Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes Salem Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee Wednesday, January 4, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. 98 Washington Street, First Floor Medium Conference Room and via remote participation Members Present: John Wathne (Chair), Cat Seiferth, Matt Caruso, Alex Maranto, Annie Wolf, Eric Papetti, Connor Ryan, Walter Morrell, Josh Gillis, Colleen Downie Members Absent: Michael Jaros Also Present: Tom Devine, Senior Planner Call Meeting to Order Wathne called the meeting to order. Public Comment Wathne opens the meeting to public comment and there are none. Staff Update Devine provides an update regarding the mayoral transition. Mayor Driscoll is resigning this evening to become Lt. Governor and the City Council will also appoint an acting mayor tonight. Devine reminds the Committee that through the upcoming special election season, members are welcome to be politically active, but they may only do so as private citizens, not as committee members. Bluebikes Bikeshare Program Data, Promotion, and Expansion Document shared: Salem Bluebikes Data, Through 12/31/2022 (Slide deck) Devine presents ridership data for the previous month. Ridership is down as expected in December and with two stations hibernating for the winter. Wathne wonders if the higher ridership in the core communities during winter is a result of it being more commuter focused. Morrell asks if the bikes are ever pulled completely for a major winter storm. Devine states that he believes that Bluebikes has shut down the system during big storms. North Street: Discussion of feasibility to move bike lanes off street between Foster and Osborne Streets 1 Document share: North Street Protected Bike Lane Feasibility Between Foster Street and Osbourne [sic] Street, Toole Design, 12/6/2022. Devine reports that the Bike Committee had been involved in the outreach, design, construction of the North Street project and it supported the final plan with the condition that a long-term solution would be studied to remove the one remaining block of conventional bike lanes and provide separation. Devine shares the memo produced by Toole Design Group and states that there is no plan, schedule, or budget to implement this now, but it will inform a design when future work is done. He describes the alternatives. The group makes the following comments: • The Committee commends the City’s robust communication and outreach surrounding both the design and installation of the North Street improvements. This helped to limit inconvenience and disruption to the corridor’s users. The Committee encourages an appropriate level of communication for the implementation of the Foster to Osborne improvements. • Because the 10’ multiuse path replacing the sidewalk shown in Alternative 2 would be atypical for an urban location like North Street, careful consideration should be given to whether it should be utilized at this block. If it is selected, it should be designed to manage the conflict between bicyclists and pedestrians. Consider defining separate lanes for bicycles and pedestrians using paint, varied surface materials, and signage. Investigate the feasibility of grooved pavement alerting bikes to slow as they enter a conflict zone. • There are two on-street handicapped parking spaces within the study area. Appropriate coordination should occur with the users of these spaces if they will be impacted by changes to the roadway configuration. • Several trees may be impacted by the project. While most of them are young and easier to replace, there is a mature tree on the southbound side. • The City should coordinate with owners of private parking lots to accommodate any on-street public parking displaced by the project. • The path design should follow established best practices and appropriate standards. • Where feasible, the City should consider use of sidewalk level crossings because of their advantages for both accessibility and safety. • Be mindful of the impact that obstructions such as trees, signs, and drains would have within or adjacent to the path. • While the Committee supports narrowing vehicular travel lanes to calm traffic, it also recognizes that sufficient width must be provided for safety. North Street Volunteer Monitoring Devine reports that only one member has done volunteer monitoring so far. Other members had emailed him regarding whether there is value in doing the monitoring this time of year. The Traffic & Parking Department consider all data valuable and even 2 though ridership is lower this time of year, as it is worthwhile to see the seasonable trends. Wathne did an hour of monitoring on a windy and rainy December Saturday. He logged one rider in each direction. Although that is minimal, it shows that there is ridership even in poor conditions. Meeting Minutes Caruso motions, Ryan seconds, and all vote in favor to approve the 9/7/2022 minutes. Adjourn Seiferth motions, Caruso seconds, and all vote in favor to adjourn at 7:21pm. *** Approved by the Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee on 4/5/2023. 3