Undergraduate students attending Dr. Eric G. Bing’s Creating Impact in Global & Public Health (APSM 4355; ANTH 4345/6345, MNO 4345) course are preparing for the ninth Battle to Save Lives case competition. This year, students will present comprehensive strategies to increase community engagement and user safety along the proposed Dallas LOOP Bikeway, a trail which will bridge infrastructural gaps to bring together cyclists across the Dallas community.
The LOOP Bikeway is a revolutionary development that will connect 50 miles of existing trails along the Dallas landscape to make cycling accessible for all residents and unite neighborhoods in pursuit of well-being and sustainability. The bikeway includes the prominent Katy Trail, a familiar cycling, running, and walking trail that begins adjacent to the SMU campus and runs 3.5 miles into the heart of Dallas.
With the Katy Trail in high use, safety concerns arise with increasing cyclist presence along the LOOP development, particularly in high-traffic areas. While the Katy Trail may be a popular spot, other areas of the Dallas community, including South and East Dallas, often find their trails empty. With these challenges in mind, Dr. Bing tasks his students with the development of inventive solutions to increasing safe cyclist traffic along the Dallas LOOP Bikeway in this year’s case competition.
The competition, titled the “LOOP Bikeway Challenge,” is broken up into two parts. Half of the students will focus on developing a budget-neutral strategy for community integration, assessing and addressing barriers to bicycle transportation in South and East Dallas communities to encourage residents to use the LOOP Trail. The remainder of the undergraduates will focus on a different project: as the number of cyclists using the trail increases, they will develop a budget-neutral solution to increase safety and reduce bicycle accidents during high-traffic periods along the Katy Trail portion of the LOOP.
Two teams of students have taken to the trail to engage with East and South Dallas communities and learn of infrastructural barriers to cycling access from residents themselves. Undergraduates will use this data to recommend strategies for LOOP developers to ensure the bikeway remains accessible to all. Alongside Friends of the Katy Trail, the other two teams are collecting insight on potential safety concerns along the trail to develop inventive solutions to reducing cycling accidents with increased biking traffic.
Teams will present their proposals to Friends of the Katy Trail, Dallas residents, family, and friends at the Battle to Save Lives case competition.
Please join us on April 22nd to help select the winning team!
Event Details
Date: Monday, April 22, 2024
Time: 5:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall Auditorium, Room 114, 6404 Airline Rd, Dallas, TX 75205
Flyer with Parking Map: 2024 Battle to Save Lives Flyer
Additional Parking Information: Information available here
Accommodation: Any person who requires a reasonable accommodation on the basis of a disability in order to participate in this program should contact the Center for Global Health Impact at globalhealthimpact@smu.edu at least one week prior to the event to arrange for the accommodation.
Interested in learning more about our work? Visit our website, email us at globalhealthimpact@smu.edu and engage with us on Twitter.
Written by Ainsley Johnson, Research Assistant with the Center for Global Health Impact and the Institute for Leadership Impact.