Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

-Meeting Minutes APPROVED Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Date: Tuesday June 19, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: City Council Chambers, City of Urbana, 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Gary Cziko, Brandon Bowersox, Susan Jones, Bryan Lake, Nadine Schmitz Audrey Ishii, Morgan Johnston Staff Members Present: Brad Bennett Absent: Michele Guerra, Ray Spooner 1. Call to Order Brandon Bowersox called the meeting to order. 2. Roll Call Roll call was taken by verbal record and there was a quorum present. 3. Approval of Agenda Brandon Bowersox asked for the agenda for the June 19, 2012 meeting to be approved. Brad Bennett asked to add an agenda item to new business entitled “Problematic Intersection Signals”. Motion made by Sue Jones approve the agenda with item D added, seconded by Morgan Johnston, upon verbal voice vote the motion carried to approve the amended agenda. 4. Approval of Minutes Minutes from the April 17, 2012 meeting were approved by Brad Bennett and seconded by Nadine Schmitz, upon verbal voice vote the motion carried to approve the minutes from April 17, 2012. 5. Public Input Charlie Smyth, 805 S Coler, Urbana, IL. He notified the commission that the City Council approved pursuing Silver designation for Bicycle Friendly Community by 2014. There was also discussion about hiring a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator who would report to the newly / yet to be hired, Environmental Manager. The salary would be paid for in part by revenue from the municipal aggregation fund. Morgan Johnston added that she had heard the CUUATS was considering hiring the same type of person. Discussion ensued. 6. New Business a. Bike Parking Facility Locations; Brad Bennett is seeking recommendations from BPAC on good locations for both covered and uncovered bike parking facilities. Suggestions include for covered bike parking: Urbana Free Library and Krannert. Brandon Bowersox said he will review the Bicycle Master Plan as he believes recommendations were listed in the Plan. Funds would be coming from the Public Works Arbor Division. b. Philo Road South Reconstruction – South Corporate Limits to Windsor Road, Craig Shonkwiler presented. Construction to be started summer – fall 2012. Funds will come from Illinois Department of Transportation and the State Motor Fuel tax. The proposed work will entail reshaping the existing base to allow for placement of a new hot-mix asphalt surface. The reconstructed road will have a suburban look with curb and gutter and roadside ditches at select locations. Discussion ensued. c. Washington Street Resurfacing Project – Philo Road to Just East of Dodson Drive Craig Shonkwiler presented. The design for this plan should be done by July. Bidding in August, construction to start in the fall of 2012. Plans call for bicycle lanes on Washington Street to Dodson Drive. There will be a road diet (two 12 foot lanes down from four lanes) and six foot bicycle lanes (plus one foot gutter pan), and keep the raised medians with the street lights installed. Note: Washington Street at Lierman Avenue northbound, fairly decent northbound left movement might have to drop bike lane down, going to thru lane, into intersection. Design notes: ADA ramps at each intersection corners. There is no parking allowed on Washington Street. Bryan Lake inquired if we had considered the possibility of more school traffic in these areas once the new Washington Early Childhood Center is completed. Craig is waiting to hear back from the school district. Smith Road will be the entrance for parents and then another entrance to the west for buses. We have to move forward with the project. If we see something from the Urbana School Districts end that might become an issue then we can discuss that with the school district. Discussion ensued. d. Problematic Intersection Signals Brad Bennett is asking for feedback from BPAC regarding intersections that have traffic signals that do not trip when approached on a bicycle. Gary Cziko has been inputting this data in at the website: www.badloops.notlong.com Residents can enter the troubling intersections at this location and will be reviewed. Intersections that were mentioned: Goodwin Avenue and Green Street, Smith Road and University Avenue, Boulder Avenue and Windsor Road, Lincoln Avenue and University Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue and Lincoln Avenue, Scovill Street and Philo Road, Illinois Street and Vine Street (left turn lane arrow. Residents are welcome to enter information on Gary Cziko’s website. Discussion ensued 7. Old Business a. Boneyard Creek Improvements Project Update Brad Bennett presented. He did speak with Bill Gray about the third lane cross section that Gary Cziko had mentioned but it has been decided to stick with the bike lanes that are in the Bike Master Plan. He does understand the concerns but the design has been complete and the project is out for bid and due June 28, 2012. b. SRTS Bike Facilities Project Update The council approved engineering services with ESCA Engineering. Traffic Commission did approve the removal of parking along the north side of Fairview Avenue between Goodwin Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. There are two more areas in which parking needs to be removed and those locations are Florida Avenue (August meeting) and Kinch Street (September meeting) Discussions regarding sharrows for bike routes: Installation costs about $60.00 per sharrow symbol and they need to be repainted every 1 -2 years. MUTCD requires a sharrow marking for each intersection. This expense was not included in the SRTS budget. Bike route signs would need to be replaced every 15-20 years. If we were to install the sharrows this would deviate from the Master Plan and this is in place to have a consistent set of standards. This is being constructed with a grant from the Federal Government and we will not be able to get more funds than the 199,000 that was proposed initially. Decorative Bike Racks. The cost of a U-Tube design bike rack is about 300.00 (170.00 per rack and 130.00 to install, which is in the budget. The custom made bike racks cost approximately $500.00 per rack (without the cost of installation included). It might be possible to install the custom made bike rack if a funding source is identified, such as a school PTA budget. Brad Bennett will check with the school district. 8. Announcements Bicycle Rodeo September 8, 2012. Cycling Savvy Course July 29 -30 2012. 9. Future Topics Morgan Johnston would like to review the requirements for Silver designation and what feedback was provided to get areas for improvements. Charlie Smyth added that he has evaluation criteria and he will share that information. Bike Sharing, Morgan Johnston will get the report from the steering committee. Campus Bike Master Plan, Morgan Johnston. 10. Adjournment Brandon Bowersox adjourned the meeting at 8:28 p.m.