Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes Salem Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee Wednesday, July 3, 2024 | 6:30 p.m. City Hall Annex 1st Floor Meeting Room & Via Remote Participation Members Present: John Wathne (Chair), Colleen Downie, Matt Caruso, Emmylou Manwill, Paul Carson, Cat Seiferth, Charlie Heaps, Josh Nagle Members Absent: Connor Ryan, Annie Wolf, Walter Morrell Also Present: Tom Devine, Senior Planner Call Meeting to Order Wathne calls the meeting to order. Public Comment Alexa Ogno of 180A Federal Street introduces herself. She bikes regularly and helped set up the Bike Bus program. She describes the program and says it needs other volunteers if it is to expand to other schools. Nagle offers to participate. The group discusses how to promote the program. A South Salem resident named Jessica asks if tehre is a plan to extend the Highland Ave. bike lane beyond Willson St. Devine notes that the state is planning a major reconstruction of the roadway and the City hope is to see separated paths incorporated. The group discusses how projects are prioritized in the City and plans to pass these concerns onto the Safe Streets for All Task Force. Stacey Curren of Lafayette Street says she is advocating for the traffic calming project that was previously presented to the public on Lafayette Street between West Ave. and the Marblehead line. She is very concerned about safety. Seiferth says her mechanic was hit there. Heaps says there is a public health crisis that cannot wait five years for road safety projects to be built. He says an obvious short-term action to take would be to ban right turn on red. Heaps is interested in seeing crash data for the city. Staff Update Devine introduces Aria Stewart of Salem’s Safe Walking Advocacy Group (SWAG). She says it is a citizens group that meets regularly and advocates for safety. The Stewart and the Bike Committee discuss road safety, potential improvements, and communication with the public. 1 Bike Parking Ordinance Devine notes that Wolf, who is leading this effort, is not present. The group tables the matter to the next meeting. Bike Share Data and Program Updates Document referenced: Salem Bluebikes Data through 6/30/2024, slide deck. Devine reports that the there was recently a slight dip in ridership that Devine suspects is due to the lower number of bikes. Manwill states that she regularly sees empty docks. Devine notes that Lyft has a contractual requirement to maintain a certain metric of both bikes being available and docks being open at stations. Heaps is interested in seeing this data. Devine will provide this at the next meeting. Salem Bike Bus Update This agenda item was covered during the public comment portion of the meeting. Promotion of Vulnerable Road Users Law Caruso suggests creating t-shirts with the road sign for this new law on the back. He believes it would bring attention to the new law. Group Rides The Committee discusses the Salem Bike Party Facebook group that used to lead group rides. Ogno states that the leader of the group is no longer involved. Nagle suggests that the Bike Committee should lead a ride that could identify what bike infrastructure needs to be changed. The group discusses the idea and possibilities for who could lead it. Nagle would like to pursue the idea of doing a bike valet at a public event. Update on South Salem Train Stop Planning & Design Wathne attended the recent public meeting for the project. The proposed location is at Ocean Ave., south of the train yard that would be used as a maintenance facility for electric trains. The Fairmont Line will be electrified first, then the Newburyport/Rockport line. Ocean Ave. once connected over the tracks at this location. The group has advocated for restoring this connection. Wathne proposes that the Committee issue a letter supporting the train stop but advocate for building the crossing first. Devine adds that the City was recently awarded a $2.7 million federal grant to complete the project design. So after the 15% design is completed this year, the 100% design will commence and last a couple years, resulting in a shovel-ready project for which the City will seek construction funding. 2 Safe Streets for All Action Plan Task Force Seiferth attended the first task force meeting for this 18-month process to create an action plan. Devine states that there will be public engagement throughout this process. Seiferth says the team showed an example of another action plan that was very data driven. Devine says this is funded by a US DOT grant that will incorporate community engagement, data and analysis, and result in the safety action plan. This revisits and builds upon past work and strengthens the City’s position to apply for grant funding to design and build the recommend projects. Devine shares the project schedule and will email the Task Force meeting slides to the group. Meeting Minutes Heaps motions, Carson seconds, and all vote in favor to approve the 12/6/2023 minutes. Adjourn Caruso motions, Heaps seconds, and all vote in favor to adjourn at 8:00 pm. *** Approved by the Bicycling & Shared Path Advisory Committee on 12/4/2024. 3