Capital District Transportation Committee

Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force

Record of Meeting on August 11, 2009

 

Attendance: Don Odell (Albany Bicycling Coalition), Elaine Troy (NYSDOH), Jeff Gritsavage (NYSDOT), Raj Malhotra (NYSDOT Region 1 Planning), Jason Purvis (CDTC), Jen Ceponis (CDTC), Todd Fabozzi (CDRPC), Mila Vega (CDTA), Ivan Vamos (NYBC), Rob Leslie (Town of Bethlehem), Elaine Troy (NYSDOH)

 

1.0   New Business

 

1.1  Bicycle Education -- update –  CDTC and the City of Albany Planning Staff are working to together on a Bicycle Education Campaign which will be launched in early Spring 2010.  An RFQ went out for photography and design quotes and a firm has been selected.  The selected firm will conduct a photo shoot to recreate four messages, borrowed from the Fort Collins Colorado Coexist Campaign: (1) Ride Right, (2) Share the Road, (3) Eyes on the Road, and (4) Be Seen.  The final product will be used for bus advertisements, posters, educational presentations and slideshows, paycheck stuffers, etc. 

I.Vamos - The “Ride Right” message portrayed by Fort Collins is a little confusing and we should consider setting the photo up differently.   The “Share the Road” message should include a section on the V&T Law. 

E. Troy recommended CDTC and the City of Albany develop an evaluation strategy of the campaign to justify continuing the campaign in the future.  

 

1.2  Bicycle Parking w/CDTA –  Mila sent out a copy of the RFQ to the bike-ped group for comments.  Once a bike rack vendor has been selected, municipalities will be notified. 

 

1.3  Bike Map update -- draft will be available to mark up – The comments received thus far have been incorporated into the updates where possible.  It was decided that “use caution” would not be used to label intersections considered “dangerous” because we don’t want to draw attention to spots and/or imply that caution is not needed elsewhere along the trail. 

 

 

1.4  Local Project Updates

1.4.1.1  City of Albany Bicycle Master Plan – The draft plan will be distributed to the SAC soon for review and a final public meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 27 in the evening at the Albany Library Main Branch.

 

1.4.2       NYS Route 50, Saratoga Springs – This is a Linkage-type study funded with state planning and resource funds.  An REI has gone out in the Contract Reporter.

 

1.5  They just don’t get it -- Nothing new was reported.

 

1.6  Other New Business –

  1. R. Leslie reported that the Paths for Bethlehem Committee drafted a Complete Streets policy for the town which was adopted at a August Town Hall meeting. 
  2. E. Troy added that the Town of Rotterdam was revamping their Comprehensive Plan and will include Complete Streets language as well.  
  3. E. Troy has submitted letters to NYSDOT regarding inadequate shoulder design in the Route 43 (between Route 4 and Route 150) project.
  4. T. Fabozzi suggested everyone check out the NY Times article regarding Boston’s Bicycle Master Plan titled, “Boston Tries to Shed Longtime Reputation as Cyclists’ Minefield” (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/us/09bike.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Boston%20Bike%20Plan&st=cse)

 

2.0  Upcoming Events

 

The next CDTC Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force meeting is scheduled for September 8, 2009 at 4:30 PM