Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED (October 16, 2018) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) Meeting Minutes Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2018 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: City Council Chambers, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Bill Brown (Chair), Annie Adams, Leonardo Covis, Kara Dudek, Cynthia Hoyle, Audrey Ishii, Susan Jones, Craig Shonkwiler, Nancy Westcott and Lily Wilcock Staff Present: Kevin Garcia, Tamra Corbin Members Absent: Jeff Marino Members Late Arrival: None Others Present: Harshala Sardar, Gabe Lewis, students from the University of Illinois Planning Class 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, AND DECLARATION OF QUORUM Bill Brown called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll call was taken. A quorum of members was present. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Audrey Ishii asked that the agenda be changed to reflect that Annie Adams would be presenting 6.c. Methods for Increasing Attendance and Public Input at BPAC Meetings. Annie Adams asked to add Comments on the Kickapoo Rail Trail (KRT) as 6.d. under New Business. Audrey Ishii moved to approve the agenda as amended. Cynthia Hoyle seconded the motion. The agenda was approved as amended. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes from the July 17, 2018 meeting and the August 21, 2018 meeting were presented. Ms. Hoyle asked for a change to the July minutes on page 4, the third paragraph, third line, under b. Pedestrian Master Plan Update – Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, to read, “added to allow streets to be altered or closed to people in vehicles. . ....” Annie Adams asked for a change to the August minutes on page 2, sixth paragraph, third line, under 4. Public Input, to read, “She added that Illinois Street looked nice and suggested that a three-mile Busey bikeway along Busey Avenue from Florida Avenue to Carle Avenue be considered as a future project to provide a north/south parallel route to Lincoln Avenue.” Cynthia Hoyle moved to approve the minutes as amended. The Commission approved the minutes from the July and August meetings. 4. PUBLIC INPUT Annie Adams asked to include some comments and pictures about the Kickapoo Rail Trail (KRT). Craig Shonkwiler Page 1  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) suggested adding that the item to New Business, 6.d. Bill Brown asked that the Commission move back to Item #2. Approval of the Agenda. Cynthia Hoyle had two questions about infrastructure that did not require action. She stated that the questions did not fit into the agenda items. She asked when the final sweeping would occur on City streets since she had observed substantial piles of the composite remaining on streets like California Avenue. Ms. Hoyle asked about the timing of the lights on University Avenue at High Cross Road where the Kickapoo Rail Trail (KRT) crossed High Cross Road. She stated that on U.S. Route 150, if bicyclists or pedestrians arrived at the intersection after the light had already turned green for motorists, the bicyclists and pedestrians would have to wait for an entire cycle before they received the walk light to cross High Cross Road. She was concerned that bicyclists and pedestrians might become inpatient and try to cross without the walk light. Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the traffic signals were programmed by the State of Illinois since the signals were on State routes, but the City maintained the signals. He said that if someone pressed the call button within a certain time of the cycle, the walk light would not turn on until the next signal. He added that there was not a way to pre-empt the cycle after a certain amount of time had lapsed. He stated that he would talk to the Illinois Department of Transportation to determine whether anything could be done to provide more time in the cycle for pedestrians and bicyclists to press the call button during the cycle. Regarding the sweeping of the streets, Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the equipment that sweeps the streets was being repaired. He said the sweeping would be completed once the equipment was operating. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. None 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Selected Crash Intersection Locations (SCIL) Report – Champaign County Regional Planning Commission Harshala Sardar, Transportation Engineer from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC), discussed the Selected Crash Intersection Locations (SCIL) Report recently completed by CCRPC. Ms. Sardar explained that the report contained information from the study area of the cities of Urbana and Champaign and the village of Savoy based on data received from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) between years of 2011 and 2015. She reviewed information about crashes with fatalities over the period stating there was an average of five fatalities and 650 injuries resulting from crashes per year in the entire study area. In Urbana, there was an average of two fatalities and 215 of the injuries occurred within the city limits per year. Chair Brown mentioned that the definition of the term, crash, changed within that period from a collision resulting in $500 or more in damage to a collision resulting in $1,500 or more in damage. Ms. Sardar acknowledged that there was a change in the definition in 2009. She defined the term, A injury, as any injury resulting in the transportation of a person being transported to medical facilities. In her analysis of the data, she said that A injuries were clustered around downtown Champaign, the University District, downtown Urbana, on north/south routes (Lincoln Avenue, Neil Street, Prospect Avenue and Mattis Avenue) and east/west routes (Bradley Avenue, University Avenue, Springfield and Interstate 74). She noted that six A injuries occurred at the intersection Page 2  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) of Prospect Avenue and Bloomington Road. The data showed that the percentages of A injuries and fatalities were lower than the statewide percentages, but regarding the number of crashes, the Urbana-Champaign-Savoy area had higher crash rates than statewide, with the exception of 2013. In general, Ms. Sardar said that most crashes occurred on Fridays and the least occurred on Sundays. The time of day for most accidents was around the peak evening rush hour of 5 p.m. with the least accidents occurring around 4 a.m. Forty-five percent of accidents occurred along areas of the roadway where there was no traffic control; 33% occurred at intersections with traffic signals or stop signs. Most accidents (29%) were rear-end collisions. She reviewed the locations of the different types of crashes (rear-end, turning, angular, and fixed object). Regarding the condition of the people driving vehicles, Ms. Sardar described the conditions of people involved in crashes. She said that 4% of those involved in crashes were impaired. The highest number of crashes occurred among drivers between the ages of 20 and 24 and occurred within the areas of downtown Champaign, downtown Urbana and the University District most frequently on Friday and Saturday evenings. Ms. Sardar explained the results of pedestrian crashes during the study time frame stating there were seven pedestrian crashes that resulted in fatalities. She noted that two of the fatalities occurred in Champaign; and five fatalities occurred in Urbana. She said that most pedestrian crashes occurred in the University District, Bradley Avenue and downtown Champaign. She summarized that the age group of those fatalities was between 22 and 24 years of age. Twenty-five percent of those involved in pedestrian crashes were crossing at an intersection; eight percent were crossing from unknown locations. Philo Road and Florida Avenue intersection had the highest number of pedestrian crashes in Urbana (15). Another area of note was the Lincoln Avenue corridor. Ms. Sardar reviewed the results of the bicycle crashes. She said that there were two fatalities during the study period. Both fatalities occurred in Champaign. She added that most crashes occurred near interstates, or near interchanges within the University District and on Mattis Avenue. Most of the crashes involved people below the age of 25 years old. Ms. Adams asked for a definition of the word, crash. Ms. Sardar stated that the cost of the injury and vehicle damage determine whether a collision was considered a crash. She said that most bicycle and pedestrian collisions would not involve a high cost or would not be reported. Ms. Hoyle encouraged those involved in a bicycle and pedestrian crashes to report even if there were no injuries. Chair Brown asked if there was information regarding the prior actions of the pedestrian and/or bicyclists in the crash reports. He noted that the category of “Other” was very vague when trying to determine the possible cause of a crash. Ms. Hoyle said that the information was determined by the State. Craig Shonkwiler stated law enforcement complete standardized forms provided by IDOT that list weather conditions, actions prior to for all involved, but sometimes the information was incomplete. Ms. Sardar stated that prior action was provided on the forms for all involved in the crashes, but that she was focusing on certain prior actions for the evening presentation. Page 3  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) Leonardo Covis asked if there would be information about prior action of motorists if involved in a crash with a bicyclist. Ms. Sardar stated that all involved should have information about prior action if available, but she did not have the data with her. She continued that 19% of those bicyclists involved in crashes were riding with traffic; 8% were riding against traffic; 16% were at a signalized intersection; and 38% were unknown. Ms. Hoyle said that in another state where she worked, law enforcement was looking at including a cyclist riding off a sidewalk into the crosswalk as a cause of a crash. She said that if a certain action needed to be included, the State should be notified of that. Mr. Shonkwiler said that the report provided an across the board review of crashes within the Urbana-Champaign- Savoy area. He continued that as a result several intersections came to the top as areas of concern. He explained that Engineering staff thoroughly reviewed each crash in detail. He clarified the depth of review provided by staff in reviewing crashes. He stated that staff read all of the narratives included in the crash reports to look for trends. He said there had been times when staff reclassified a crash based upon additional analysis. Ms. Sardar reviewed the distribution of bicycle crashes at intersections. She noted that the highest occurrence was at the intersections of Prospect Avenue and Bradley Avenue, University Avenue and High Cross Road, and downtown Urbana. Ms. Hoyle asked where the highest number of bicycle crashes occurred in Urbana. Ms. Sardar said that she would research that information, but that she thought it would be at University Avenue. Ms. Sardar examined the section of the report that reviewed heavy vehicle crashes. She stated that most occurred along the interstates and interchanges and on Springfield Avenue, east of Neil Street. In particular, she mentioned Interstate-74 and Interstate-57 interchange as a high crash rate corridor for heavy vehicles. Ms. Sardar continued her summary of the SCIL report with a discussion of a detailed corridor analysis of the intersections where crashes occurred. She explained that the crashes occurring at intersection were divided between those that occurred at signalized intersections and those occurring at unsignalized intersections. She examined eleven intersections. Those signalized intersections in Urbana with a high level of crashes were Lincoln Avenue and University Avenue, and Cunningham Avenue and University Avenue; and with a medium level of crashes was McCullough Avenue and University Avenue. Those unsignalized intersections in Urbana with a high level of crashes were Lincoln Avenue and Ohio Street, Orchard Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, Race Street and Florida Avenue, and Smith Road and Main Street. Ms. Ishii asked if 2016 data was available. If so, she asked what the number of pedestrian and bicycle crashes were. Ms. Sardar stated that the data had been received but not analyzed. She said that for the Urbana-Champaign-Savoy area, there were 47 pedestrian crashes and 44 bicycle crashes. Of those crashes, there were seven pedestrian fatalities and two bicycle fatalities. Page 4  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) Ms. Ishii asked about the number of crashes in Urbana only. Ms. Hoyle discussed her concern about a roundabout not being installed at Florida Avenue and Philo Road based on it being a location with a significant number of pedestrian crashes. She said that if the roundabout had been installed it is likely that fewer pedestrian crashes would have occurred. She noted that improvements were scheduled to occur on University Avenue. She questioned if there were intersections within downtown Urbana where No Turn on Red restrictions could be reviewed. Gabe Lewis from CCRPC said that he was not sure that the information was available. He stated that CCRPC used PAB5 rates based upon a pedestrian and bicycle survey. Chair Brown said that the speed limit on University Avenue was to be reduced from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour. He noted that Ms. Sardar said the 4% of drivers were impaired and asked what the percentages were for pedestrians and bicyclists involved in crashes. Ms. Sardar said she did not look at those numbers, but she would find out. Annie Adams asked how many pedestrians and bicyclists caused accidents. Ms. Sardar said that she would look for those numbers. Ms. Hoyle said that bicyclists and pedestrians did not cause any fatalities or serious injury crashes as compared to vehicles. Ms. Ishii compared 2016 data that had not been analyzed to the past five years of data presented to the Commission. She surmised that there were as many crashes in 2016 as there were in the past five years. Ms. Hoyle stated that the information did not specify the location of the crashes. Ms. Ishii said that despite the work being done the numbers were up. She noted that there were more people walking and biking, which might explain why the numbers would go up. Ms. Hoyle said that her research found that as more people bicycled it actually reduces the number of crashes. She said that the data she was recalling was from Portland. b. Bike at Illinois – University of Illinois Bicycle Website – Lily Wilcock Lily Wilcock, Active Transportation Planner at the University of Illinois, discussed the creation of Bike at Illinois (bike.illinois.edu), a new website dedicated to educating the community about bicycling in and around the University of Illinois campus. Ms. Wilcock showed the different tabs within the website. She mentioned that the site was mobile- friendly and contained many resources including a link to bicycle registration and maps that show bicycle parking, trails, bike shops and bike trails. In addition, she noted a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section that was based upon interviews of community and student leaders. Ms. Adams asked if Ms. Wilcock was the only person in charge for the entire University of Illinois campus. Page 5  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) Ms. Wilcock said that she was. She stated that the new parking director was very enthusiastic about the website. Ms. Adams said that she was unable to find a way to communicate directly with someone from the website. Ms. Wilcock pointed out several locations where her contact information was found throughout the site. Chair Brown asked if Bike Share information could be found of the website. Ms. Wilcock said it was. She said that there were restrictions on where the bikes rented through the Bike Share program could be parked on campus. She noted that the City of Champaign allowed bikes to be parked anywhere a vehicle could be parked. Chair Brown said that the Public Works Director decided where the Bike Share bikes could be parked according to the City of Urbana’s code. He asked that Ms. Wilcock send the FAQs to the Public Works Director. c. Methods for Increasing Attendance and Public Input at BPAC Meetings – Annie Adams Annie Adams presented methods for increasing attendance and public input at BPAC meetings. She stated the goals as:  Engage current stakeholders  Discover new stakeholders Ms. Adams used the example of First Fridays in Urbana for explaining her plan. She showed examples of how to set the tone for the event, create maps to highlight the activities, and use social media to create excitement. She explained how she used these tools in her present job at the University. She emphasized that their efforts would need to be reviewed constantly to see what was working and what else could be done. She reviewed the goal of the 2016 BPAC Year in Review where increasing participation was mentioned as important. Mr. Covis asked if BPAC could reach out to First Fridays group for help. Ms. Adams said that she was no longer affiliated with the events. Ms. Hoyle asked if BPAC could set up a Facebook account. Chair Brown stated that it was important not to duplicate what other organizations provide. Ms. Adams said that the City should take the lead and be the voice about increasing attendance and public input. Ms. Wilcock said that a dedicated bicycle coordinator would help. Ms. Adams mentioned she was aware that staff had been very involved. She noted that Mr. Shonkwiler had presented several infrastructure improvements to BPAC. With that said, she emphasized the importance of bicycling in the community for residents and visitors. d. Comments on Kickapoo Rail Trail (KRT) – Annie Adams Page 6  APPROVED (October 16, 2018) Ms. Adams discussed her experience on the Kickapoo Rail Trail. She showed pictures of some of the amenities found along the trail. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS  September 20 (4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) – Light the Night (Halene Gateway and Alma Mater)  Ms. Hoyle listened to a webinar about establishing a national bicycle database to measure bicycle crashes based upon exposure. As part of the database, people will be able to input crash data, bicycle infrastructure, etc.  Ms. Adams stated that bicyclists could ride in the crosswalks to cross as pedestrians during a WALK light. She asked the correct way to have that information distributed to BPAC. Chair Brown emphasized that information could be sent to members, but it would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act to have discussions among the members. Mr. Shonkwiler stated that he did not forward the information because it was still under review with the City’s legal division and law enforcement. He added that the problem was bicyclists were acting illegally as pedestrians while in positions on the street as motorists. He said that when on the street or in bicycle lanes, bicyclists follow the rules of motor vehicles. When bicyclists are riding on sidewalks, they follow the rules of pedestrians and must yield to pedestrians. Discussion followed about several scenarios and how each transportation sector should be respectful of each other.  Mr. Shonkwiler stated that a request for painting yellow curbs mentioned at last month’s meeting would not occur. He explained that the City did not have the resources to maintain yellow painted curbing. He said the yellow curbing was not required in the Americans with Disabilities Act. 8. FUTURE TOPICS a. Transportation Semantics – Kevin Garcia (October) b. Streets Closings for Pedestrian Events – Annie Adams (October) c. Pedestrian Crossings in Downtown Urbana – Annie Adams (October) d. Results of Speed Reduction on Lincoln Avenue between Pennsylvania Avenue and Nevada Avenue – Craig Shonkwiler (October) e. Vision Zero (November) f. Bicycle Wayfinding Plan g. Pedestrian Master Plan h. Equity and Education – Audrey Ishii 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. *** Respectfully submitted, Barbara Stiehl, Recording Secretary Page 7