Complete Streets & Bikeway Committee

City of Middletown Complete Streets Committee Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, March 13, 2023, 7 PM Location: WebEx Attendees: Laura Baum, Howard Weissberg, Tom Quirk, Gary Middleton, John Hall, Catherine Johnson, Beth Emery, Ayhan Assadourian, Lisa Liesener 1. Current/ongoing projects: ● Air Line Trail – Farmington Canal Trail (ALT-FCT) Connector Study Update ○ VHB has been selected as the consultant. Scope looks at gaps in trail to see how best to address. Length of study is less than 1 year but contract approval will take some time. They are awaiting a project authorization letter to proceed from the RiverCOG. Howard to check on status. ● Saybrook Road (East Main to Tryon) ○ Project being split into 2 phases. Water main replacement part will go first and start this summer as phase 1. ○ Water dept is proceeding with plans to do waterline phase. Had multiple meetings with property owners that have not given approval for sidewalk on their properties. PW negotiating agreements and redesigning to allow the 2nd phase to move forward. Challenge is fitting 1 sidewalk, two 5' bike lanes into the right of way. ● Saybrook Road (Randolph to Aircraft) ○ Howard still exploring concrete slab mitigation options. Catherine Johnson proposed that the bike path/lane go on Brooks Rd and Tollgate Rd to avoid the large hill on Saybrook Rd. CS to explore. ● Micro-Transit and Micro-mobility (bikes/scooters) ○ App called Transloc is used for the XtraMile “microtransit” and is free until April 1. ○ PW is still waiting on word back from bike share program; PW trying to get a meeting with company to work through logistics of charging. ● Bike Friendly Middletown application ○ No updates ● Washington & DeKoven Dr intersection ○ Latest proposal by Howard for Route 9 has gained some more acceptance than the last DOT proposal. Trying to work some feedback comment into the current design. Still some major concerns trying to be addressed. Seems like progress being made. PW waiting to coordinate with DOT on updated design ideas. Catherine Johnson noted that some of the slides were hard to read and understand; these were likely the slides near the end of the presentation from Merrick. PW had posted the pdf of the slides (along with the agenda) on the city meeting website. Anyone who missed it can contact PW to get a copy emailed. ● Washington & Rte 3/Vine intersection work ○ A pedestrian crossing light was added but there is no crosswalk. Howard contacted DOT to try and determined status of 2 upcoming signal projects; waiting for a response. 1  ● Complete Streets Leadership Academies ○ Pilot program on back in parking may be dropped as there are other more important priorities. Instead they will investigate lighting and crosswalk lighting to improve pedestrian safety. Would follow US DOT recommended guidelines. Catherine Johnson recommended lighting strategy reference what is done in Paris; she will try and obtain these guidelines and share with PW. ○ Beth Emery and Howard (PW) to meet with DOT on Wednesday about upcoming CSLA meeting and the change in priorities. ● Committee membership ○ Laura Baum got her letter of membership. Still need to go to Mayor’s office to be sworn in. 2. Reports from other pertinent regular meetings/events: ● ECOIN ○ Want to discuss details with Howard about Route 9 plan and then have a meeting to explain details to public at a slower pace. Would like to have this meeting before the next public meeting (April 13th?). ● Sustainable Middletown / CT ○ Submitting this summer ○ No updates, group in need of volunteers to identify and pull off projects for points. ● MxChamber Environment and Infrastructure meeting ○ No updates 3. New Business: ● Earth Week festival ○ Saturday April 22, 2023 ○ John Hall requested that Middletown provide bathrooms. CS to plan a bike ride again this year; scheduled tentatively for meet at 11am ride to start at 11:15. John to share link to event website with the group. ● Bike Night ○ Ayhan has set a meeting for 3/20 at 5:30pm; will be a virtual zoom meeting. Ayhan will share meeting link with CS mailing list. ● Sustainable Middletown ○ Saturday May 6th 11-3 based at Russell Library. Laura will have a CS table and looking for other members to participate. It may be good to share a table with Jonah Center since they have information related to CS ● Other new business ○ Quarterly meeting with PW - talked about pedestrian traffic around Moody School and bike traffic on College and Williams. CS issues are being addressed in upcoming projects. ○ PW and Police Dept coordination meeting has not yet happened: Howard hopes to meet with them in the next couple of weeks. ○ Middletown Land Use Organization has been working with the city of Berlin to make a multi-use connection from Pistol Creek to Stantec Rd; would not be paved (likely crushed stone). 2  ○ CS to share past crosswalk painting request to DOT; no progress made to this point. PW will followup with DOT once they receive the info ○ Multi-family housing proposal near Lawrence school was withdrawn ○ Spring Street: Often cars parked in bike lane facing the wrong way. Parking signage is confusing PW is aware of the situation and is on the "To Do List" to fix wayfinding/signage. PW to try and schedule a meeting with a CS rep to walk area to come up with wayfinding options; will try and schedule something for April. Notes: - Next meeting: Monday, April 10, 2023, 7 PM (WebEx) - Next quarterly Public Works/Planning depts. Meeting: TBD 3