Paula,
The best recommendation to make is that the road be
built with a paved shoulder so there is room for bikes, pedestrians AND motor
vehicles. As a bike board member (and personally as well) my experience
has been that dedicated bike lanes confuse motorists about where bikes are
allowed - essentially giving them the mistaken impression that they don't belong
in the traffic lane. Under state and
federal law bicyclists are a vehicle subject to the same rights and
responsibilities as any other vehicle operator, so they should be in the vehicle
lane except when there is overtaking traffic (ie when they are going below the
speed limit).
Thanks for bringing up this issue. I've cc'ed
this to the bike board. I don't believe the road is in the city limits,
but it certainly feeds alot of traffic to the city - many of whom are
potential cyclists. I'll call Chet today and ask him about the
issue.
Sorry if it sounded like a rant.
Nick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 8:15
PM
Subject: "Improvements" to Van Voorhis
Road
Dear Bill and Nick,
Tim and I
attended the "Road Service Fee" meeting last night, and I was intrigued when
Chet Parson said a bike lane or trail was proposed to go down Van Voorhis Rd.
and end at West Run Rd. The following is my note to him asking him to
"connect" the lane/trail all the way to the Mon River Trail (Rail
Trail). I thought I would keep you both in the loop. Maybe
you were aware of this already (?).
Thanks to you both for all your
good work to make Morgantown a more walkable and cyclable
place!
paula
Subject: Improvements for Van
Voorhid Road [yes, I spelled Van Voorhis
incorrectly!]
From: "Paula Hunt" <pjhunt@xemaps.com>
To:
parsons@plantogether.org
Dear Mr. Parsons,
During the meeting
at South Middle School last night I was interested to
hear that one of
the suggested road improvements was safe bicycle access
along Van Voorhis
Road ending at West Run Road. I respectfully ask you to
consider
continuing the bicycle lane all the way down to the Rail Trail at
the end
of Van Voorhis Road. Stopping at West Run is sooooooo close,
but
not close enough. I calculate that it will only add 1¼ miles to
the bike
lane. As you know, VanV Road is steep, narrow, and twisty
down there, and
a lot of people live on it. A bike lane would be an
inexpensive and
welcome improvement.
I'm sure you know that many
people use the Trail to commute in to
Morgantown. I live along the
newly opened northern section of the Mon
River Trail, and I know a few
people who live in Point Marion and are
using the Trail to commute to
work in Morgantown. The number of cyclists
that go by our house all
times of the day is amazing! My husband is now
riding his bike to
work at the University via the Trail. Many others
travel from the
south. Students living in The District could safely
access the
Trail. I'm sure you agree that linking the Trail to
neighborhoods,
major apartment blocks, schools, and major employers will
get a lot of
people out of their cars. As you know, bike lanes and
walking
trails are much cheaper to build than roads. Perhaps we could
do
them as a first step rather than as a last step?
I wish *I*
could ride the Trail to work!
Thanks for all your time with
this,
Paula Hunt
Treasurer
Mon River Trails
Conservancy
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