocks to campus in Wichita Falls. So, instead of a short ride, I opt to waste my money on gas and drive.

Unlike myself and my more experienced mates on the cycling team, who ride an average of 20 to 30 hours a week, the average student does not feel safe enough to ride their bikes through the busy streets to campus.

Awkward, uncomfortable, and dangerous would best describe the average bicycle commuter at Midwestern State University. That fear to commute via bicycle could be changed by something as simple as a bike lane initiative.

As gas prices sky rocket and clean air is becoming a commodity, cities across the nation are embracing bicycle culture.

Bike lanes are an affordable way for cities to reduce congestion, encourage healthy active living, and promote community safety.

Bicycle lanes say, “As a community, we care about our commuters and want them to be safe and sound while traveling. We want them to be healthy, fit, and capable of giving back.”

The average bike lane takes nothing more than an extra stripe of paint laid between two and four feet of the curb. The wide boulevard style roadways of Wichita Falls lend perfectly to the idea.

The slightly narrower roads, still plenty wide by city standards, would seem a reasonable exchange when you take into account the long term savings on roadwork.

Each cyclist on the road means one less car, one less 4,000 pound vehicle to do damage to the pavement, and one less engine polluting the environment.

Not only do bike lanes mean one less car on the road, they mean one less car in the parking lots.

We have all had that morning: running late, stuck in traffic, unable to find a parking spot. Now imagine zipping past traffic, riding right up to your building, locking up and heading inside with time to stop by the coffee bar for a drink before class.

Other colleges have it that easy. It’s time we demand that we have the same opportunity, the ability to choose an affordable and friendly way to get to school without risking our lives while doing so.

For the naysayers out there, those that scoff at the idea of riding a bike to college. Those who say, “It’s too hot,” “I can’t ride that far,” or “why waste money on bike lanes?” Just look to every other major college city.

Bicycles are the preferred method of transportation for college campuses across the nation. It’s time for the student body to get on board and demand that Wichita Falls helps facilitate our health, wellbeing, and freedom to commute in a safe manner.

The local bike path is a beautiful thing, but separate does not mean equal. It’s time we ask for bike lanes through the city streets, not just around the city parks.