UniChris

Narrowing streets, adidng curb bumpouts, etc unfortunately makes cycling in safe cooperation with other traffic much harder.

And "limiting visibily" is exactly what you do if you're purposely trying to get people killed - specifically less visible cyclists and pedestrians, and especially the shortest ones. It's the very fact that a lack of any occluding clutter at the intersection means one can so easily see cars (which, again, have the right of way) coming that mean this tragedy should never have happened.

This wasn't some mis-designed spot where a rail trail hidden by brush blindly crosses a road with geometry that only made sense when the train could drop crossing gates (and the railroad would have kept the brush trimmed back), this was an intersection actually designed for visibility.

Exactly backwards. Keep in mind this kid was killed ignoring traffic while crossing between segments of the existing "protected" network (sidewalks), demonstrating that the real danger is at intersections. Putting in lanes that misleading make cyclists think they can ignore other traffic only makes that worse. Plus there's no space for them - but there is suffcient width to safely bike and safely be passed by cars without conflict.

Reality is that there's always going to be a class of road (either local or rural) shared by cyclists and other vehicles, and what's needed is an understanding of how to operate there safely.

That street is fine to cycle on (both safe and efficient, in contrast to your proposal which is makes biking both slower and more dangerous) if both drivers and cyclists follow the rules of the road - and remember, there is nothing to suggest that the driver violated those, since Texas law would require even an actual pedestrian to have yielded to the vehicle on the privileged roadway.

If you want to build something that actually helps, widen Northpark Drive so that cyclists wanting to ride the mere mile and a half to local commerce have space drivers aren't also seeking, and/or turn the disused rail corridor to its north into a heavily used multi-use path.

But don't build a glorified sidewalk on Notrhpark and try to pass it off as a cycling route, because no matter what you call it, a sidewalk full of intersections is NOT a realistic cycling route in anything but desperation.

And don't ignorantly destroy the very things that make a street such as that in this incident safely and appealingly bikeable by those who actually understand how to bike safely.