RECORD
OF MEETING
BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN
ISSUES TASK FORCE
DATE/TIME/PLACE:
July 28, 1993, 2:00-4:00 PM, CDTC Offices
IN ATTENDANCE:
Brad Birge (CDRPC), Tom Nattell (Albany Peace and Energy Council), Don
Odell (Albany County Planning), Jeff Olson (NYSDOT Central Office Planning),
Don Robertson (NYSDOT - Region 1 Planning), Bert Schou (CDTA), Maggie
Vinciguerra (Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council), Steve Allocco
(CDTC)
DISCUSSION SUMMARY
Committee Membership:
To get additional inputs from the cycling community, CDTC staff will
continue attempts to get the New York Bicycling Coalition (NYBC) and the
Mohawk-Hudson Wheelmen (MHW) represented on the Task Force. Task Force members also suggested soliciting
the participation of county highway officials (to gain insights on the
construction and maintenance issues surrounding development of
bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure) and local college administrators (for
information on student travel behavior and needs), as well as Environmental
Planning Lobby (EPL) and NYPIRG staff.
In addition, it was suggested that public health, environmental, energy
and public works officials be contacted to get information on the health,
safety and environmental benefits of switching to non-motor vehicle
travel. (SEE "ACTION ITEMS"
BELOW)
Task Force Operations and Mission:
Clarification of the different missions of this Task Force and CDTC's
current Bikeway/Pedestrian Planning Study was requested. The key distinction lies in the Task Force's
longer-term focus on framing a future environment and identifying the policy
and programmatic requirements for non-motor vehicle travel to play a greater
role in the Capital District's transportation system, while the
Bikeway/Pedestrian Planning Study is focussing on current,
"nuts-and-bolts" problems of cycling/walking "trouble
spots" and developing a master plan with a map of desirable non-motor
vehicle transportation links. The Task
Force effort will benefit the Bikeway/Pedestrian Planning Study by sketching
out a future environment to "proactively improve," as well as in
developing a framework for achieving meaningful changes in the non-motor
vehicle travel system. It is possible
that the Master Plan for Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations will reflect a
philosophical "flow" from the findings of the Task Force.
Selection of a Chairperson was
deferred to the next meeting.
Early Exploration of Issues and
Options: A large portion of the meeting was spent in
free-form discussion of concerns. This
provided an opportunity for members to make any opening statements regarding
their own "pet" issues. In the
course of this exercise, which paralleled brainstorming in that the emphasis
was on stating problems rather than truly discussing them, a number of
important current issues came out, along with one or two likely goals to
be set forth in the early products of the committee's work. While preliminary, much of the concepts
offered were also possible actions to be pursued in the future. The attached page lists the keywords/phrases
which came out in the order they occurred; prior to the next meeting, the list
will be "regrouped" to isolate general themes or issue areas which
may evolve with continued discussion.
The Task Force set forth one goal
likely to be a theme of its reports:
that ALL DESTINATIONS SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE via bicycles and/or
pedestrian travel. Some of the other
keywords on the attached page suggest that in order to do this, existing
transportation infrastructure will need to be "retrofitted" with
elements such as bike racks on buses and pedestrian "safe zones"
(such as median islands on wide streets).
This goal, as well as the related keyword BARRIERS could be starting
points for discussions or the themes for entire meetings.
Data Needs:
Group members indicated that they will need objective data on projected
Year 2015 travel conditions in order to present a "backdrop" for
initial listings of issues, goals and alternative actions in the December
paper. To better flesh out the "pet
issues," group members suggested preparation by each other of short papers
listing concerns and opportunities to be considered at the next meeting.
Meeting/Logistical Issues:
While centrally located for single-occupant motor vehicle travel, it was
noted that transit coverage and cyclist safety is poor in the vicinity of the
CDTC offices. Furthermore, as Wolf Road
is a large employment and shopping area, getting to meetings can be
difficult. It was decided that downtown
sites, such as the Albany Public Library, would be readily accessible to Task
Force members. An additional advantage
of the downtown location is that more members work in downtown Albany than
anywhere else in the Capital District.
ACTION ITEMS
*
NYS Thruway Authority staff involved with NYSTA Canal System work
invited to participate in Task Force.
*
Followup letters soliciting involvement of NYBC, MHW to be sent out,
along with letters requesting participation of county highway officials, local
college administrators, EPL and NYPIRG.
*
Members to prepare background papers for distribution at next meeting.
*
CDTC staff to prepare documentation of Year 2015 transportation
conditions and investigations of potential for conversion of peak period travel
to non-motor vehicle modes.
*
CDTC staff to "restructure" listing of keywords/phrases
(attached) to point out general themes evolving in free-form discussions. Next meeting will use newsprint pads more
aggressively in effort to channel thinking towards development of December
report.
*
Next meeting: Wednesday, August
25, 1993, 5:30-7:30 PM. Preliminary
meeting location: Albany County Office
Building, 112 State Street. Additional
possible locations, including meeting rooms at Capitol and Empire State Plaza
Concourse will be explored.
*
Agenda to include: Some further
brainstorming; discussion of future travel conditions; discussion of future
concerns/issues; development of listing of key issues and goals. Early framing of action strategies possible.
Keywords/Phrases/Issues
Presented in Order of Occurrence
(NOTE: information in parentheses is an attempt to
"flesh out" the meaning of the keyword/phrase)
barriers
incomplete systems (ex: racks @ Emp State Plaza but no legal, safe
way to get to them)
county policies (road/trail
construction/maintenance)
pedestrian "safe zones"
(ex: median islands)
retrofitting
use NYS to set the tone? (support of
visible State agencies can make an idea more attractive)
Cap Dist/NYS have no organized,
strong bike/ped advocacy voice
latent demand for bike/ped travel
does exist (needs proper accommodation to make safer/more comfortable)
tourism potential as rationale to
invest in accommodations
examples exist to show that you can
get agency cooperation to push bike/ped
liability concerns
GOAL: ALL DESTINATIONS SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE
("mobility" goal revisited)
institute specific review of
proposals for possible bike/ped elements in TIP process?
improve interconnection at bus stops
bike racks on buses?
how to increase local input
(desires) and information (info regional bike/ped people can use)?
prepare a regional bike/ped map --
implications for local planning (if "carved in stone" on map
w/tourism, funding implications, locals may pay more attention to what's
represented in their areas)
bike/ped facility guidelines
capitalize on barge canal
greenway @ confluence of 2 river
corridors
promotion
regionalism
regionalism versus provincial
tendencies
promote cohesiveness
regional identity
bike/ped spending parity with
transit (journey-to-work shares are comparable, but no real $ spent on
bike/ped)
greenway trail program
strong bike interest in Hudson River
Valley
TO: Bicycle and Pedestrian Issues Task Force
Members
FROM:
Stephen A. Allocco
Transportation Planner
DATE: July
30, 1993
RE: July 28 Meeting Summary Material
Details on Next Meeting
Enclosed please find a summary of what was brought
to light during the July 28 meeting. As
is particularly evident from the
keyword/phrase listing, we covered quite a bit of ground in suggesting
issues to consider; future meetings will supplement this list to some degree,
but emphasize more focused thinking to develop specific "issues requiring
treatment" and alternative actions to address these issues.
Per a suggestion by Jeff Olson, yesterday I
discussed the Task Force's work with John DiMura of the Thruway Authority,
inviting him to participate. Given the
Authority's work with the Canal System, coordinating our work with theirs will
be important; John was receptive to this idea.
A reminder:
the next meeting will be Wednesday, August 25, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Our original plan to meet at the Albany
Public Library was scuttled, as they had no rooms available for that time. We have other downtown options -- Don Odell
is checking into room availability at the Albany County Office Building (112
State Street), and there are also meeting rooms available at the Capitol and in
the Concourse of the Empire State Plaza.
I will call or send out a notice of the meeting site when it is confirmed.
I'll be on vacation from later today through August
9th; when I'm back in town, I'll put together the Year 2015 travel conditions
information and try to restructure the "keywords" listing to isolate
themes to further focus our future work.
I'll also get "invitation to participate" packets out to the
county highway officials, college administrators, EPL and NYPIRG. In the meantime, if you happen to encounter
any of these people and wish to make the invitations yourselves, please do so.
I look forward to seeing you on the 25th.
Enclosure