Capital
District Transportation Committee
Bicycle
and Pedestrian Task Force
Record of
Meeting on
Attendance: Herb Alfasso (MHCC), Mark
Cashman (MHCC/
Regrets: Ivan Vamos (NYBC), Don
Robertson (NYSDOT - Region 1)
1.0 AGENDA
There
were no changes to the March Task Force meeting notes.
2.0 UPDATE ON ACTION ITEMS
(
(
3.0 PROJECTS/PROGRAMS
3.1 Schuyler Flats Bike Trail: P. Russell received a grant
from Clean Water Clean Air. This grant
will enable him to start work on
-
Extend the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike trail south where it comes out at
-
Add a new parking lot on the west side of the I-787 at
-
Connect Schuyler Flats to
-
Connect to the Troy-Menands bridge (TIP
funding for bicycle accommodations on the bridge) and link to South Troy Urban
Bike path.
-
Continue the bike link under Route 378 and into the undeveloped land
beside the I-787 and create another
path leading back to
D.
Odell will look into who owns the Two Guys property (perhaps the Town or the
State could buy a bit of the property for the bicycle path). A contact at the
CDTA
is still forming its policies regarding this new program. Minors (13 or under) will not be allowed to
use the racks. The question of permits
for using the racks is still being decided.
There will need to be some information supplied to those who use the
racks. For example all bike pumps and
water bottles need to be taken off before the bike is put on the rack.
One suggestion was for CDTA to start the program and see how it works before deciding on whether to implement a permit policy. It was also suggested that CDTA make a presentation to the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club in regards to the operation of the racks. B. Schou does have a short video on the bike racks. He will bring it to the next Task Force meeting. The schedule for the program is as follows: April - route selection, May-June - RFP, Aug - Implementation.
3.3
Spot
Improvement Program: Staff received 17 projects from the municipalities in the Capital
District. These projects were evaluated
and then grouped into three categories: Category 1 - Projects recommended for
funding; Category 2 - Projects recommended for funding with some minor changes
and Category 3 - Projects that didn't really fit the intent of the program. The Category 3 projects would need some
scaling down and rescoping to be considered "Spot Improvements" by
the evaluation team.
The CDTC Planning Committee met on April 5 to discuss the program. Being that the funding for this program is federal-aid money, Planning Committee directed staff to verify with each municipality that they knew the administration procedure required by the federal-aid program and to encourage the municipalities to explore the possibility of bundling their project if the money was awarded. The decision regarding the awarding of the money was deferred until May.
The Task Force discussed the issue of sidewalks: the availability or lack of funding for sidewalk projects; the responsibility of the municipalities to maintain the sidewalks (and their liability if they are not maintained) and the method of snowplowing with the snow plows pushing the snow from the road onto the sidewalks adding to the snow that has to be cleared by the municipality.
3.4 TEA-21 Enhancement Program: The announcement for the
Enhancement Program Awards was made for the Region 1 area last month. The City of
The CDTC Enhancement Program will be discussed at the Planning Committee in June. Plans are to announce the program in June-July, ask for proposals to be submitted mid-summer and then award the money in September-October.
3.5
CDTC
It was reported at a previous Task Force meeting that the
funding had been awarded. CDTC staff is
now informing the recipients of this funding on how to proceed with their
projects. Some will be administered at
CDTC; some will be administered by private consultants. The Bicycle Path Master Plan for
The
Urban Bike Path Design Guidelines is a consultant's project. The City of
4.0 ONGOING TASKS
4.2
Regional
Bike/Hike Map:
CDTC staff has been collecting a lot of data in the last couple of months. Municipal bike routes are one of the items
still missing. Staff passed around a
couple of examples of different maps to further the discussion on what the new
map should look like. It will definitely
be in color but there will be an incredible amount of information on one
map. Blowups of sections and map size
will be an important consideration. The
Task Force commented that while information on bike shops was great to have, it
might be hard to keep the information up to date, especially on newer shops. Staff will prepare a map to show to the Task
Force at the next meeting.
5.1 USDOT Joint Statement on
Integrating Bicycling and Walking: The USDOT developed a
policy statement that bicycle and walking facilities will be incorporated into all transportation projects unless
exceptional circumstances exist.
This statement includes both the approaches to achieving this policy
that have already worked in some State and local agencies and action items that
a public agency, professional association or advocacy group can take to implement
the approaches and policy described above.
NYSDOT's
policy in regards to accommodating bicyclists and pedestrian facilities has
always stated that these must be
considered. The language has never
been written in such a way as to commit themselves to this type of integration
for all projects. D. Robertson
may be able to inform the Task Force at the next meeting as to whether NYSDOT
is considering adopting this new policy statement.
5.2 National Bike Month: The League of American
Bicyclists designates May as Bike Month.
The third week of May had been designated Bike Safety Week by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A couple of local organizations that are doing bike activities in May
are:
NYSDOH - The Division of Nutrition
has a program called: Eat Well - Play Hard.
They are planning a cross the state bicycle trip starting in
May
17 & 18 is National Employee Health and Fitness days. NYSDOH is promoting walking initiatives such
as sign-ups to walk on Wednesdays and walking in the park.
MHCC - The Cycling Club will
take part in Clifton Park Sports' Bicycle Expo on Saturday, May 20 from