Burlington Walk Bike Council

Burlington Walk Bike Council (BWBC) May 7th, 2025 Meeting Notes The monthly meeting took place 5:30- 7:00 pm via Zoom and at the DPW Conference Room. In-Person Attendees: Phillip Peterson (DPW), Erik Brotz*, Gordon Dragoon*, Jack Evans (Local Motion), Jason Stuffle*, Andy Tracy, Gabe Nelson, Eben Pendleton, Marcie Gallagher, Paul Yarin Online Attendees: Jonathon Weber (Local Motion), Melissa Needham (VDH) * BWBC Coordinating Committee members 1. Announcements & Updates Erik Brotz ●​ Offered thanks and farewell to Jonathon, who is leaving Local Motion. It’s been great working with him. Jack Evans ●​ Made a sign in sheet ●​ Events: ○​ May 16th 7-9 @ Waterfront Park - Bike to Work day is coming up sponsored by CATMA and VPOP ○​ May 11th 11-5 @ North Beach - Community Led Bike (and part) swap ○​ May 14th 4-8 @ Zero Gravity - Free tune up, Bike & Gear Repair ●​ Shared some communication that has happened with regarding regional connections ○​ UVM is mostly interested with routes that will go to the campus and not through it ○​ UMall is open to conversations around infrastructure going through it—likely quick build until the area is redeveloped. Jason Stuffle ●​ Patchen Road study is available sponsored by the CCRPC ●​ Likes the idea of UVM being open to being a thru-way path Gordon Dragoon ●​ Questioned if the mixed-use path on the north side of Main St. adjacent to UVM was owned by the city or UVM. We think it’s UVM. Jonathon Weber ●​ Asked if there were objections to looking at the letter to the state regarding passing an amendment allowing Idaho Stop in municipalities. No objections. ●​ The letter was read for the group so we knew what we were agreeing to. ●​ We unanimously decided to support the letter 2. DPW Updates Phillip Peterson presented. The presentation can be found here: https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7779/files/agenda/13819 CY25 Paving Transportation Projects ●​ Archibald St traffic calming - Curb extensions and trees ●​ Ethan Allen Parkway traffic calming - Two speed humps near the park, curb extensions, , RFRB crosswalk somewhere, a raised crosswalk at Moore Dr, another speed hump and raised crosswalk near school ●​ ONE Greenway - Adding explicit curb extensions to bike route (instead of existing bollards) ●​ Bikeways Project ○​ Home Ave - Bike lanes being added Shelburne to Pine ○​ North Champlain - Protected bike lane added from Pearl Street to Peru St ○​ Manhattan Drive - Lane reduction and bike lane striping from Route 127 to Spring St ○​ Looking into another project at Park Street that would reduce speeds ●​ Traffic Calming ○​ Gosse Court - Rubber speed humps being added ○​ Austin Drive - Rubber speed humps next to Dunder Road on either side of Oakledge crosswalk ○​ North Ave - More rubber speed humps being added near Barley, specifics are currently unknown 2025 Transportation Planning PLanBTV Walk Bike Safety Action Plan: going to City Council soon for approval. A copy can be found here: Draft Safety Action Plan Main Street Study: Meeting with VHB next week to start the study: research on how we can connect the waterfront and South Burlington along Main St with regards to the new bridge and exit 14 scoping study. Transportation Plan: Getting started soon. NNE Sidewalk Scoping Study: Completed; not much to report here, may apply for some grants for implementation. Federal government (FHWA reps) warns DPW should not mention bikes in grant applications, still trying to add bike infrastructure in projects, but likely requires masking with pedestrian improvements such as SUP, wide “shoulders” etc. Questions/comments ●​ Hoping we can have the Burlington/South Burlington regional committees/working subgroup in on the conversation regarding the Main Street connection between the waterfront and the ped bridge ●​ Is there a final version of the bike plan? The group had network connectivity weighted higher than the original “matrix” did, was this considered in the plan? ○​ Phillip said that it was considered. Network connectivity was moved up to #2 (still behind safety). Link to plan is above. ●​ On North Champlain Street, question on if the lane is going to be physically separated with concrete. ○​ Answer is yes. Using those curb stops you see in parking spots near buildings/the method used for PBLs in real cities ●​ Someone asked for more information on the data collection that is occurring on streets ○​ Speed, volume, type of vehicle, turn movement counts, pedestrian counts, whether or not the pedestrian is a “vulnerable user” (they get counted twice) ○​ More question on if the data can be collected autonomously, we do have some tools but they are not disclosing what they look like; they had problems with previous counters benign vandalized ●​ Clarification on Manhattan Drive, is it just paint. ○​ Answer is yes ○​ Extra comment on how cars driving on the paint has a tendency to fade it and make this more unsafe ○​ Phillip commented on how filling painting positions has proven difficult ○​ There was a little impromptu outreach on filling these positions 3. Open Streets ●​ September 22nd is the next World Car Free day. VPOP members got burnt out on it last time they tried this, but we would like to try our hand at it as well. The date isn’t finalized for us. ●​ Our contact with the city would probably be Jon Adam-Kollitz from BPRW. ●​ Phillip shared that the city is motivated to make things like this easier. ●​ Jack Evans gave a brief background on what Open Streets are; suggested that Local Motion may be able to coordinate but will need help from city ●​ Marcie Gallagher asks about coordinating a bunch of smaller neighborhood block parties in a variety of locations? ○​ This could be done in association with the larger one, but more likely needs to see a culture shift first ●​ Comment on difficulty of process to close streets - getting all the signatures  ○​ Phillip is going to investigate whether this can be made easier ●​ Tentative suggestion from DPW is Bank Street 4. Group Bike Ride ●​ Goals of this are to support regional collaboration, highlight infrastructure/opportunities, and have fun. Questions on if this needs to follow open meeting laws ○​ BWBC members don’t but SB committee members might if enough participate ○​ Support regional collaboration in this context refers to other communities joining and socializing, and doing the same sort of ride-along ●​ Details ○​ Date: Mid-Late July: Saturday August 2nd 10 AM with Sunday as rain date ○​ Location: Start/End at Local Motion; route ideas were discussed but not finalized ■​ considered including both good and not-so-good examples of infrastructure ■​ Considered loop up to Spear St, returning down some of route that would connect SB and Burlington city centers ○​ Duration: 30-45 minutes ? Several people suggested that was not long enough ○​ Local Motion may be able to loan Ebikes from Trailside Center ○​ Social hour afterwards ●​ Should potentially invite city council & the mayor—but maybe that is a separate event ●​ Also considering additional group rides in other neighboring communities