Pathways Meeting Wed March 7 2007 - Report

   1. Phase 1 - Contrapath adjacent to Old Taylor Rd (OTR) @ Whirlpool Drive questionable.
      Alternative suggested - bike lanes along OTR simply one-way with traffic.

      This item generated a lot of discussion. It took most of the meeting and then a bike ride on Saturday Morning with Vivian, Mayor Howorth, Roger F., Roger K. and myself.In both plans there are normal bike lanes for the majority of OTR, that connect to the multiuse path at Kitchenaid Drive, and then follow the TVA Powerline right of way to the Railway.
      The issue boils down to a decision to place a crosswalk across Old Taylor Road at a convenient spot (at the Traffic Signal at Whirlpool Dr) vs maintaining bike lanes / paved shoulders on both sides of the road all of the way to KitchenAid Drive, and eventually beyond.
      The image at: <http://www.loupathways.org/otrPW2c_03.jpg>  (top) shows the original design. Normal bikelanes are currently planned for the segments from the Roundabout at Ford Pkwy to the Hwy 6 bridge and from the bridge to Whirlpool Dr (green). A crosswalk at Whirlpool Dr. will connect from a two-way path to the north and west of Old Taylor Rd. (red). Here is a google map <http://tinyurl.com/2edddy> of this section that you can scale and pan.

      This is problematic for the following reasons.
          * There are 4 lanes of opposing traffic, including the bike lane closest to the road, encouraging riding against traffic.
          * Future use of the shoulder as a proper bike lane, is precluded
          *See 9 more reasons at the design and engineering pages of bicyclinginfo.org <http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/de/shared.cfm>.
            2-way paths are strongly discouraged from sharing the right of way with normal roads. The design criteria outlined above states that if a contrapath must share the right of way with a normal roadway at least 5 feet , or a 42in high barrier should separate the two.

            The alternative, continuing the normal bike lanes on either side of OTR all the way to Kitchenaid Drive is illustrated to the right, below (New Proposal).

      The entrance to KitchenAid Drive is directly across from the entrance to the Shiloh subdivision. A crosswalk there would require some sort of signal. A suggestion currently being considered is a roundabout to facilitate left turns into Shiloh and the pathway. A roundabout might also slow down traffic on OTR as one approaches the higher density residential area. Major consideration is cost - a Roundabout like the one at GFP and OTR is ~$150k. A mini-roundabout may be cheaper. Mayor Howorth has a meeting with people at Whirlpool next week.

      If you have any thoughts on this now is the time to speak up. You can send comments to admin@loupathways.org

 Other items:
   2. Jeff Williams says bike lanes on College Hill from Bridge to McElroy in SunSouth plans.
   3.Bridge arrival not scheduled until June.
   4.Draft City Ped/Bike ordinance.
      Tim and Mayor Howorth presented a draft ordinance. The main focus is in formalizing the status the pathways committee as an official city commission (like the tree board). With dedicated resources. We will discuss the draft at the next meeting.
   5. Bicycle Friendly Communities Proposal - will be submitted by March 23 2007,
      Goals to get first drafts by Friday 3/16 from the following individuals.
          * ENGINEERING - 18 questions - Bart and David, City Engineers
          * EDUCATION - 8 questions - Kate,
          * ENCOURAGEMENT - 14 questions - Mike and Vivian, Bike club activities
          * ENFORCEMENT - 6 questions OPD, UPD
          * EVALUATION & PLANNING - 12 questions - Tim

            8 page PDF or plain text questions available 
   6. Bike Month - Oxford Cycling Mtg March 19 will address this
   7. Safe Routes to School Proposal - Submitted last week! - Thanks all around.
   8. Meeting dates - We will stick with 1st Wed of the month. Next Meeting 5pm April 4 2007