Bikeboard October 2020

bikeboard@lists.bikelover.org

9 participants
6 discussions

Bike Board: General Meeting Time - You Pick 'Em + Draft Agenda + Riverfront Bike Parking Inventory Wednesday Afternoon
by Drew Gatlin 05 Nov '20

05 Nov '20

Hello Bike Board + new faces! Thank you kindly for your emails a couple weeks ago on the various topics I raised. First thing - I will be down on the Riverfront* Wednesday afternoon (looks like decent weather) to have a look-see and continue fleshing out our bicycle parking inventory. If any of you are available Wednesday afternoon / early evening and would like to join, socially distanced, please reach out! Secondly, please click here<https://doodle.com/poll/svhprhw3kyqgkahc?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link> to indicate your availability for a virtual meeting. Options on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Thirdly, and finally, on the draft agenda, which must be published tomorrow if we are to have a meeting on Monday, I have: 1) Election of interim leadership team 2) E-bikes: incorporating recently passed WV state laws into our municipal code 3) Riverfront bike parking assessment Maybe also - 4) Website plans 5) Bicycle Friendly Community + Bicycle Network Analysis applications That's a lot to fit in 1.5 hours, so make sure to come prepared! Minimal read-aheads will be sent out tomorrow. Lemme know if you have any questions, and thank you all for your service to Morgantown! -Drew *When I say Riverfront, I mean the entire stretch of the Mon within Morgantown city limits J. Drew Gatlin Staff Engineer 389 Spruce St., Rm. 24 Morgantown, WV 26505 Office: (304) 284-7411 Cell: (304) 719-7900 Fax: (304) 284-7409 [cid:a7b86905-19a4-495a-bde4-b6f30e5f4bae]<http://www.morgantownwv.gov>

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DOH Beechurst Widening / Upgrades Project - Please send comments to me ASAP
by Drew Gatlin 28 Oct '20

28 Oct '20

Hello Bike Board, Please excuse this second email in as many days - we need your input! DOH has asked us for comment, due at the end of this week. We are trying to get that deadline extended, but, in any case, please expedite your review if possible. Attached you'll find various documents related to the DOH's project to widen sections of Beechurst and redo some of the intersections between Fayette and Campus Dr. They include: 1. A document I prepared ('Beechurst Plans Review Notes') that contains two lists under the following headings * “A few things to note as you look through this voluminous document” * “City administration has noted the following, which would be helpful to know if you agree with” 2. A full plan set (the 15MB file) 3. An abbreviated plan set if you are rushed on time I highly recommend viewing these plans on a large screen monitor if you have access to one. Finally, please excuse if you get multiple copies of this email (you will if you also serve on the Ped Board and/or the Traffic Commission). Best, Drew J. Drew Gatlin Staff Engineer 389 Spruce St., Rm. 24 Morgantown, WV 26505 Office: (304) 284-7411 Cell: (304) 719-7900 Fax: (304) 284-7409 [cid:c8916f68-3f65-41d1-b128-7e162015ad19]<http://www.morgantownwv.gov>

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Reminder - Greenbag public comments due Oct 29th!
by Christiaan Abildso 27 Oct '20

27 Oct '20

All - just a friendly reminder to please submit comments about the Greenbag Road design by Thursday! And, PLEASE share with friends & neighbors! I've shared my comment previously, so this is just a reminder. There's a link to an online form at this page: https://transportation.wv.gov/highways/engineering/comment/greenbagroadimpr… The direct link to the form is https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=As8mikpDHkOMrX6u-X70hP1… Project details are available here and here.Thanks so much. This is critical!Be well,Christiaan

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Green Bag Road Comment submission, due Oct 29th
by Christiaan Abildso 23 Oct '20

23 Oct '20

Friends -I've been involved in discussions by email & Zoom with multiple groups interested in this topic the last few days. If I may, while we may differ on some specific details of the engineering and the location of the roundabout at Dorsey, I think we are all likely to agree that this is a major opportunity to redesign a corridor to meet the interests of safe ped/bike transportation, connections with recreation assets, and improved vehicular safety & movement. Based on recent experience with Van Voorhis, I have come to understand that the volume of submissions in support for ped/bike infrastructure is critical. The comments all go to the FHWA, who may then make recommendations to the WVDOH if the volume of comments is overwhelming. The link was actually fairly well hidden. There's a link to an online form at this page: https://transportation.wv.gov/highways/engineering/comment/greenbagroadimpr… The direct link to the form is https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=As8mikpDHkOMrX6u-X70hP1… Project details are available here and here. I've pasted my submission below (and attached a text file). Feel free to use any or all of it (or none of it). I hope it helps. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE submit comments even if it's a very short "we need a safer way to walk and bike to school"!Thank you all for taking time to submit comments!Christiaan---- I appreciate and applaud everyone's hard work balancing the many interests on this project. It is a very important one for the future of the Morgantown region! As noted in the main page for this project: "Community involvement in the development of the Morgantown Monongalia Planning Association (MMMPO) Greenbag Road Corridor Study (2015) identified pedestrian facilities to connect the neighborhood schools with the commercial and residential areas as a key issue for community safety and access." While I applaud the DOH's work to include pedestrian infrastructure and some bike accommodations on the western half of the project, to not connect hundreds of residents and multiple businesses on the east side of Mountainview is contrary to that statement, and I hope the DOH will strongly reconsider the design from the Dorsey intersection eastward. I'd like to respectfully submit these points for consideration in the design:1) sidewalk the entire length of the project on the north side of Greenbag is a good option for pedestrians, though a multi-use path would be much safer and encouraging for the average pedestrian or bicyclist2) I fully support the sidewalk as designed on the east side of Dorsey, connecting Greenbag to Luckey Lane and Mountainview ES3) I fully support the sidewalk on Luckey Lane, but would like it to extend the entire length of Luckey Lane4) I fully support the roundabouts as designed. I hate to see the loss of land for the community farm but understand why that is the chosen alternative5) <<From Dorsey intersection to the east>>: the lack of ped/bike infrastructure on this section of the project is a major concern and contrary to public feedback as noted above. Thus, I strongly recommend (a) a 5' sidewalk on the north side of Greenbag + paved shoulders or bike lanes on both sides, or (b) preferably, a 10-12' multiuse path on the north side of Greenbag from the Dorsey intersection to the eastern terminus of the project to connect the schools to hundreds of residents in the housing developments that are accessed from Jonathon Lane, Ashworth Lane, and Long Branch Drive. ---Alternatively, if the Luckey Lane to Dorsey Ave section is absolutely impossible for ped/bike infrastructure along Greenbag, at a minimum a sidewalk or multiuse path is requested from the Luckey Lane intersection w/Greenbag to the eastern terminus of the project6) <<From Dorsey intersection to the west>>: I appreciate the bicycle accommodations (3-4' shoulders), but those will be very uncomfortable for the average bicycle rider because of the proximity to high speed and volume of traffic (I've ridden that stretch with my 11 year old son, so we know). I'd ask that an alternative be considered that could support both pedestrians and bicycle riders ---> a 10-12' multi-use path, separated from the road (rather than the ~12' of paved shoulders & sidewalk that are currently proposed from the Dorsey intersection, westward)7) <<From Dorsey intersection to the west>>: I strongly recommend a safe pedestrian crossing from the western terminus of the sidewalk on the north side of Greenbag (near the Goodyear Auto building) to the south side of Greenbag (Giant Eagle/mall) - a HAWK signal is a good recommendation. This could serve significant community interest in connecting White Park by trail to Dorsey's Knob park & trails. To summarize, pedestrians and bicyclists of all ages and skill levels should be supported along this <entire project corridor>, ideally with a 10-12' multi-use path separated from traffic on the north side of Greenbag, alternatively by using a sidewalk and two paved shoulders. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to comment on a project that will have a major impact on our area for decades. Many of us have been working for improvements throughout the entire region for pedestrians and bicyclists, and this corridor is a critical piece of the puzzle. Thank you!---------

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Help! Website + Riverfront Bike Parking - Assessment + Meeting?
by Drew Gatlin 07 Oct '20

07 Oct '20

Hello BikeMorgantown! A few things: First, I need the help of your expert minds! We need to perform a comprehensive assessment of the bike parking along the Morgantown Riverfront. A decent amount of inventorying has already been performed using RackSpotter.com. However, this did not include the following, which we need: 1. Comments on each of the existing bicycle parking locations * Is it enough? * Is the rack design satisfactory? * It necessary, or is it chronically underutilized? 2. Identification of areas that lack any current bike parking and need installation of new parking Please let me know if you would like to be part of this project, and if so, how you would like to be involved. Final expected product would be: a map and/or document ID'ing all existing locations and needed locations with the above information. You could probably do this entirely in RackSpotter, but we don't have easy access to the database to manipulate the presentation of the data. Second, www.bikemorgantown.com<http://www.bikemorgantown.com> is up for renewal. You have a few options: 1. Ask the city to pay to renew the domain 2. Abandon the domain and incorporate the content onto the morgantownwv.gov website 3. Allow the domain to lapse entirely 4. Request that the city transfer the domain to some separate entity (would need to be a nonprofit, I think) Some considerations for the website: 1. If you wish to have the city pay to renew the domain, you need to articulate why maintaining the website is a "need" - we continue to be in a spending freeze 2. In 2018, the board drafted a new website for BikeMorgantown but never pulled the trigger: https://bikemorgantown.wixsite.com/home 3. During that time, they unpublished most existing content from www.bikemorgantown.com<http://www.bikemorgantown.com/> 4. If we kept the existing domain, we would need to map the new content to it. 5. If transferred to pages within morgantownwv.gov, it's likely that we will need to build several sub-pages. Third, we have a few people interested in joining the bike board. We should meet. Can someone throw out a day/time as a suggestion? I would prefer by the end of next week. Hope you're all well! Drew J. Drew Gatlin Staff Engineer 389 Spruce St., Rm. 24 Morgantown, WV 26505 Office: (304) 284-7411 Cell: (304) 719-7900 Fax: (304) 284-7409 [cid:ab4984f4-0837-4c4f-90c3-8a23f215cba6]<http://www.morgantownwv.gov>

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Re: Help! Website + Riverfront Bike Parking - Assessment + Meeting?
by Chip Wamsley 07 Oct '20

07 Oct '20

I would be willing to help with the parking assessment along the riverfront. As for the website, incorporating it as part of the city website would be a lot easier for maintnenance since we now have a dedicated communications person on staff at the city. The reason the board developed our own website 10+ years ago was that we had some grant money and there was no dedicated person at the city. The revamp of the website came about due to running out of grant money and wanting to streamline the content after living with the original version. Chip ---- Original Message ---- From: "Drew Gatlin" jgatlin(a)morgantownwv.gov Sent: 10/5/2020 4:49:30 PM To: "Bike Board" bikeboard(a)bikemorgantown.com Subject: [Bikeboard] Help! Website + Riverfront Bike Parking - Assessment + Meeting? P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} Hello BikeMorgantown! A few things: First, I need the help of your expert minds! We need to perform a comprehensive assessment of the bike parking along the Morgantown Riverfront. A decent amount of inventorying has already been performed using RackSpotter.com. However, this did not include the following, which we need: Comments on each of the existing bicycle parking locations Is it enough? Is the rack design satisfactory? It necessary, or is it chronically underutilized? Identification of areas that lack any current bike parking and need installation of new parking Please let me know if you would like to be part of this project, and if so, how you would like to be involved. Final expected product would be: a map and/or document ID'ing all existing locations and needed locations with the above information. You could probably do this entirely in RackSpotter, but we don't have easy access to the database to manipulate the presentation of the data. Second, www.bikemorgantown.com is up for renewal. You have a few options: Ask the city to pay to renew the domain Abandon the domain and incorporate the content onto the morgantownwv.gov website Allow the domain to lapse entirely Request that the city transfer the domain to some separate entity (would need to be a nonprofit, I think) Some considerations for the website: If you wish to have the city pay to renew the domain, you need to articulate why maintaining the website is a "need" - we continue to be in a spending freeze In 2018, the board drafted a new website for BikeMorgantown but never pulled the trigger: https://bikemorgantown.wixsite.com/home During that time, they unpublished most existing content from www.bikemorgantown.com If we kept the existing domain, we would need to map the new content to it. If transferred to pages within morgantownwv.gov, it's likely that we will need to build several sub-pages. Third, we have a few people interested in joining the bike board. We should meet. Can someone throw out a day/time as a suggestion? I would prefer by the end of next week. Hope you're all well! Drew J. Drew Gatlin Staff Engineer 389 Spruce St., Rm. 24 Morgantown, WV 26505 Office: (304) 284-7411 Cell: (304) 719-7900 Fax: (304) 284-7409

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Bikeboard October 2020