Pedestrian Safety Board

Meeting Agenda Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 Monday, July 6, 4:33 – 5:38 PM The Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board’s mission is to promote a walkable environment throughout the City by developing safe, attractive, and accessible walkways that connect neighborhoods and destinations. 4:33 pm Meeting called to order by Chair Matthew Cross Matt Cross mentioned citizen input and excellent article in The Dominion Post about pedestrian issues. Chair Cross also sent a letter to the editor calling attention to the need for more regard for pedestrians by drivers and more caution by pedestrians. I. Introductions: a. Members: Chair Matthew Cross, Bob Anderson, Jimmie Simmons, Dwight Harshbarger, Bill Reger-Nash, Ella Belling, Lieutenant McCabe (mmccabe@cityofmorgantown.org) b. Guests: Arianna Holt-Reinhard, Damien Davis, William Blosser, Andrew Denny, Mayor Selin, II. Approval of June 1, 2015 Minutes Jimmie moved, second by Bill Reger-Nash. Motion passed by unanimous voice vote. III. Reports  Mountain Line Maria Smith was absent but sent the following message: “There isn’t too much new, below is a deviation on a few of our buses due to the closure of University Ave. The Vehicle Maintenance and Route Efficiency Study is still in progress. Any route changes that may take place due to this study will likely be implemented in January. New Student Orientation went well, we handed out all of the Pedestrian Info flyers that Matt Cross dropped off. I’ll also be working on a design for this flyer this week to allow us to post it on our buses and at the depot.” The city of Morgantown will be closing University Avenue between North Avenue and Overhill Street, starting Monday until around mid-August and may cause service delays. Bus routes will deviate as follows: Rt 2 PM Mall, Rt 6 Gold and Rt 7 Red: Outbound buses will travel University to Campus, to Beechurst to 8th St to University and will continue the usual route. Inbound buses will travel University to 8th St to Grant to Campus to University and will continue the usual route.  -WVU Kimberly Hartsell. Matt Cross is working with Mrs. Hartsell to communicate pedestrian information during WVU student orientation.  -Rail Trail Ella Belling. Provided info about: o multi colored crosswalks in Fairmont. 1  o Next 2-3 years progress on the Greenmont Bridge connector to the Rail Trail, Foundry Street wayfinding signs, Collins Ferry connector, o Strategizing about how to best connect White Park to Rail Trail. Interested parties will meet at 12 noon on July 16, at the South University Ave Med Express. Current options include changes to traffic signal light, construction of an overpass bridge, or go under road at Cobun Creek. Interested parties are welcome and should contact Ella Belling (ella@montrails.org). o Star City connector near the former Ames. This will enable rail trail users to access the Golden Corral side of Beechurst without crossing the busy 5-lane street. o Trail funding in place to complete the first phase of the rail trail from the WV/PA state line through Point Marion to Cheat Lake. The second phase is to bridge the section to Cheat Lake from the main Sheepskin Corridor. The third phase is to complete the link to Dunbar, PA, and the Great Allegheny Passage. o The ultimate goal is to also link through Shinnston to the North Bend Rail trail which connects Clarksburg to Parkersburg. o We are currently missing 25 miles in WV and 30 miles in PA in order to connect Morgantown to Pittsburgh through the Sheepskin Trail and The Great Allegheny Passage, to Washington, DC through the Sheepskin, the Great Allegheny Passage, and the C&O Canal.  -Greenspace Rick Landenberger Absent  -City Council. Mayor Selin reported: o that the Morgantown City Manager expressed a willingness to run sidewalk proposals by Ped Safety Board. o There were question about the pedestrian dangers at 3rd Street and Beechurst. The sentiment is that a traffic and pedestrian light and Crosswalk are needed. In order for this to happen, the Pedestrian Board should contact MPO director Bill Austin.  -MPO Bill Austin Not present. Nonetheless, there was a discussion of: o Univ Ave Cooridor Walkabout and Symposium for stakeholders included representatives of Stantec, WVU, and DOH. Good group discussion. o The need for the Grant Ave Connector. o Another meet in Sept for public input. Margaret Stout indicated that website is difficult to access and provide meaningful input.  -City Engineering Damien Davis o Dwight Harshbarger raised the issue about non-functioning signals. Damien indicated that the City website has link for signal problems. We can also contact Damien Davis’ office (ddavis@cityofmorgantown.org; 304-284-7398). o Traffic Calming for Suncrest is needed. o Portion of Univ Ave closed today until students arrive (optimistically in two months). Need more and better signs for detour. Ped detour on Univ Ave up North and down Jones, which needs to be made safer. o Meeting to examine adding signal at Oakland and Univ at McDonalds. Paving projects hampered by weather. Hoping to eliminate the development of a possible Evansdale Grumbein Island. 2  o ADA ramps improved at six locations but there were no sidewalks improved with paving. Are we missing opportunities? o Margaret Stout sent MUTCD materials regarding cross walk design. We currently have a mix of crosswalk designs which is confusing to pedestrians. Damien has requested DOH to develop consistent patterns.  But we need to understand that communitywide change involves more than informational brochures. Remember the six Es (Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Environment, Evaluation and Equality) as specified on page 61 of the Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Plan as well as the components of Social Marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). o Downtown signal project to be under construction next year. Hopefully there will be a public forum but none is currently scheduled. To make this happen, we need contact Cindy Kramer, DOH head of traffic planning. o Dwight raised pedestrian danger issues at Kroger, Pattison, Panera intersection. o Andrew Denny spoke about Dr. Misra’s social media pedestrian safety intervention. Important to define the problematic Intersection – Damien Davis indicated that Christiaan Abildso has these data.  Police Officer McCabe Morgantown Police Department is currently hiring.  Traffic Commission Matt Cross No report given.  Mayor Selin o July 11 Flatboat project at Amphitheater/mouth of Decker’s Creek. 11am to 1 pm. o July 11 Bizarre for Artists (six vendors are scheduled). High Street, Daniels Block 10-2 pm. o Summer Stroll. Planned for August 1 by the wonderful Family Resource Network. Time: 9 am 12 noon. Start near the Morgantown Lock and Dam. There will be “things” for families to look at. One mile. Much like the Sydney, Australia, Harbor Arts Walk. o Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound is being planned and sponsored by Humane society. IV. New Business  University Avenue corridor study See discussion above.  Crosswalk design. See discussion above. o Interesting design in Fairmont. Fred Shockery, WV DOT coordinated Fairmont program. Carefully picked out which intersections would be implemented. All had the two solid white Lines on either side. Developed and implemented by community. Community was involved, namely catholic school kids, created and implemented cross walks. This represents the development of social capital through the Community buy in. DOH is currently assessing the safety for these designs. Kate Greene is coordinator. To be invited to August 3 meeting V. Old Business  Ped Safety Board Informative Flyer design, courtesy of Sarah Bias (See Walk1_copy and Walk2_copy). Excellent design and layout. Would be nice to have a Grumbein Island photo as background, instead of current stock photo. Matt Cross to speak with Sarah, Bill Austin, and Kimberly Hartsell about Grumbein Island photo. 3   Multi-Media Pedestrian Safety Education campaign. Andrew Denny has finalized survey, to be submitted to IRB by Wed. Currently recruiting students for data collection. These are part-time paid positions.  Walk to School Day 2015 is scheduled for October 7. Arianna Hall-Reinhard interested in this issue. Action Items: 1. Matt Cross to contact Bill Austin about the pedestrian risks at 3rd Street and Beechurst. The sentiment is that a traffic and pedestrian light and Crosswalk are needed. 2. Matt Cross to contact Cindy Kramer, DOH head of traffic planning regarding downtown Morgantown traffic signal redesign and construction. 3. Kate Greene, coordinator of the Fairmont community designed crosswalks, to be invited to August 3 meeting by Mayor Selin or Ella Belling. 4. Matt Cross to speak with Sarah, Bill Austin, and Kimberly Hartsell about Grumbein Island photo. 5. Bill Reger-Nash to send pdf copy of previously approved Board Meeting Minutes to Chelsi Baker, Public Communications Manager cbaker@cityofmorgantown.org. Next meeting: August 3, 2015, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm Minutes submitted by Bill Reger-Nash. 4