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A new map illustrates and celebrates San Antonio's growing greenway network

Davey Bemporad
Courtesy photo
/
William Long
Davey Bemporad

The city of San Antonio has expanded its hike-n-bike trail system for decades. Now, a San Antonian has stepped up to create a unique map detailing all those trails.

Davey Bemporad is one of those guys who spends a lot of time cycling.

“I am a lover of bicycles and riding,” Bemporad said. “I've been doing since I was a kid. And currently, I'm a bike commuter.”

Even his job revolves around bicycling. He is the trails and transportation planner with the Great Springs Project, which aims to create a greenway from San Antonio’s northeast side all the way to Austin.

The map he recently created is just for San Antonio. It details all of the city’s greenways.

“It's something that so many people I know in the bike community have been asking for,” he said. “And knowing that our Greenway trails were built by TxDOT and the city and the county and the River Authority. I thought it would just be a nice service to provide for, for my fellow cyclists. A comprehensive map.”

Bemporad's new bike map
Courtesy photo
/
Davey Bemporad
Bemporad's new bike map

A larger version of the map is available here.

“Importing all of that into a mapping software, and then working with that in Adobe Illustrator and various Adobe products to simplify and make it as pretty as possible and as legible as possible,” Bemporad said.

Bemporad’s map is similar to transit map designs in New York City or Washington D.C.

“It does take quite a few cues from various subway maps. People have been saying it's very similar to the Washington, D.C. subway system. And that's where I took a lot of my inspiration,” he said.

Now that San Antonio has reached that 100-mile designation of greenways, this map seems well-timed.

Davey Bemporad
Courtesy photo
/
William Long
Davey Bemporad

“I've ridden almost every one. So building the map out and with all the amazing data that these governments have available didn't actually take that long,” Bemporad said. “It was just putting the final touches and making it as pretty as possible.”

The city’s not done with trail-building, which he says is no problem.

“I'm going to be doing monthly updates to make sure that everything that gets rolled out in the city gets represented on the map. And I've already have an update that I'll need to do for the April edition,” he said.

Greenways are color-coordinated, and the map also traces the location of future trails.

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Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii