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Home My WebLink About2014-09-11-LBAC-min APPROVED MEETING NOTES Committee Name: Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee Date, Time and Location of Meeting: Thursday, September 11, 2014 Town Office Building Members Present: Peggy Enders, (Chair), Marita Hartshorn, Laurel Carpenter, Bob Dangel, John Frey, Carolyn Levi, George Gagliardi, Bob Hausslein, Richard Canale, (Planning Board Liaison), Sandra Shaw (Recreation Liaison) Member Absent: Mike Tabaczynski Others Present: Jennifer Melot, Greg Shenstone August Meeting Minutes – The August Minutes were approved as amended. Minuteman Bikeway Signage Update – Peggy reported a meeting with the Town Manager and DPW staff regarding the Toole Group signage recommendations. The DPW has approach the Toole Group for an estimate on doing a master plan for signage – both wayfinding as well as safety information. Bob Dangel’s work would be folded into any work Toole would do. The Committee agreed that using professionals to finish this work is a good approach, especially if Arlington is able to hire the Toole Group, as well. TSAC Meeting Update – Carolyn Levi attended the meeting. The TSAC will consider having stanchions installed at the requested Bikeway intersections (i.e., Revere, Meriam, and Woburn Streets) and will also consider painting sharrows at the rotary in front of Diamond Middle School. David Cannon used Google to the illustrate connections for this presentation which proved very useful. Proposed Changes on Hartwell Avenue – Jennifer Melot, Lincoln Lab Bicycle Coordinator, solicited comments from cyclists who use Hartwell Avenue regarding a proposed roundabout at Maguire/Hartwell. (Attached at the end of the minutes are their responses.) Richard Canale said that MassDOT has a roundabout design tool. One lane is recommended for less than 1300 cars/hour, two lanes for 1300 to1800 cars/hour, and more for over 1800 cars/hour. At its peak the Hartwell/Maguire intersection sees 2000 cars/hour. One-lane roundabouts are usually fine for cyclists to navigate, but two or more lanes are considered “problematic,” according to experts in the area, Richard said. Lexington Bike Brochure – Jennifer Melot shared a draft of a Lexington specific bike brochure, something that might be produced in time for distribution next spring. The committee felt the draft was a fine start. Carolyn Levi agreed to work with Jennifer on producing the next draft. Upcoming Quarterly Transportation Forum : The next Transportation Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, October 15, 9 am. Peggy will present the “report card” from the League of American Bicyclists, detailing their recommendations to improve Lexington’s bike friendliness. Complete Streets and paving projects are also on the forum agenda. Annual Report – Peggy is preparing the Committee report for the period July 2013 to June 2014. Liaison Reports – Sandra Shaw reported that the bike path from Lincoln Field to Middleby is finished. Other business - There was discussion about wintertime users of the Bikeway who want to cross- country ski and their concerns about the skiing surface after plowing. Stakes were suggested to help guide the plow operator (though the committee has had prior experience with trying to stake the path). Peggy said that, in a meeting with the DPW, the Bikeway was slated to be striped very soon, and the Board of Selectmen would be considering a bike lane for Bedford Street at their next meeting. She also heard from the DPW managers that the car wash and other abutters of the Bikeway in East Lexington will be discouraged from dumping their plowed snow onto the Bikeway ROW. Peggy mentioned that Melisa Tintocalis, Director of Economic Development, will attend the October LBAC meeting to talk about the proposed designs for the new Grain Mill Alley. Members were encouraged to learn more about this project. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 pm. Record of the Discussion of the Friends of Lexington Bikeways Farmer’s Market: There was a good turnout at the September 9 Bike Corral, perhaps due to our newer location near the bike path and increased publicity. 501c3 status: The Friends’ 501c3 status is pending. Smart Cycling Quick Guide Bob Hausslein will look into purchasing copies of the LAB for distribution at FoLB events. Moving Together Forum Laurel will attend the in October. Upcoming Dates LBAC/FoLB meeting Thursday, October 9, 7 pm, Parker Room of the Town Office Building Traffic Safety Advisory Committee Meeting: Tuesday, October 7, 2014, Parker Room Bike to Market Day: Tuesday, October 14 Quarterly Transportation ForumOctober 15, 9 am :, Selectmen’s Meeting Room Tri-Town Bike Committee meeting: Saturday, October 25, 9 am, Central School (Senior Center) Lower Level (27 Maple Street, Arlington Center) Moving Together Conference: Thursday, October 30, Boston Park Plaza Hotel Hand Outs: 1. Generic Roundabout Design from Richard Canale 2. Responses from Lincoln Lab cyclists provided by Jennifer Melot: “When we solicited comments from our bike interest mailing list, we received roughly 40 responses, which came almost entirely from people who regularly pass the \[Hartwell/Maguire\] intersection on their bicycle commute to work. The majority of cyclists thought the proposed roundabout design was a poor idea from a cycling perspective, describing similar multilane roundabouts as "terrifying" to navigate on a bicycle and citing safety concerns. Two particular concerns were being hit from behind by someone speeding around the roundabout with poor visibility, and getting "right-hooked" (where a car makes a right turn into an oncoming cyclist). People did say that a one-lane roundabout would be less frightening to them if the actual (rather than posted) speed of motorists inside the roundabout was 20 mph or lower. Several people said that they avoid larger and faster roundabouts altogether, and mentioned the possibility that having a roundabout in this important intersection would discourage people from using the otherwise excellent Minuteman Bikeway to Hartwell route to work. Research on bicyclists in roundabouts supports the concerns raised by our cycling community. According to the Dutch Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic, the safest roundabout for bicycles is a single-lane roundabout, and a roundabout with cycletracks is safer still (bike paths have a worse safety record than either alternative, perhaps because of right hooks) (1, 2). It also states that if bicycle facilities are used inside a roundabout, they must be extremely conspicuous (for example, with differently colored pavement) (1). While some studies have shown that roundabouts improve accident rates for motorists, "Roundabouts... do not have the same positive effect on the number of cyclist accidents" (3). Roundabout designs where cyclists are not separated from motorist traffic are perceived to be dangerous: "Similarly the number of cyclists that perceived the situation with a circulating cyclist and an exiting car as 'very much' or 'to a large extent' dangerous, was significantly larger in roundabouts without a cycle facility than in roundabouts with a cycle facility" (4). Furthermore, discontinuities in bicycle lanes can adversely impact the perceived safety of an entire route: "Most bicycle planners can easily recount anecdotes from citizens mentioning how ending bicycle lanes influence cyclist safety. If a system is only as good as its weakest link, then discontinuities often time comprise this weak link. Conditions where this merge takes place are sometimes benign; in other cases, however, they occur under unsafe conditions" (5). -- References: (1) http://wiki.coe.neu.edu/groups/nl2011transpo/wiki/8b3f6/8_Bicycles_at_Roundabouts.html (2) Pedestrian and Bicycle Friendly Roundabouts: A Dilemma of Comfort and Safety Presentation of Lambertus G. H. Fortuijn, Strategic Policy office, South Holland/TU Delft (as referenced in (1)) (3) Tove Hels, Ivanka Orozova-Bekkevold The effect of roundabout design features on cyclist accident rate Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 39, Issue 2, March 2007, Pages 30-307 (4) Cyclists' perception of risk in roundabouts Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 40, Issue 3, May 2008, Pages 105-1062 Mette Mueller, Tove Hels (5) What is at the end of the road? Understanding discontinuities of on-street bicycle lanes in urban settings Kevin J. Krizek, Rio W. Roland Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment Volume 10, Issue 1, January 2005, Pages 55-68”