HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/01/2024 - Regular Agenda Packet - Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board
College Station, TX
Meeting Agenda
Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board
1101 Texas Avenue, College Station, TX 77840
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Meeting ID: 269 753 645 57 | Passcode: QfdsL9
Phone: +1 979-431-4880 | Phone Conference: 917 612 881#
The City Council may or may not attend this meeting.
July 1, 2024 3:30 PM Bush 4141 Community Room
College Station, TX Page 1
Notice is hereby given that a quorum of the meeting body will be present in the physical location
stated above where citizens may also attend in order to view a member(s) participating by
videoconference call as allowed by 551.127, Texas Government Code. The City uses a third
party vendor to host the virtual portion of the meeting; if virtual access is unavailable, meeting
access and participation will be in-person only.
1. Call meeting to order and consider absence requests.
2. Hear Visitors.
At this time, the Chairperson will open the floor to citizens wishing to address issues not already
scheduled on today's agenda. Each citizen’s presentation will be limited to three minutes in order to
allow adequate time for the completion of the agenda items. Comments will be received and city staff
may be asked to look into the matter, or the matter may be placed on a future agenda for discussion.
A recording may be made of the meeting; please give your name and address for the record.
3. Agenda Items
3.1. Consideration, discussion, and possible action to approve meeting minutes.
Attachments: 1. May 20, 2024
3.2. Presentation, possible action, and discussion regarding the Week Without Driving challenge.
3.3. Presentation and discussion regarding the following items related to biking, walking, and
greenways:
a. Public Meetings of Interest
b. Capital and Private Project Updates
3.4. Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways
Advisory Board calendar of upcoming meetings.
a. August 12, 2024 ~ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board Meeting at 3:30
p.m. in the Bush 4141 Community Room
b. September 9, 2024 ~ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board Meeting at 3:30
p.m. in the Bush 4141 Community Room
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Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways
Advisory Board
Page 2 July 1, 2024
4. Discussion and possible action on future agenda items.
A member may inquire about a subject for which notice has not been given. A statement of specific
factual information or the recitation of existing policy may be given. Any deliberation shall be limited to
a proposal to place the subject on an agenda for a subsequent meeting.
5. Adjourn.
Adjournment into Executive Session may occur in order to consider any item listed on the agenda if a
matter is raised that is appropriate for Executive Session discussion.
I certify that the above Notice of Meeting was posted on the website and at College Station City Hall,
1101 Texas Avenue, College Station, Texas, on June 26, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
City Secretary
This building is wheelchair accessible. Persons with disabilities who plan to attend this meeting
and who may need accommodations, auxiliary aids, or services such as interpreters,
readers, or large print are asked to contact the City Secretary’s Office at (979) 764-3541, TDD
at 1-800-735-2989, or email adaassistance@cstx.gov at least two business days prior to the
meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made. If the City does not receive notification
at least two business days prior to the meeting, the City will make a reasonable attempt to
provide the necessary accommodations.
Penal Code § 30.07. Trespass by License Holder with an Openly Carried Handgun.
"Pursuant to Section 30.07, Penal Code (Trespass by License Holder with an Openly
Carried Handgun) A Person Licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411,
Government Code (Handgun Licensing Law), may not enter this Property with a
Handgun that is Carried Openly."
Codigo Penal § 30.07. Traspasar Portando Armas de Mano al Aire Libre con Licencia.
“Conforme a la Seccion 30.07 del codigo penal (traspasar portando armas de mano al aire
libre con licencia), personas con licencia bajo del Sub-Capitulo H, Capitulo 411,
Codigo de Gobierno (Ley de licencias de arma de mano), no deben entrar a esta propiedad
portando arma de mano al aire libre.”
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MINUTES
BICYCLE, PEDESTRIAN, AND GREENWAYS
ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
May 20, 2024
MEMBERS PRESENT:Chairperson Elizabeth Cunha, Board Members Dennis Jansen, Joy
Chmelar, Jake Madewell, Brad Brimley and Neo Jang
MEMBERS ABSENT:Board Member Kathy Langlotz
STAFF PRESENT:Director of Planning & Development Services Anthony
Armstrong, Assisting Director Molly Hitchcock, City Engineer
Carol Cotter, Transportation Planning Coordinator Jason Schubert,
Transportation & Mobility Engineer I Katherine Beaman-Jamael,
Graduate Traffic Engineer II DeAnna Ordonez, Traffic Engineer II
Michael Holmes, Business Services Manager Daniel Smith and
Staff Assistant II Grecia Fuentes
AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Call to Order and consider absence requests.
Chairperson Cunha called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
There were no absence requests for consideration.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: Hear Visitors.
There were no visitors who wished to speak.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: Agenda Items.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.1: Consideration, discussion, and possible action to approve meeting
minutes.
Board Member Jansen motioned to approve the meeting minutes from April, Board
Member Jang seconded the motion, minutes were approved 6-0.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.2: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding an audit
of the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Master Plan.
Coordinator Schubert presented this item.
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Board Member Jang asked how long the last Master Plan update had taken to complete.
Coordinator Schubert answered it took about a year for all the planning efforts, but it would
depend on all the updates staff would do this time.
Board Member Jansen asked what it would cost the city to designate a road into a bike route.
Coordinator Schubert responded that it usually consisted of a green Bike Route sign being
placed.
Board Member Jansen stated that there was a lot of streets that were bike routes that could be
labeled with a sign if we wanted more designated bike routes.
Transportation & Mobility Engineer Beaman-Jamael clarified that staff needed to evaluate safety
first practices. She stated that currently The League of American Bicyclist did not accept any
streets that were more than 35 miles per hour. She added that staff would need to exercise
engineering judgement to determine what was appropriate for the kind of users that are utilizing
it along with the volumes and speeds.
Board Member Brimley wanted to verify that what he understood that it was more complicated
than just putting up a sign.
Transportation & Mobility Engineer Beaman-Jamael said it was just a matter of evaluating
where bike routes were most appropriate.
Board Member Jansen said he was just trying to find out why there was bike routes that could be
designated, but staff was not doing it.
Chairperson Cunha asked staff if the answer to why we were not doing that was because we did
not have any designated funding and the bike routes marked on the map might not of met the
criteria for a bike route.
Board Member Jansen asked if the routes did not meet the criteria, then why were they listed
there as a plan.
Board Member Brimley explained it was because it was for a future plan and not to be
implemented today.
Coordinator Schubert mentioned that the network was established in 2010 and staff had only
visited it one time back in 2018. He added that he could not speak about how everything was
done over time, but he thought that bike routes have been desired. He has spoken up before to get
a pot of money that was given to implement a lot of them, but he could ask for a small amount of
money to get those off the list.
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Board Member Brimley asked Traffic Engineer Holmes if the city had a program in place for
street sign replacements to look at a specific corridor in order to see when they are going to be
replaced. He said that maybe those could implement street signs as well.
Traffic Engineer Holmes said that they check signs periodically to make sure they are up to
standard and replace them as needed, but not in a specific order.
Board Member Jang mentioned that maybe implementing it into a schedule he had asked for like
when the city streets get their markings repainted on the roads.
Traffic Engineer Holmes stated that markings typically get reported faster than what signs might
be. He said they just refresh where it is needed and there is not much of a process for it.
Board Member Brimley asked if there was anything else that could be done to address what
Board Member Jansen mentioned earlier regarding prioritizing funding smaller projects like the
bike route signs.
Director Armstrong stated that as staff moved forward with this update, they could look at the
prioritization of those low hanging fruit projects and bring them to the board for advice.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.3: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding an
overview of leading pedestrian intervals at signalized intersections.
Traffic Engineer Holmes presented this item.
Board Member Jang asked to explain more on untenable length crossing.
Traffic Engineer Holmes said a lot of those minimums came from the pedestrian time that is
given based on the guidelines for the signal timings. He said that the requirement of the
pedestrian time for the diagonal crossing just made the cycle length excessive during the study
they had done. He also mentioned that one of the primary reasons they wanted to avoid those
diagonal crossings was due to emergency access. He used an example of pedestrians getting
stranded in the middle of a diagonal crossing while a fire truck was coming through traffic.
Chairperson Cunha asked if staff had looked at other cities that also had all four way stops to see
if they allowed diagonal crossing.
Traffic Engineer Holmes said Nashville had several of them, but their intersections were much
smaller than ours.
Board Member Brimley explained that there was a very fine amount of time that could be
allocated to each phase of a traffic signal. If they timed the signals for people crossing diagonally
then that would take longer for all the other phases of people in cars. So traffic engineers have
timed it for people crossing length wise in one direction.
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Chairperson Cunha said she thought the city had said they timed it to cross the L shape, meaning
to cross two intersection crossings back-to-back.
Traffic Engineer Holmes clarified that they did not design the parameter that way, but some
people may be able to cross both intersection crossing lengths within that time.
Chairperson Cunha asked if there were any cons of Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI’s).
Traffic Engineer Holmes said the cons were that the cost for them was typically between 200 to
1,200 dollars. He said the main drawback was the mobility of the corridor especially when
dealing with coordinated signals.
Board Member Brimley asked if there was a process in place to accept requests for the LPI’s.
Traffic Engineer Holmes said he has only been a part of one, but he thinks they probably came
from citizen requests and complaints through the website portal. He said there is a portal to
report traffic signals and a comment card under traffic engineering section that has a generalized
form. He added that most of them do not happen by a citizen requesting one, but from a situation
that has been evaluated by staff to be the best solution.
Board Member Jang asked if a citizen request came in for an LPI could that streamline the
process.
Traffic Engineer Holmes said it could, but typically while staff would consider it as a solution
they would still have to look at all the other options to be thorough.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.4: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding a debrief
of the 2024 Cycle with Council event.
Board Member Jang thanked Chairperson Cunha for taking over the signage placement, but
mentioned that there was a group of volunteers waiting to help set up for the route.
Chairperson Cunha explained that it easier for one person to do all the signs so that it flows
better. She worries that having multiple people work on it might leave room for a gap
somewhere. She said she goes through it and makes notes of how many signs are needed for the
route and then has her son run it one last time to make sure it is a seamless experience. It also
makes picking up the signs easier since they know where all of them were placed.
Board Member Jang also thanked the city crew in the parks department for coming out to power
wash the underpass twice before the event. He mentioned that he was shocked when it was
announced that groups would have to go in waves.
Chairperson Cunha explained that they have to do it in waves and the waves are best divided by
speed, but she did agree that the second wave of cyclist was a really big group.
Board Member Jansen mentioned said that on the way back on Barron Road it was unclear what
way needed to be taken.
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Board Member Madewell agreed that the route was well run and there was a very good turnout.
He said that he also was confused on the Barron Road crossing coming back.
Chairperson Cunha apologized but stated that they needed to be riding on the wrong side of the
road on that part of the route.
Coordinator Schubert mentioned that the waves might need to be sorted out in advance before it
was time to go.
Chairperson Cunha mentioned to the Board that perhaps the routes should be recycled from now
on.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.5: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the
unfunded stand-alone bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Chairperson Cunha asked for coordinator Schubert to show City Council the slide where it
showed all the unfunded projects there was and the total cost to cover all of them.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.6: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the
Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board calendar of upcoming meetings.
a)Public Meetings of Interest –
1. City Council Meeting Workshop: May 23, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers
– Discussion of crosswalk on Midtown Drive at the shared use path underpass
2. Council Transportation & Mobility Committee: May 24, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. in the
1938 Executive Conference Room.
b) Capital and Private Project Updates – There were no updates for these projects.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 3.7: Presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding the
Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board calendar of upcoming meetings.
a) June 10, 2024 ~ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board Meeting at 3:30
p.m. in the Bush 4141 Community Room.
b) July To Be Determined ~ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board Meeting
AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: Discussion and possible action on future agenda items.
A Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board Member may inquire about a subject
for which notice has not been given. A statement of specific factual information or the
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recitation of existing policy may be given. Any deliberation shall be limited to a proposal to
place the subject on an agenda for a subsequent meeting.
Board Member Jansen would like to hear about the bike route destination on FM 2818. He
mentioned there was a bike route sign on Dartmouth Street and FM 2818 on both directions. He
said cars coming off the highway are driving at 55 miles per hour down the feeder road then turning
right on FM 2818 do not know it is a bike route until they get to Dartmouth.
Board Member Jang would like to do a presentation “A week without driving”.
AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 5:06 p.m.
APPROVED: ATTEST:
____________________________ ____________________________
Elizabeth Cunha, Chairperson Grecia Fuentes, Board Secretary
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