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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRTBC MINUTES March 8, 2016.pdfMINUTES APPROVED MPO REGIONAL TRAILS AND BICYCLING COMMITTEE TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2016 – 1:00PM EMMA HARVAT HALL, IOWA CITY, CITY HALL – 1ST FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM MEMBERS PRESENT: Becky Soglin (for Janelle Rettig), Michelle Ribble, Terry Dahms, Juli Seydell Johnson, Shelly Simpson, Brian Loring MEMBERS ABSENT: Sherrie Proud, Wally Heitman, Anne Duggan OTHERS PRESENT: Cara Hamann, Steve Spears, Brock Grenis, Doug Boldt, Dave Koch, Kathryn Edel, Ed Kringle, Brad Friedhof STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Walz, Emily Bothell, Zac Hall, Kent Ralston 1. CALL TO ORDER; RECOGNIZE ALTERNATES; CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES Walz called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM. Soglin made a motion to approve the January 12, 2016 minutes; Simpson seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 2. PUBLIC DISCUSSION Walz explained the use of the Five E’s for making great places for bicycling: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation & Planning. These words will continue to appear on the agenda to help communities identify relevant activities and discussions if they are pursuing a Bike Friendly Designation designation from the League of American Bicyclists. 3. UPDATE ON THE LONG-RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN Walz provided an update on public input for the Long-Range Transportation Plan. There have been over 1,100 responses to the general transportation survey and over 200 responses to the bike and pedestrian surveys. There will be three public workshops to collect more feedback on projects and aspects of the transportation network. This information will be provided to the RTBC in May. 4. SAFETY RESEARCH FOR CHILD BICYCLISTS AND PEDESTRIANS Walz introduced Cara Hamann of the Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Iowa. Troy and Cara were invited to continue the discussion started at the January TRBC meeting regarding Safe Routes to Schools and getting kids to walk or bike to school. Hamann said that her research at IPRC relates to global road users including bicyclists, pedestrians, and teen drivers. She is currently working on a grant for a project to evaluate bike safety curriculum. This project would be in support of Troy Carter’s role with Safe Routes to School and teaching bicycle skills to school age children. There has been little work to determine whether bike safety curriculum has change bicycling behavior. The current study of has captured the travel behavior of children that bike to school. Spears said the end goal of the study is to identify what routes children are taking to school and where bicycle facility improvements are needed. The study collected one week of riding behavior from 40 children using a GPS-enabled helmet camera. With the data collected they will compare the routes taken to other ‘optimal’ route options. Spears said that the participants were 10 to 15 years old, asked by Friedhof. Hamann explained pervious study, PedalPortal, which observed bike behavior from 10 adults and 10 children. The study found major differences between children and adults in terms of route lengths, use of sidewalks and streets, and crash and near crash rates. Hamann said that the children’s average route length was 1.2 miles and the adult’s average route length was about 3 miles, asked by Friedhof. Van Hoeck said that we had participants from a majority of the elementary, junior high, and high schools in the Iowa City Community School District, asked by Walz. Walz asked whether observations had been made regarding problematic riding habits. Hamann said that most children were riding on the sidewalk, which can create bicycle-pedestrian conflicts. Also, the children will sometimes ride in a reckless manner. Van Hoeck said that we did observe some bike-pedestrian and bike-vehicle conflicts, especially at driveways, intersections, and busy sidewalks. Hamann said that most parents do instruct their children to ride on the sidewalk. Dahms discussed the dilemma of where should children be riding when biking to and from school. Sidewalks and roads will likely be congested when the children are arriving or leaving school. Hamann explained that sidewalks and trails can be problematic because of the number of intersections and lack of attention by motorists to cyclists on sidewalks. Dahms said that parents perceive that the sidewalk is safer and then that instruction is passed onto the child. Hamann said that there is an education gap in regards to the bicycle safety for children and that a more comprehensive effort should be made. Ralston said that MPOJC and members of RTBC are primarily interested in the outcomes of the route analysis. It is the role of the MPOJC and jobs of some RTBC members to address some of the safety issues that might be identified from the study. Dahms said many schools do not plan enough to enable children to bike and walk to school safely. Hamann referenced school bike and pedestrian education programs in Portland, OR and other communities, asked by Loring. Loring said that they are interested in finding grants to fund bike safety programs. Walz explained the Trail Trekkers program hosted by Coralville Parks and Recreation. Simpson said that North Liberty is planning to start a similar program. Walz said Suzie from the school district confirmed that most schools have safe routes to school program. 5. FY2017 TRANSPORTATION PLANNING WORK PROGRAM Walz provided a reminder that MPOJC is available to assist with transportation related issues and is accepting new projects for FY2017. 6. BIKE TO WORK WEEK 2016 Anne Duggan is organizing Bike to Work Week, which will begin Sunday May 15th with a family ride. Contact Anne Duggan (thinkbicycles@gmail.com) or Sarah Walz if your community will declare May as Bike Month. 7. OTHER BUSINESS Walz reported that a public health graduate class will be creating a public education program for addressing bicycle safety. Hopefully the project will be something that can benefit all MPO communities. Ribble said the University is doing a Bike Challenge, through the Office of Sustainability, in April. Also, April 1st will be a Bike Tune-up event on the north side of the Pentacrest. 8. ADJOURNMENT Simpson moved for adjournment. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 1:33 PM.