Greg,
IMHO, as long as we keep diverting our attention from roadways they will become less and less safe and useful for transportation cycling.
The MPO plan is supposed to be a Transportation Plan for the Morgantown Metropolitan Statistical Area. When Chet says that the MPO plan is not our bicycle plan, I interpret that to mean that the MPO does not seriously consider cycling transportation.
Getting the kids from the new UHS onto the rail trail is nice but if we don't focus on making it safe for the kids to get from the rail trail to their homes or from their homes to school, we will have failed to provide Safe Routes to Schools.
IMHO, spending money on facilities that separate and segregate cyclists from traffic encourages motorists' notion that bicyclists don't belong on the road and discourages bicyclists from learning the riding-in-traffic skills that they inevitably need when they have to merge from those facilities into motor traffic, particularly at intersections, and therefore sets up both motorists and cyclists for crashes.
The MPO is always crying that they can't implement their recommendations because there's no money. Which takes less money: building separate roads for bicyclists and motor vehicles or building complete streets that accommodate all modes of transportation: pedestrians, bicyclists, mass transit riders and motorists? I said this to the MPO two years ago and I'll say it again today: as long as there are separate plans for bicycling, mass transit and motor vehicles, scarce resources will go to support more automobiles at the expense of other transportation modes and complete streets will never be realized.
Greg, because you are the most knowledgeable and connected, I would ask you to take the lead at guiding the Bike Board, the City and the State at obtaining grant money for implementing the infrastructure recommendations that we have made and for educating cyclists, public officials and motorists on Effective Cycling.
Frank
Greg Good wrote:
Frank and all, I apologize that once again I have a professional meeting getting in the way of the bike board meeting. This time I only go to Rosslyn, Virginia, not Italy or Germany!
A group met today to begin exploring grant possibilities for connecting schools to the railtrail, etc., and for now we decided to investigate connecting the new UHS to the trail north of Van Voorhis. Attending: Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (called the meeting), Chet Parsons (MPO), Ralph LaRue (BOPARC), Anita Mayer (MRTC), Ella Belling (MRTC), Nick Hein (Positive Spin), and me.
I also met with Chet for his input on the BFC application. He had two small editorial changes: 2020 should be 2030, and the MPO plan was approved in November, not December.
More important, he recommended that we not say that the MPO plan is our bicycle plan. He recommended that he say that it is the best guidance we currently have, but that we (the Bike Board) are working to produce a more comprehensive plan.
Greg
Frank Gmeindl fgmeindl@verizon.net 07/31/07 5:43 PM >>>
Bike Board Members,
Please find attached 2 files: the minutes of our last meeting and the agenda for this Thursday's meeting.
The Traffic Commission won't be meeting on their regular day this month, the day before our meeting. They'll probably have it shortly after our Thursday meeting so this Thursday, we'll have a chance to craft anything we want to deliver to them this month.
The minutes of the July TC meeting aren't out yet and I'm wishing I'd written a summary right after the meeting because I forgetting. But, here's my best recollection: At the July TC meeting, all but one or two of the TC members showed up an hour earlier than their regular starting time to participate in my 1-hour lecture on Transportation Cycling for Planners and Public Officials. Everyone was quite engaged and we had lively discussion about effective cycling and how transportation planning can facilitate or thwart effective cycling. I think most of the members now have a much better idea of how cyclists should ride in traffic and how planners, public officials and motorists should treat cyclists.
During their normal course of business, the TC unanimously voted to request the City Manager to implement the bike-and-chevron shared lane markings that we recommended for the streets over which the City has control. They also voted unanimously to ask the City Manager to meet with the State DOH to arrange to implement the markings on the streets that we recommended within the City that the state DOH controls.
During my presentation, Frank Devono, Superintendent of Schools, and Ted Shriver of Williams-Shriver architects presented their plan to move Prairie Avenue to accommodate Morgantown High School expansion. Trying to score some points I think following my presentation on cycling, they reported that they were going to retain the existing bike rack but move it across the street. After a long discussion, the TC practically directed them to include indoor bicycle parking in their design.
See you Thursday! Remember, rehydrate at every tee;)
Frank