The Bike Fort Wayne Task Force meets today at noon. The meeting is open to the public and takes place in the OMNI room on the second floor of the City County building.

The following was sent out to Task Force members ahead of today’s meeting:

Agenda, May 27th, 2009:

Welcome and recap April 20th (Paul Spoelhof)

Bikeway planning (Vince Robinson and Rich Davis)
Goals
Guiding principles
Design criteria

Bike Summit results (Dennis Donahue)

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TASK FORCE CHARGE:

The Bike Fort Wayne Task Force is a diverse group with specific interests in improving bicycle safety and accessibility for a variety of riding purposes throughout the community. The task force is assembled to provide direct community input during the development of Bike Fort Wayne: a project plan intended to balance transportation infrastructure and complement existing bicycle facilities with bike-ways that efficiently and safely connect people to the places they want to visit by bike. The task force will assist City staff with drafting the plan by discussing staff recommendations; providing insights on bicycling issues; identifying significant barriers (physical, cultural, and fiscal) to safety or accessibility; and prioritizing projects for implementation and funding. The task force will meet several times through the Spring and Summer of 2009.

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Bikeway planning goals:

• The long-term goal for bicycle facilities planning in Fort Wayne is to expand safe and efficient opportunities for bikes to provide a reasonable alternative to motor vehicles throughout the City. The plan will establish annual targets for installing bicycle infrastructure as well as two-, five- and ten-year goals.
• The bicycle facilities plan will provide balance to transportation planning that has historically emphasized vehicle trips with secondary accommodation for pedestrian and bicycle alternatives. Over time, the development of safe bikeways will increase the number of trips people are willing to make by bike.
• The bicycle facilities plan will be used by private sector individuals and government agencies to guide investment and policy decisions. The plan will be embraced by the public and used to advocate implementation of bikeways and transportation policy.

Bikeway planning guiding principles:

• At its core, a bike facilities plan describes where bikeways should be located and what type of bicycle facility is appropriate for the location and conditions. The development and improvement of bicycle facilities will reflect the planning and design criteria presented in this plan and updated as necessary.
• The bike facilities plan is a community-based plan developed with a significant amount of meaningful public input. The community of riders and drivers will continue to shape the plan as it is implemented and revised beyond its ten-year planning horizon.
• The bike facilities plan will serve a broad spectrum of cyclists’ needs, skill levels and comfort zones. Creating and expanding safe riding opportunities for all types of riders is an important way to encourage more riding and increased rider confidence; both of which will increase the number of bike trips that replace vehicle trips.
• A bikeway network will be established over the next ten years on a core-grid of major thoroughfares that serve the entire City and can accommodate riders safely and efficiently. Major thoroughfares provide the greatest opportunity to develop safe and direct bicycle facilities within the paved roadway or beyond it, within rights-of-way.
• The bikeway network will accommodate recreational and commuting* trips. Most bike-riding in Fort Wayne is recreational, and much of the public input verifies this fact with requests for additional and improved access to the local trail networks and several parks. In addition to the recreational riding, public input indicates that there is a relatively high level of potential commuting that would happen in Fort Wayne if safe and direct bike facilities were developed.
• Design flexibility is important to achieving the safety, efficiency, location, and timeliness goals for the bike facilities plan. Bikeway alignments may be comprised of a variety of facilities that safely accommodate riders. Design flexibility also implies that the facility may change over time as resources and/or conditions warrant change.

Bikeway planning and design criteria:

• Safety: Accommodating bicycle and motor vehicle use of roadways demands a high and primary emphasis on safety for all users. Collisions will happen despite the most thoughtful and deliberate design but the objective remains; plan and design for safety first. To that end, contextual consideration for elements including crash data, traffic volume, traffic speed, and other characteristics of the riding/driving environment will be incorporated into planning and design. Design safety also implies an emphasis on resolving hazards created by physical and environmental conditions on a bikeway.
• Destinations: Through public outreach, the City has identified many destinations that riders would like to access more efficiently and safely. Survey results provide insight on destination classes including employment centers, parks, retail centers, schools and others. The 200+ participants in the 2009 Bike Summit described several specific destinations that they currently ride to and would like to ride to when the facilities are in place.
• Connectivity: The City has an excellent and growing network of multi-use trails that provide for recreational riding, access to parks, and limited access to specific destinations identified by the public. A bikeway network must capitalize on opportunities to improve connectivity with the existing and planned expansion of the local multi-use trail network. In addition to facilitating increased safety for cyclists, the City intends to improve conditions for pedestrian access throughout the community. Consideration should be given to improving both pedestrian and bicycle access where the need and facility lines up. Finally, connectivity to transit service lines is also a valuable location consideration for bicycle facilities.
• Flexible design: There are many ways to accommodate cyclists who want to commute or ride recreationally. The bikeway network will be comprised of a variety of bicycle facilities in and beyond the roadway. These facilities include; paved shoulders, bike lanes, sharrow pavement markings, shared roadway signage, and off-road multi-use path. Design flexibility also contemplates consideration for urban versus suburban context.
• Aesthetics: Bicycle facilities should celebrate good form, consistent themes, and attractive design. This includes investing in unique branding and incorporating iconic color and design into signs, pavement marking, and bike racks.
• Existing infrastructure: The feasibility of safely incorporating bicycles into existing roadway will depend on details including pavement width, lane configuration and purpose, shoulder and/or curb conditions. Design of bike facilities should change as roadway improvements present opportunities for increased safety and efficiency.
• Population demographics: The bike way network will be designed to serve population centers with safe and efficient means to minimize vehicle trips by riding a bike. Population demographics will provide insight as to the potential trip volume generated by bicycle facilities, and the demand for bikeways. Demographic information including population density, access to vehicles, and household income will help to guide both prioritization for developing bikeways and the best option among various bicycle facilities.

* While “commute” often implies a trip between work and home, its complete definition is to travel back and forth regularly. The implication here is that any routine trip fits the definition.

Thoughts?