Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee
Minutes from January 8, 2013
Lincoln Parks and Recreation – 2740 “A” Street
Members Present: Gary Bentrup, Parks Coble, Julie Diegel, Barb Fraser, Marynelle Greene, Elaine Hammer, Delrae Hirschman, Dalyce Ronnau, Bi ll Spielman, Beth Thacker, Bill Wehrbein.
Staff Present: Barney Blum, Terry Genrich, David Cary, Mike Hey!, Lynn Johnson, David Pesnichak.
This meeting was called to order at 7:00a.m. followed by recognition of the Open Meeting Act. Approval of December 11, 2012 minutes: It was moved by Dalyce Ronnau and seconded by Parks Coble. Minutes were approved unanimously.
Staff Reports:
Introductions were made of David Pesnichak who is the new Planner that will work on Transportation issues similar to what David C. did. David is from Fort Collins, Colorado.
Bison Trail Bridge is on schedule with a projected completion of April 15, 2013. The warm weather has allowed the contractor to proceed with construction up until the Holidays when they shut down for two weeks. They are at a stage where the weather shouldn’t slow them down to complete the project.
Pioneers Park Trails are being designed and should be under construction this summer.
Jamaica North Trail received the agreement from Burlington Northern to cross Park Blvd. with the trail. We are now waiting on approval from Federal Highway to proceed with acquisition of ROW from BN.
Stonebridge Trail, the State has signed the agreement for Schemmer Associates to move forward with the PEINEPA work for the project.
Several repair and replacement projects that were discussed at the last meeting were completed. Trail sign project is moving forward.
Old Business:
Update on “N” Street Project is just about to the point of finalizing the contract. The contract will cost around $200K for the design. Hopefully this will be finalized in the next couple of weeks. There really isn’t enough money to do all of the construction and it will need to be phased in. It is just going to be more expensive than anticipated. It really needs to be done right.
Update on Pedestrian/Bicycle Strategic Plan Workshop – Many from the committee participated. The workshop had a great turnout with almost 100 people. There was a lot of constructive feedback. Comments were very positive overall. Many of the questions had already been addressed in the plan. Any changes needed in the draft will be done and then move through the MPO process. There was a good broad representation from the community and people were engaged in the process. David said he would send a copy of it out to the group and it will be out on the city website. Action on the plan will be requested at a future date.
Update on TA Program – We continue to work through the changes as a result of the new program. A sheet of suggested completions of projects was handed out. If those dates can be met, the state feels they can obligate funds for the projects identified, however meeting those timelines will be a challenge. The NRD does have the Haymarket Park to 14th Street trail ready to go so that should be able to be completed.
New Business:
Election of Chair and Vice Chair- A motion was made by Beth Thacker and seconded by Delrae Hirschman to elect Barb Fraser as Chair and Bill Wehrbein as Vice Chair. Motion passed unanimously.
David gave an update on “P” Street. There was a meeting last week that discussed some of the specifics such as width of travel lanes, sidewalk widths, etc. to come up with an agreeable cross section. Sidewalks could be as wide as 18 feet and better street crossings for pedestrians. Bicycle parking will be incorporated into it. The travel lanes are going to be narrower which will slow traffic down. There was also discussion of 14th Street. They are looking at adding more on street parking along 14th to offset loss elsewhere. They are considering narrowing the bike lane to accommodate parking. Traffic on 14th has changed since the bike lanes were put in. “P” Street is on a fairly fast track.
Mike Heyl talked about the Lincoln Walks to School Project and that it is moving forward. This is a Safe Routes to School Project. Looking at pedestrian and bicycle education in 10 elementary and four middle schools. Southeast Community College is offering bicycle education classes along with UNL.
Mike also gave an update of the two winter challenges going on. Omaha is doing one and Lincoln is doing one. Lincoln had 118 people registered in November for the event of which 82 logged in trips.
8102 mi les were ridden and there were 73.5 trips per day (more than Omaha) and accumulated 2002 trips in November. Several people still commuted immediately after the December snow storm. Lincoln had 33 trips and Omaha had 15. Endomondo site continues to track miles.
National Bike Challenge will run May 1- September 30, May 8 will be Bike to School Day, May 13 -17 will be Bike to Work Week. We will probably celebrate Bike to Work Day on May 10.
Melissa Fuller with Channel 10 is working on putting together some Bike Videos to promote Bike safety, what to look for to buy a bike, clothing, trail etiquette, etc. These will be running on Channel I 0 as well as on Facebook after they have been completed.
There was discussion on raised intersections. Meeting adjourned.