Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED October 18, 2016 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) Meeting Minutes Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: City Council Chambers, City of Urbana, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Annie Adams, Kara Dudek, Cynthia Hoyle, Audrey Ishii, Susan Jones, Craig Shonkwiler and Lily Wilcock Staff Present: Kevin Garcia Members Absent: Jeff Marino Others Present: Gabe Lewis 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Cynthia Hoyle called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll call was taken. It was noted that a quorum of members was present. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Audrey Ishii moved to approve the agenda for the August 16, 2016 meeting. Lily Wilcock seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING Susan Jones moved to approve the meeting minutes. Lily Wilcock seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 4. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a) Bradley Avenue Bike Lanes – Craig Shonkwiler Craig Shonkwiler informed the Commission that the striping of the Bradley Avenue Bike Lane, which was thought to be completed this year, would be moved to the spring of 2017 since the contractor who usually does this work wouldn’t be available until mid-November. Page | 1  APPROVED October 18, 2016 He explained that the City felt mid-November would not be the ideal time to complete the project due to potential weather issues. Craig Shonkwiler also reported that he looked into the cost of the green-backed bike lane symbol marking proposed at the previous meeting and compared them to the cost of regular non green-backed markings. He explained that the green-backed product would be expensive to utilize in a smaller project, like the Bradley Avenue Bike Lanes because there were no additional outside funds besides those provided by the city. Annie Adams asked if flexi-post/pollards would be a useful tool in marking the bike lanes. Craig Shonkwiler replied that there could be snow plow issues because Public Works maintains the bicycle lanes with the same equipment that the regular roads were plowed. He added that it could be done, but would slow the snow process removal. Craig Shonkwiler announced that the Bradley Avenue Bike Lane plan had been presented to the Traffic Commission. The Traffic Commission approved the no parking restrictions that would be implemented during the project at select areas and where any bike lane was present. The next step would be to present the Bradley Avenue Bike Lane plan to the City Council Committee of the Whole in the next week or two. 6. NEW BUSINESS a) Prairie Campus Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Plan – Gabe Lewis Gabe Lewis, Transportation Planner, from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) presented on the Prairie Campus Safe Routes to School Plan (SRTS) located in East Urbana on Washington Street which studied the walking and attendance boundary area of the Dr. Williams School and the Urbana Early Childhood School (UECS) district. Mr. Lewis stated that the Champaign-Urbana Safe Routes to School Program hired the CCRPC to do a safe routes plan for Dr. Williams School, formerly known as Prairie Elementary School when the project started. He noted that the program funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), would be the first plan to be implemented in Urbana. Gabe Lewis explained that CCRPC uses the Five E’s approach of Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation when designing the routes to school. In addition, Mr. Lewis stated that there were several analyses done to show existing conditions in the campus area, which included items such as traffic, socioeconomic and health conditions. Mr. Lewis noted that approximately 28% of the students either walked or biked to school and that 68% of all students lived within a mile radius of the campus. Mr. Lewis stated that based on the findings, the Prairie Campus had of one of the lowest median household incomes and that it was possible that the kids in the area walked or biked to campus out of necessity reflected in the high percentage of those that walked or biked to school. Mr. Lewis stated that the goals and objectives of the SRTS plan were to increase safe routes and encourage walking and biking to school. He then presented a depiction of the existing pedestrian facilities that showed the location of sidewalks and ramps. He noted that parts of the Country Squire and Scottswood neighborhoods do not have sidewalks and would Page | 2  APPROVED October 18, 2016 benefit from this plan. Mr. Lewis also showed the existing bike facilities routes available to students especially for middle school age children who have the ability to ride to school. In another diagram, Mr. Lewis showed the traffic circulation pattern around the school that depicted the possible routes students were biking and walking and how traffic affected their safety. As a result, he stated that the vehicle and bus routes were rerouted for better flow and safety. In 2014, Mr. Lewis stated SRTS held an open house with the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and with the Lierman Neighborhood Action Committee to gather recommendations and public input regarding the plan. Mr. Lewis reported that the most input affected the engineering aspects of the plan which included potential widening of the sidewalk on Washington Street, sidewalk Installation in the Country Squire and Scottswood subdivisions and paved trails in the Lierman Neighborhood and on Bakers Trail. He also added that there would be an addition of bus stops at Kinch Street and Easy Street and at Washington Street and Dodson Drive. Other improvements would include, covered bike parking at Dr. Williams School, a stop sign installation at Washington Street and Smith Road and the Washington Street bridge improvement. Cynthia Hoyle informed the Commission that a sign had been purchased for the Washington Street and Smith Road intersection along with additional safety vests by SRTS, but had not been installed. Gabe Lewis advised the Commission on the non-infrastructure recommendations which included education of the community with Bike Rodeos not only in the City of Urbana, but at the Dr. Williams School. He informed the Commission of the collaboration with Dr. Williams School principal in sending out parent letters regarding bike and walking safety. He announced the plan of establishing a Champaign-Urbana Bike Safety Town where the community would be able to practice and learn bike skills in a safe environment. In addition, he reported that students at the University of Illinois were working on a conceptual design plan of the safety town this semester. He stated that CCRPC worked on a traffic circulation map and annual distribution of that map to the community and would recommend the organization of a Bike to School Day safety event and Risk Watch event. Annie Adams asked if a raised pedestrian cross walks could be considered for the plan. Craig Shonkwiler stated that the City was always open to all new improvements however there may be limitations based on funding. Craig Shonkwiler stated that the first step would be to assess the traffic at that crosswalk to determine if lighting or other improvements such as flashing beacons to alert motorists would be needed. He stated that a speed study was performed by city staff on Washington Street near Dr. Williams School recently, but the data had not been analyzed yet for that study. Gabe Lewis talked about what they would be implementing in the community to encourage the plan. He stated that they would be sending reminders about snow removal notices, the frequent walker club program, park and walk sites at Living Hope Foursquare Church, the walking school buses program, bike giveaways, the bike to school day and the walk to school day. In addition, he mentioned that they would restart the in-school Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program, if funds were available. Page | 3  APPROVED October 18, 2016 Gabe Lewis moved on to the Enforcement recommendation which would include police presence at the school, implementation of the no cell phones in school zones and the change of traffic circulation. He noted that the latter two had been implemented. He stated that the Evaluation portion included speed studies which had been implemented, crime data gathering, travel tallies, walkability surveys and bikeability surveys. The next step to the plan would be the public comment portion which ended September 24, followed by presentation to the Urbana School Board on October 4, 2016 for endorsement and then use for future SRTS grant funding application. The Commission commented on the possibility of streetscaping to be included, if future grants are applied for. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS • Bike Moves Illinois Mobile Application – Bicycle tracking application downloadable at Google Play and App Store to improve bicycling in the community presented by Gabe Lewis. For more information http://bikemoves.me • September 22 – Light the Night 4-7 p.m. • October 5 – Walk and Roll to School Day • October 12 – UIUC Bicycle Census 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. • October 15 – Youth Instructor Workshop, League of American Bicyclists 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at CUMTD • December Pilot Volunteer Snow Removal Program – recruiting volunteers and webpage availability at the CUSRTS website. • Bike Summit Commission Update • Commission member vacancy 8. FUTURE TOPICS • Pedestrian Crossings on Lincoln Avenue • Bicycle Path to Lincoln Avenue by the University of Illinois • Wayfinding Plan 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m. *** Respectfully submitted, Leslie Cross Recording Secretary Page | 4