Capital District Transportation Committee
Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force
Record of Meeting on
Attendance:
1.0
New Business
1.1
Bike Rack
Program Update
1.1.1 First Year of the program has been completed. 300+ bike racks were installed across the Capital District. CDTA has posted a map of all the bike rack locations at http://www.cdta.org/schedules_map_bike_rack.php
1.1.2 C.
Ward added that the 2011 program will begin in January with a revised MOU and
new applications will be solicited. The issue of providing better guidelines
and restrictions on the placement of the racks away from walls and in permanent
locations was raised.
1.2
NYSDOT Bicycle
and Pedestrian Advisory Council
1.2.1 J. Purvis reported on the August 2nd meeting, the first in several years. The meeting mostly composed of updates from NYSDOT and discussion on rumble strips policy.
1.2.2
1.3
Drivers on Cell
Phone Survey
1.3.1 Distracted drivers could be one of the greatest dangers to the most vulnerable of road users – pedestrians and bicyclists. Recent local and national surveys count that between 4 to 16 percent of drivers were on or using a cell phone violating state laws.
1.3.2 In
discussion on how to reduce use, J. Hogan mentioned a grant program that
targets cell phone violation enforcement, and
1.4
Capital Coexist
1.4.1 Outreach continues with recent tabling at Valley Cats game July 24th , 28th and Aug 3rd.
1.4.2 Capital Coexist is on Twitter with weekly safety tips. www.twitter.com/capitalcoexist. Capital Coexist/CDTC is slowly entering social networking websites, and a discussion was held that similarly for other public agencies, issues often arise on how best to use networking sites.
1.4.3 Other
future Capital Coexist outreach will include an ad spot in area movie theaters
and, as J. Hogan recommended attending, traffic safety board meetings.
1.5
Cycling the
1.5.1 The
12th annual event by Parks and Trails NY was held in July with a
turn out of about 500 riders. Pictures are available at http://www.ptny.org/canaltour/, as
well as information about 2011’s bike tour.
1.6
Local Project
Updates
1.6.1
1.7
“They just don’t
get it…..”
1.7.1 One
image of an incorrectly installed bike rack, and of an anti-share the road
license plate were shown.
1.8
Other New
Business
1.8.1 J. Levy spoke about the danger to bicyclists he observed when road pavement work is being done and a gap step is made in the pavement.
1.8.2 R. Malhotra announced that Safe Routes to School projects are going smoothly except in Colonie where an issue with right-of-way has arisen.
1.8.3 M. Wyatt suggested the idea that a program to collect and distribute second-hand bicycles would be good for the region to increase biking and awareness.
1.8.4 E.
Tremblay announced that the trails in
1.8.5 N. Ronsvalle announced that construction on the Champlain trails has begun.
1.8.6 J.
Purvis mentioned a recent Times Union article on Complete Streets (available
here: http://albarchive.merlinone.net/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=11608613)
and another from Boston Globe where a
resident is advocating against bicyclists (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/08/changing_lanes_not_so_fast/).
Purvis has also announced that the Route 50 Southern Gateway Study draft
document is completed and will be shared with the Task Force when finalized. He
also mentioned CDTC’s efforts to make display of the Transportation Improvement
Plan (TIP) more interactive on the web by using Google Maps and enabling public
comment.
2.0
Upcoming Events
2.1
Meetings Open to
the Public
2.1.1 Next
Bike-Ped Meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14,