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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMiscellaneous CITY OF COLLEGE STATION Post Office Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77842{)960 (409)764-3500 MEMORANDUM DATE: Planning and Zoning Commission Ed Hard, Transportation Planne~ September 8,1993 TO: FROM: RE: Bikeway Master Plan Attached find a copy of the draft Bikeway Master Plan. Once adopted by Council, it will serve as a guidelline for the development of bikeways in College Station. Staff requests your review, comment and recommendation on this plan prior to it going to Council for their consideration. Bikeways have been identified as a Council issue for the past couple of years. Staff first addressed this issue last August by developing a bikeway ordinance. It requires that bikeways be developed in accordance with a bikeway master plan and establishes bikeway design standards. The bikeway ordinance was unanimously supported by the paz and was subsequently adopted by Council. However, in order for it to be of value, a bikeway master plan is needed. The draft bikeway master plan was developed over a period of the past few months. Staff was fortunatE3 to have a student intern who was an avid cyclist and a member of the Texas A&M Cycling Team playa key role in putting it together. The draft plan identifies the general locations of bike routes, lanes, and paths. Some of the areas considered in developing the plan include existing biking patterns; on-street parking; the location of schools, parks, and multifamily housing; traffic volumes/conditions; and, street pavement and right-of-way widths. A bikeway focus group was formed to review and discuss the bikeway plan. The focus group included a representative from the City of Bryan, Texas A&M University, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Bicycle Coalition, the College Station Independent School District, the CSISD Parent Teacher Organization, the Texas A&M Cycling Team, and the local traffic engineering community. The group met twice and suggested adding numerous bikeways to the plan. Copies of the meeting minutes and their suggested revisions are attached. It is important that the City adopt a bikeway master plan in the near future in order for us to qualify for federal money available for building bikeways. Staff is currently working on two grant applications for bikeway projects in College Station. Under a recent federal transportation bill, millions of dollars have been set aside for transportation "enhancement" activities such as bikeways. In order fora City to be eligible for this money, the proposed project must be part of the community's bikeway master plan. Staff will provide details on our proposed bikeway enhancement projects at the meeting. cc: Jim Callaway, Asst. Director of Economic and Development Services Jane Kee, City Planner Home of Texas A&M University CITY OF COLLEGE STATION Post Office Box 9960 1101 Texas Avenue College Station, Texas 77842{)960 (409) 764-3500 MEMORANDUM FROM: Bikeway Focus Group Ed Hard, Transportation Planner!6#:- TO: DATE: September 2, 1993 RE: Bikeway Master Plan Revisions Attached please find a copy of the revised bikeway master plan. It shows the changes to the draft bikeway plan resulting from our meetings and reflects, as best as possible, the focus group's cumulative input. The Focus Group suggested adding numerous bikeways to the plan and had other general areas of concern. They were as follows: Bikeway on Southwest Parkway; Bikeway on Rock Prairie Road; Bikeway on Welsh to Bush at Houston; Change bike route on Glade to bike lane; Continue bikeway on Longmire from Airline to Valley View; Continue bike route on FM2818from Longmire to Emerald Parkway; Bikeway connection between Dominik and Appomattox; Bikeway connection between Woodstone area, Post Oak Mall, and surrounding apartments; Bikeway access to South Knoll Elementary; Bikeway access to Oakwood Middle and Jr. High Schools; Bikeway Access to Southwood Athletic Complex, A&M Jr. High School, and Rock Prairie Elementary; Safety improvements for bicyclists at the Texas/Bush, Bush/Anderson, SH 30/E. Bypass, and Texas/FM 2818 intersections; and, Safety improvements for bicyclists at all signalized intersections. As suggested by the focus group, a fourth category has been added to the plan for roadways that should be designated as a bikeway but are not due to a lack of street width and/or right-of-way to safely accommodate bicyclists. Please review the revised bikeway plan and forward any additional comments to me prior to Friday, September 10th. The Bikeway Master Plan is scheduled to go to the Planning and Zoning Commission for their consideration on September 16, 1993. You are all welcome to attend. The Development Services Staff would like to thank each of you for serving on the Bikeway Focus Group. Your volunteered time and effort is greatly appreciated. cc: Jane Kee, City Planner Jim Callaway, Asst. Director of Economic and Development Services Home of Texas A&M University BIKEWAY FOCUS GROUP MEETING 1 MINUTES July 29,1993 MEMBERS PRESENT: Ed Hard Marla Fendley Ron Quarles Rey Trevino George Dresser Bob Richardson Eugene Ray Ranga Parasuraman Claude Cunningham Danise Houser Bob Appleton Joe Blaschke Transportation Planner, City of College Station Planning Intern, City of College Station Senior Planner, City of Bryan President, Texas A&M Cycling Team Texas Transportation Institute I CS Parks Board TXDOT Design Engineer, TAMU Physical Plant CSISD Parent Teacher Organization CSISD Administration and Planning Texas Bicycle Coalition TXDOT Bikeway Coordinator Local Traffic Engineer Ed Hard opened the meeting by explaining that the purpose of the bikeway focus group was "to gain input and support and coordinate our efforts with the sectors of the community that haVE! an interest in bikeways and that should be a party to the development of a Bikeway Master Plan in College Station." Mr. Hard said that a bicycle friendly community and the bikeway master plan have been a council priority for the past couple of years. He explained that a such a plan is needed in order for the City to qualify to compete for federal money available for bikeways. He noted that there were 4 "E's" of bikeway planning. ....Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Encouragement and said that the focus group would primarily be looking. at the engineering aspect. Mr. Hard said there were four areas of focus group input that we needed. These include identifying needs and opportunities, identifying problems and constraints, providing suggestions and solutions, and providing support for the bikeway master plan. For informational purposes, Ed Hard then presented slides to explain the City's current bikeway ordinance and to define the different types of bikeways to the focus group. He noted that in order for the current ordinance to be of value, a bikeway master plan is needed. He said the ordinance needs to be amended to require new and re-development to install bikeway parking facilities. Mr. Hard then presented staff's draft Bikeway Master Plan and passed out individual copies 01' the plan to the group along while he explained. George Dresser asked about having a bikeway on Welsh straight through to Bush at Houston. Focus Meeting 1, Page 2 Ed Hard stated that this street has a narrow paved section and little right of way. He noted that this street extension is not on the City's thoroughfare plan but that it had been proposed by staff a number of times. Marla Fendley added that the .area lends itself to routes because of the neighborhood streets and the drivers do not drive with an attitude that would cause bikers to get off the street. Ed Hard indicated that the black dots on the plan were schools and that we would IikB to coordinate with the CSISD. He also mentioned the bike lanes planned on College Main to the Bryan City Limit and the bike paths planned through Hensel Park (an area owned by the University) and said that CS needs coordination as well from the University and the City of Bryan. Ed Hard then presented results from the City's sidewalk/bikeway survey. Several questions were asked about the types of questions .asked on the survey and about the results from certain zones in the survey. Ed Hard said that he did not recall at this time, but would have this information at the next meeting. It was asked if in those areas with lesser support, were we planning fewer or no facilities and if there was weak support in an area would bikeways be located elsewhere. Ed Hard pointed out that the survey did not have an area where there was weak support. There was a question about whether the attitude of the area determined whether it was a route or lane. Marla Fendley stated that the first priority of a bikeway is safety. When there was no pressing need for a lane it was designated as a route. Ed Hard added that existing on-street parking was a major consideration in determining route verses lane designation on a street. It was asked if the City had looked into the various types of users, such as commuters, recreational users and enthusiasts. Ed Hard said that the type of user was considerE3d in developing the draft bikeway master plan. Bob Richardson asked if a stress evaluation test was performed on Southwest Parkway. Ed Hard stated that it had not because that requires a lot more detail. He explained to the group that a stress test is used to rate streets by stress which rates them for bicycle use as easy, mbderate, or hard. It was pointed out that Southwest Parkway was not a route on the draft master plan. Mr. Hard stated that by ordinance we can't sign it as a route because the outside lane must be a minimum of 13'6". It was asked that if Southwest Parkway was resurfaced and re-striped if a route could be added. Ed Hard said no because there is simply not enough paved section to safely accommodate bikers on.this street. It was stated that Southwest Parkway is a big problem and that there has been a many close calls. It was asked if there were routes used by people riding 20-40 miles at a time. Ed Hard said no, not as a part of this Master Plan but that we plan to do something similar to what the City of Focus Meeting 1, Page 3 Austin did. He said that on their bike map (not plan) they provide a separate map which includes the entire county .and perhaps surrounding counties which shows "touring" routes for avid cyclists. It was noted that, at one time, Glade had a bike lane on it but it has since been removed. Now there is no safe way to get to Oakwood and parents are having to drop off there children every morning. It was added that the Oakwood school increases the traffic problem on Holleman and Anderson. With the OakWwood school in mind, Ed Hard pointed out that a bike path is planned for Kyle. If in the future Kyle is widened, staff would recommend that a bike path be installed as part of this project. He. also added that the existing 2-way bike lane on Bush is planned to be converted to one-way lanes with the westbound lanes located on the north side of the street. This means that parking will have to be removed on Bush. He said this change is needed to get the Bush bike lane up to current engineering design standards and to remove the potential liability incurred to the City due to the current substandard design. It was asked if the draft plan only considered bikeways that could be put on existing streets. Mr. Hard said no, that the plan is intended to serve as a guide for future bikeway development and it should not be limited by today'sexisting street system. There was concern for the existing unsafe conditions for bicyclists at the BushlTexas intersection. There was also a similar concern for the Anderson/Bush intersection for when the2-way lane is converted to 1-way lanes on each side of the Bush. George Dresser agreed with Ed Hard that two way bike lanes aren't a good idea. It was suggested that safety for bicyclists at these intersections could be improved with engineering solutions. Claude Cunningham commented that we should plan bikeways with future school population distribution in mind~ Ed Hard said that although the location of future school sites are not definite, it would be beneficial to work with the CSISD in our bikeway planning. He pointed out that the reason there are not as many bikeways to the south on the draft plan is that we had primarily followed our thoroughfare plan for this area. He said since it only shows collector and arterial type streets (no residential) we were only able to plan for bikeways on these streets. He added that as this area develops we'll then be able to add more bike routes to the system. It was asked if when the term "project" is used, does it mean that work other than bikeway signage and marking is being looked at. Ed Hard stated that in our capital projects we are at the point where at every opportunity we provide for bikeways and that this could be a bike route, lane, or path, whatever is deemed most appropriate. Ed Hard passed out a hand-out on "implied warranty". He said that when the City designatE~s a bikeway and thereby invites the public to use it, we are offering the public an implied warranty .. Focus Meeting 1, Page 4 that the facility is safe and suitable for that use. He wanted everyone to keep that in mind when considering the location and type of bikeway (route, lane, or path) on the bikeway master plan. Mr. Appleton noted that when government entities are doing road work on a street with a bikeway, if there is a detour involved, than a detour should be provided for bikes as well. Ed Hard asked everyone to to turn to page 5 in the handout which lists all of the things that must be considered before signing a bikeway, such as directness, driveways, parking, safety, etc. Ranga Parasuraman said that there is a need for a lane on Glade, that first and second graders bike to school and can't use the sidewalk because it is too narrow. Bob Appleton said that parents should not allow children less than nine to ride in the street because they do not have the where with all to make the decisions needed to ride safely in the street. It was asked if sidewalks should be signed as bike routes? Ed Hard said no, that current design standards discourage the use combination bike/sidewalks. Ranga Parasuraman said that Southwest Parkway and Southknoll school need facilities because there are small kids biking to school. She said that they can't use the sidewalks because of l<ids walking. It was stated that there is a bike route that crosses Southwest Parkway. Kids use the crossing guard to cross the street and then use the sidewalks. It was noted that Southwest Parkway was one of the original bikeways and now it's gone dUle to the increase in traffic. With this in mind, it was asked that. if when traffic counts increase would the City remove bike lanes to accommodate vehicles or would we widen the street and keep the bike lanes? Marla Fendley stated we should design future road to accommodate bike facilities. Ed Hard added that this decision would be based on priorities and dollars and could become a council decision. Mr. Dresser said that this is what the ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991) legislation is all about and the acknowledgement that there are other forms of transportation. There needs to be attention drawn spending dollars on other forms of transportation other than justthe traditional one. It was pointed out that there is another focus group meeting which is looking at BCS and what it should look like 30 years down the road. These needs need to be placed in the community vision building process. With no other comments, Ed Hard closed the meeting. He asked everyone to take their copy of the draft bikeway master plan back to their respective organizations and review it with whomever they deemed appropriate. He sked them to bring it back to the next meeting in two weeks with their comments, suggestions, proposed changes, etc. ." BIKEWAY FOCUS GROUP MEETING 2 MINUTES Aug ust 12, 1993 MEMBERS PRESENT: Ed Hard Marla Fendley Ray Trevino George Dresser Bob Richardson Bob Appleton Eugene Ray Claude Cunningham Ranga Parasuraman Danise Hauser Transportation Planner, City of College Station Planning Intern, City of College Station President, TAMU Cycling Team Texas Transportation Institute, CS Parks Board TXDOT Design Engineer TXDOT Bikeway. Coordinator TAMU Physical Plant CSISD Administration and Planning CSISD Parent Teacher Organization Texas Bicycle Coalition Ed Hard opened the meeting by reviewing what was discussed during the previous meeting. He answered questions from the previous meeting concerning the bikeway survey. He then ask the group to comment on the proposed bikeway master that they had the opportunity to review for the last two weeks. Claude Cunningham voiced his concern about Rock Prairie Road and the accessibility to Southwood Athletic Center and the school. He also stated that he wants the city, in some form of written language, to commit to providing protected bike ways around all CSISD schools. Ed Hard explained the difficulty in doing this with the current limitations of lack of street pavement width and ROW on Rock Prairie Road. He suggested the possibility of an off-street bike path trom Welsh to Rio Grande. Bob Richardson pointed out that TXDOT has Bush from FM 2154 to FM 2818 under consideration for lanes as part of a future widening project. He also pointed out that the TBxas Ave.! FM 2818 area needs attention. Claude Cunningham pointed out that the section of Longmire in front of Walmart to and across 2818 needs bikeway facilities. He also suggested that there should be a "fourth category", for those areas where there is no current solution. Focus Meeting 2, Page 2 Bob Richardson suggested including section of 2818 from Longmire to Emerald Parkway as a Bike route. Claude Cunningham voiced his concern over the lack of bikeway facilities on Southwest Parkway and around the South knoll Elementary area. He said that this was an area that needed to be addressed - perhaps fitting into the "fourth category". George Dresser asked Ed Hard what the time frame .for implementation was for the Bikeway master plan. Mr. Hard replied that there isn't one, just as there isn't one for the thoroughfare plan. Mr. Dresser suggested that the bikeway master plan be addressed in a similar fashion as the thoroughfare plan, as not to confuse funding with needs. Bob Richardson suggested that short verses long range bikeway plans be established and documented so that when he is old, gray and forgetful he wont forget the intentions of this projlect. Danise Houser expressed a concern over the legality of bicyclists traveling along undesignl:lted routes. Ed Hard assured her that bicycles will be able to travel legally on roads that are not designated as a bikeways (with the exception of streets where, by ordinance, bicycles are prohibited) . Ed Hard went over minor revisions that were made to the bikeway master plan since the first bikeway focus group meeting. Marla Fendley then presented staff's current work on the city's grant application for federal transportation enhancement money to construct bikeways in College Station. Ed Hard pointed out the proposed bike lanes on Anderson (as part of the enhancement projBct.) Claude Cunningham said that keeping the parked cars on Anderson out of the .bike lanes during soccer season would be difficult. Danise Houser pointed out that the concern among those with whom she has spoken is the provision of the necessary support in the way of signage, maintenance, education, public support, as well as signage in order for the Bikeway Master Plan to work. Ed Hard addressed the issue of education and hoped that the CSISD would be willing to work towards an education program. George Dresser wanted to know if crossing guards were the schools or the cities responsibility. Ed Hard replied that it was a joint effort between the City and CSISD. Ranga Parasuraman said that at one time parents volunteered to act as crossing guards, but the legal liabilities forced them to stop. ~ .. Focus Meeting 2,page 3 Ed Hard inquired about the past programs in which the schools had police come in to speak to the students. Ranga parasuraman said that parents should be involved otherwise they will not allow their children to use the bikeway facilities. She suggested that the parents be reached through school hand outs and school open houses. Claude Cunningham said that he and Ranga Parasuraman presented the bikeway master plall to the Partners In Education volunteers and that they are aware of the cities efforts. He strongly encouraged the City to contact the parents of College Hills and Oakwood students for their input. George Dresser suggested that a connection between Dominik and Appomattox be made where Dominik dead ends. Bob Richardson suggested that a "fourth category" project be one that connected Woodstone shopping area, the Mall, and the surrounding apartments with bikeways and sidewalks. George Dresser asked if the City had planned to do a bikeway compatibility map that was similar to Austin's. Ed Hard stated that he had contacted the Texas Bicycle Coalition and they said that they would be willing to create this type of map for the City (just as they did for the City of Austin). Mr. Hard asked the focus group if there were any more comments, suggestions, or questions" He told the group that staff would review and consider all of the comments and concerns voiced during this and the last meeting and revise the bikeway master plan to reflect, as bes1t as possible, the input from the bikeway focus group. Mr. Hard informed the group that staff planned to bring the Bikeway Master Plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission in September. He said that prior to this however he would send all focus group members a copy of the revised plan to provide them an additional opportunity to comment on the plan prior to it going to the Planning and Zoning Commission.