Bicycle
RECORD OF MEETING
DATE, TIME, LOCATION:
PRESENT: Kevin McLaughlin (
MEETING TOPICS: Updates on
Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail maintenance; regional bike/hike map; draft
"new players" outreach mechanism/mailing list; TEA-21 Transportation
Enhancements Program; current highway projects.
Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail Maintenance
Group discussed draft letter (distributed
at the meeting) to communities along the Trail inquiring about maintenance
practices, determined that a one-page checkoff-type survey form would be better
way of ensuring that responses can be considered against each other with
consistent levels of detail to the responses.
Paul Russell and CDTC to develop conceptual survey
form and pilot-test it on the Town of
Ivan Vamos suggested that the
cover letter should also include mention the Trail's importance to tourism and
local recreation, to convey a sense of the Trail’ importance to the community.
Regional Bike/Hike Map
Work on an informational writeup
on the effort to develop a new map (Action Item 1 of the November meeting
record) is underway.
Printer of Mohawk-Hudson Trail
map has gone out of business; to identify alternative means of getting map
prepared, Katherine Forster has been working with printing broker CDTC uses for
many of its public communications efforts.
At this writing, the basic approach to creating the map had been determined
-- a combination of the printer's "scanning in" everything except the
large NYSDOT base map, CDTC preparing a new base map using its
Potential "New Players" Outreach/Prospects List
CDTC mailing list which would
serve as the starting point for identification of potential new players in the
Task Force is actually quite large, containing roughly 925 entries. CDTC staff to work to reduce the size of list to more manageable
volume before passing it on to the Task Force at the April meeting.
One point which came up in reviewing the list is that while many names
or organizations on the large list should indeed not be considered for the Task
Force, many which at first glance might not be relevant are in fact -- for
example, there has never been a highway superintendent, chamber of commerce
representative or airport representative on the Task Force, but it could be
argued that the perspectives of these sorts of people could be valuable. Thus, as either an alternative to or a
replacement for a list of potential members, there will be a list of "new
member types" to consider.
TEA-21 Transportation Enhancements Program
$1 million was included in CDTC’s
1999-2004 Transportation Improvement Program -- and designated for program year
1999-2000 -- for “unsuccessful, highly-rated” Transportation Enhancements
Program (TEP) candidates.
“Highly-rated” refers to how
candidates fared in the CDTC staff evaluations of TEP candidates; there would
not be a re-evaluation or a solicitation of other candidates for the CDTC
funds, but rather the CDTC would likely simply “go to the ranked list” and fund
roughly $1 million worth of projects which did not get funded through the TEP.
Don Odell and Monique Wahba
briefly discussed early consideration of a joint city/county TEP project in
Current Highway Projects
p/u here
The basic “motor vehicle
solution” being considered for this corridor is to create a new, four-lane
facility designed to arterial standards as a way of getting from Route 7 to the
Airport and on down tot he existing four-lane segment of Albany Shaker. The bike/ped issue is that of how to provide
bicycle and pedestrian access to the existing Albany Shaker Road development
(the new arterial would be built on a new alignment further to the west, on the
other side of the County Jail and other facilities currently fronting on the
west side of Albany Shaker Road); in addition, providing a continuous route
from Route 7 and the Mohawk-Hudson Bike/Hike Trail to Wolf Road is a concern
which the Task Force has previously noted.
An alternative means of providing
cyclists and pedestrians with both local access and a through route would
involve development of a trail connecting two “dead-ended” parts of the
existing Albany Shaker (it would be dead-ended in order to provide an extended
“clear zone” for the Airport’s east-west runway). The major concerns raised by project
designers and developers to date to date regarding this
Xx
Ivan: can we express the TF's concern re not
accommodating students who walk across route 4 to and from HVCC?
Xx
Group brought current on projs
w/potential b/p elements/ramifications
ACTION ITEMS
Ongoing
1.
Refinement of one-page writeup on
bike/hike map update effort to continue.
2.
CDTC staff to work with printing broker to develop
strategy for commissioning new Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail map with printing
broker.
3.
CDTC staff to work with Paul Russell to draft one-page
survey instrument for collecting information on Trail maintenance
activities/budgets from municipalities with responsibility for M-H Trail
maintenance.
New
4.
CDTC staff to present draft evaluation basis for
Transportation Enhancement Program proposals to Planning Committee at its April
7 meeting.
5.
CDTC staff to refine its mailing lists of general
interested parties, advocacy groups and the like to get a shorter list of
bonafide prospects for participation in the revitalized Task Force. Lists will be distributed at April meeting
(see details below) for the group to review for additions and changes.
6.
Next Meeting: