Urgent Call to Action on Pedestrian & Bicycle Issue!

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP: For more than a year and a half, Bicycling In Greensboro, Inc. (BIG) has been petitioning the Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (GUAMPO) to establish a standing Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). GUAMPO is the federally designated entity that determines how federal, state, and local funds are used for transportation projects in the greater Greensboro area (including bike lanes, sidewalks, and off-street paved trails). Currently, users of bicycle and pedestrian facilities do not have an official voice in the transportation decision-making process in Greensboro. For comparison, at least 7 of the 17 MPOs in North Carolina already have such committees. In response to BIG's requests, Robbie Perkins (the Chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), which is GUAMPO's decision-making board), agreed to direct GUAMPO staff to develop recommendations for creating such a committee to present to the TAC. Initially, staff agreed to present their recommendations by around Spring 2010. By June 2010 no recommendations had been presented, so BIG sent a follow-up letter. Staff then agreed to bring recommendations forward by December 2010. The December 2010 TAC meeting was cancelled, so now these recommendations are finally scheduled to be presented at the January 2011 TAC meeting. The description of the item in the Agenda Item Summary for this meeting reads:

"Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee Options & Alternatives -- Prompted by requests from Bicycling In Greensboro, MPO staff has completed research and reviewed options for and alternatives to an MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. A preferred alternative involving public involvement and community outreach strategies instead of a committee will be described."

Although this summary statement does not give the details of staff's actual recommendations, there is enough evidence to indicate that the recommendations will not be a satisfactory response to our request, for several reasons:

1) The current federal regulations governing MPOs already require MPOs to "provide citizens, affected public agencies, representatives of public transportation employees, freight shippers, providers of freight transportation services, private providers of transportation, representatives of users of public transportation, representatives of users of pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation facilities, representatives of the disabled, and other interested parties with a reasonable opportunity to comment on" development of the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP), and the Public Participation Plan.

2) The GUAMPO Public Participation Plan and the Greensboro Urban Area Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Master Plan (aka BiPed Plan) also already state that GUAMPO will conduct public involvement and outreach activities in order to seek input from all interested parties.

3) BIG specifically requested creation of a committee comprised of individuals from throughout the community with direct knowledge of and experience with the needs and preferences of bicyclists and pedestrians. While the BPAC would certainly provide input on the several large, long-range planning documents maintained by the MPO (especially the BiPed Plan), the real significance of the BPAC would be its ability to provide timely, consistent input to both the TAC and to staff on issues related to specific bicycle and pedestrian projects.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO: Urge the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to not accept the recommendation offered by MPO staff, and instead to establish and appoint a standing Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, generally similar in structure and function to that described in the two letters submitted by BIG to the MPO in September 2009 and June 2010, respectively. The TAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 2pm in the Greensboro City Council Chamber, located on the 2nd floor of Greensboro City Hall, 300 West Washington Street.

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING: Contact TAC Chair Robbie Perkins ASAP to voice your concerns:
rperkins@naipt.com
336-574-4003
robbie.perkins@greensboro-nc.gov
336-358-3219

Here is the letter that was sent to Adam Fischer (Director of the Greensboro Department of Transportation) in June, 2007:
http://www.bikegso.org/pdf/BPAC_Letter_to_Adam_06_17_10_v2.pdf

GUAMPO Main Webpage:
http://www.guampo.org

GUAMPO Public Participation Plan:
http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/73CE18D7-9BDD-4FB5-B7C3-668C2BA086F4/0/PPP_adopted_1242007.pdf

BiPed Plan:
http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/GDOT/divisions/planning/bicycleandpedestrian/bipedplan/

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NC DOT Doesn't Seem to Get It

According to this article in the News and Record, NC DOT is planning on surveying motorists on how they use Triad area roads. The problem is, motorists aren't the only road users. What about transit users? Pedestrians? Bicyclists? Their road use is just as valid as the motorists. Where is their survey?

General Greensboro seems to have information not in the news article, in a statement on Twitter he said "GenlGreensboro @mplakus Don't know about alt trans. Seems like they are looking for how many people cross county boundaries. " That still has no bearings on transit, ped or bike, they can all cross county lines.

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Detached Bike Parking

I finally closed on my condo in central MD last week and immediately turned around and made an offer (which was accepted with some modification) on a nice home with a detached garage. This will put a bit of a crimp in my style regarding reporting on progress on the BRT as once I move it will no longer be along the way on my route to work but I still intend to go out of my way once in a while to keep up on the progress. Looks like major work on the Cone Rd tunnel is complete although they filled in the ends of the tunnel until the rest of the trail is ready, at least that's my guess as to why they filled it back in.

From Wrenwood Dr

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BRT Update 7 Oct 09

An update on the progress on the BRT. It's getting harder (actually pretty much impossible) to shoot during the morning now that the sun rises around 7:30. This first shot was taken in the afternoon.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This is the trail south of Martinsville Rd. Since this shot soil has been dropped on top of the gravel to the level of the retaining wall bricks. I've not seen this style of grading before so I'm not sure what the goal is.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Another odd shot--They filled in the south end of the Cone Rd tunnel. My guess is they are trying to keep people out of an unstable environment while they work on the north end. They may also be trying to build up the soil on the walls of the ramp before they install the retaining walls.

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OMG! WT#! #TW!

From Battleground Rail Trail

I've lived in Greensboro for almost a year and within 1/2 a mile of the beginning of this trail but until yesterday I had never taken the time to explore it. I want that year back! I'm not sure how good this trail feels on an upright bike but on my 'bent trike....

The photo above was taken while climbing back up a section of twisting descent that had me tapping the brakes to prevent rollovers. The G's necessary to roll my trike in a gradual curve are pretty impressive (I did go on two wheels in one corner).

Then there's this section of false flat near the northern end of the trail. I thought it was the wind keeping my speed down to 12MPH while traversing the field. Not so. Once I hit the end of paved trail I turned around (1.5" tires and no suspension is no fun on the big gravel used on old rail beds). Very quickly I found I was now going downhill--it wasn't much effort to get to 27MPH and I still had gears left. There was traffic ahead so I coasted back down to sane traffic speed and was very effortlessly maintaining 15-17 MPH before I had to stop for a road crossing.

If you live in or near Greensboro and want a nice short to middle distance ride (I added a couple loops around the military park and Country Park to total 21 miles) with no motor traffic (but some ped and bike traffic--mind your speed and distance when passing) I strongly recommend hopping on this trail at its start in Guilford Courthouse Military Park and heading north.

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BRT-Cone Rd Underpass

Today we have a collection of photos of the Cone Rd Underpass under construction. The first few are my own, the balance were taken by a GDOT employee.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking south while north of Cone Rd.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking north from Cone Rd.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking north while south of Cone Rd while Michael J Fox oversees.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Looking south from Cone Rd.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This is the first of the GDOT photos. The balance of the photos are also courtesy of GDOT.

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

From Battleground Rail Trail

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BRT in Progress

Here are my first photos of the BRT as it is being built.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This view is from about 50 yards south of Total Wine looking north. The trail will connect to the sidewalk just before the driveway for Total Wine/CVS. This looks to be a crash waiting to happen. In fact when I headed through the driveway intersection I had a ROW conflict with a right turning pickup. Fortunately we were both alert to the potential for problems and no harm done.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This shot was taken from the same location as the first but looking south. The crushed stone bed looks reasonably wide.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This view is from Martinsville Rd looking north. Hopefully that speed bump is not part of the design.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This shot was taken from Isaac Pl and Martinsville Rd. It illustrates two things:

1. Looking over the hood of the second car you see the beings of the next section of trail.


2. Due to the high traffic volume I had to shoot the shot with cars in the picture. Combine this with the 30-40 yard offset between trail segments and we have a significant conflict point. No pedestrian facilities means all trail users will be using the road to get between the trail segments.

From Battleground Rail Trail

This next segments have much work to be done at this point. Here is the segment that curves around the Toyota lot to begin running parallel to Patriot Way.

From Battleground Rail Trail

Same location as the last shot but looking west now.

I hope the designers have thought about the conflict zones I have highlighted here. It seem to me the money being spent to tunnel under Cone would have been better spent tunneling under Martinsville or Pisgah Church. On Cone a crossing pedestrian or cyclist only needs to negotiate with traffic from one direction at a time. They get to change their focus once the median is reached. Martinsville affords no such luxury and I have yet to figure out how the Pisgah Church crossing is expected to work but unless those high speed corners are squared back off I expect it can't help but be dangerous.

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Battleground Rail Trail

Kudos to General Greensboro for highlighting this article which led me to this article. I've heard rumor of this trail but nobody had been able to provide facts relating to it. Even armed with the name of the trail I am finding very limited information about the rail-trail conversion. GDOT had this but no one else appears to be talking about this project on the Internet which I find utterly amazing.

The current phase of the project will run the trail from the end of the Bicentenial Greenway next to Mt Pisgah UMC on Pisgah Church Rd down to Markland Avenue. A tunnel will be used to get around the traffic on Cone Blvd but I wonder how traffic will be handled at the Martinsville Rd and Pisgah Church Rd crossings.

A quick look at satellite photos overlaid on the old rail alignment shows the homes and businesses that adjoined the old rail bed have taken over the space of the old rail right of way. Where I to guess about the alignment of the trail I would expect it to use Isaac Pl from Pisgah Church Rd to Martinsville Rd. Then comes the challenge of crossing Martinsville Rd. Despite a 30 MPH speed limit a large number of road users appear to confuse this street with the speedway of the same name. Combine this with short site lines and substantial traffic (frequently and issue during the evening commute for me) and you have a very difficult crossing. Add to this the fact that following Isaac Pl puts one a hundred yards east of the rail alignment and the problems start to compound. Do you follow Martinsville to get back unto the rail alignment or follow Lane Rd to Patriot Way which eventually realigns on the old rail bed.

The other alternative that I can see is to follow Isaac Pl about 200-250 yards to get around the back of the mini-mall that sits squarely on the old rail alignment. At that point follow that property lines back to the alignment. Now this reduces some of the Martinville Rd conflicts as the crossing will be closer to Battleground and eastbound motorists won't have time to accelerate to uncontrollable speeds while the sight lines to the west are improved by the higher elevation.

There still are problems though with the Pisgah Church Rd crossing though. If it is made at the original rail alignment it will be nearly 100 ft wide and eastbound traffic exiting off northbound Battleground does not have a stop sign or red light. Given my experience in Greensboro marked crosswalks mean nothing to local drivers so crossing here would be extraordinarily dangerous. Crossing from the Bicentennial Parkway to Isaac Pl is only marginally better but could easily be improved with a concrete pedestrian island to afford some protection from eastbound motorists heading for Forest Lawn Dr who might cheat over to the turning lane without checking for pedestrians or cyclists trying to cross. I really don't understand why this isn't already in place given Isaac Pl is the northern end of Bike Route 9.

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Tax Holiday

North Carolina had its School Tax Holiday this weekend. The concept, as I understand it, is to help people save a little money as they prepare for the school year. That's all well and good. What I take issue with is the logic behind what is or isn't taxed.

How many grade school students have you ever seen wearing Lycra kit to school? I've never seen a one. Granted, just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it does exist. Most students who would be permitted to bicycle to school probably live within five miles of school, a distance were Lycra offers no benefit. What's my point? On Saturday I purchased one Lycra jersey, one pair of Lycra shorts and one pair of cycling gloves and all of it was tax free.

Now I suspect this all came under the overarching category of clothing so I'm not going to complain about law makers trying to keep a law simple. What I will complain about is the purchase that was taxed.

Juveniles in NC are required to wear a helmet while operating a bicycle. Guess which purchase was taxed? The helmet--Not a high end unobtanium feather weight model which would clearly be a luxury, but a middle of the road Bell Ghisallo. If the NC legislature wants to show they are serious about promoting transportation methods other than single occupant motor vehicles then they have some serious work to do.

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NC DOT Adopts "Complete Streets" Policy

Until now NC road designers had no requirement to add facilities to highways that accommodated any other users except motorists. Now a "Complete Streets" policy has been adopted that directs designers to consider the needs of non-motorists. The operative word there is "consider". Using costs of adding such infrastructure as a reason to drop plans from consideration is something that will have to be watched closely before we can call this a "win" for transportation outside of privately owned motor vehicles.

Bike Hazard Reporting Site

BikeWise is a reporting site for bicycling hazards and facilities short-comings. I've added several entries for hazards and facilities failures (non-functional traffic signal vehicle sensors). It will be interesting to see if local authorities make use of the data gleaned from this site.

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Yehuda Moon Returns!

From the Yehuda Moon blog:

Yehuda Moon returns June 17, 2009. Dailies will run Monday through Saturday featuring Yehuda and the whole gang at the Kickstand. A fuller Sunday strip will run as well, featuring Joe King. More details shortly. 

I will likely fill in the blank dates if I find time along the way (and maybe even a few before the restart date).

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New Urbanism

I'm not only about cycling...I also aspire to a greener environment which dovetails nicely with cycling. Another topic that dovetails well with both a greener environment and cycling is urban planning, a subject the county planners seem to have slept through in school if they even went to the classes. Here's a little video on "New Urbanism":

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