HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-06-06-LBAC-min (Tri-community meeting)
Minutes of Tri-Community Bicycle Committee Meeting, June 6, 2015
Those in attendance were Bob Dangel, Bob Hausslein, Dave Enos, George Gagliardi, Jack
Johnson, Jennifer Melot, Joey Glushko, Martha Dolan, Richard Canale, Peggy Enders, Rod
Holland, Scott Smith, and Stephan Miller.
The meeting was called to order at 9:05 am.
Peggy Enders introduced herself and will chair the meeting. Other introductions were made all
around.
10 minute updates from Arlington, Bedford and Lexington.
Arlington update. Christopher Tonkin told us about the shooting incident at Thorndike field last
night. He added that there is now a Bicycle Cop at every ABAC meeting so the communication
with the Arlington Police Department is improving. He also gave a summary of the panel
discussion at the last ABAC Winter Social which was about pedestrian/bike interactions.
Scott Smith told us about the new Roadway Marking Guide Produced by ABAC and the
Arlington Transportation Advisory Committee. The Guide will be used by the Arlington DPW to
mark major roads as they are repaved. He added that the Arlington Police will be patrolling the
bikeway this summer. Next he informed us that an Arlington Police Officer will be directing
traffic at the Lake St./Bikeway intersection for a portion of the summer as a pilot to determine if a
traffic signal could alleviate the traffic problem on Lake St. This topic brought on a discussion of
the issue of whether bicyclists should dismount when crossing a roadway.
Bedford update. A representative from the Bedford Bicycle Committee informed us about
several CPA projects, one of which is a Bicycle Master Plan being assembled by the consultants,
Toole Design. The plan will be finalized some time in June. He added that there will be an air
pump for bicycle tires installed at the Bedford Depot funded by a CPA grant. There might be a
second pump located at the bike shop across the street. The Narrow Gauge Path was graded and
dusted with stone this spring. There are no plans to pave this path. The Minuteman Bikeway
Extension will soon be paved and a cycle-track built on Railroad Ave. to connect it with the
Minuteman Bikeway.
Lexington updates. Peggy told us that Lexington has published a flier on bicycle safety that was
sent out with the last property tax bill. The flier explains bicycle street marking, bicycle courtesy
and bike law. This is the second brochure Lexington has sent out. They are planning on sending
out a safety brochure every couple of years. They told us that the brochure was well received and
that there is an electronic copy on the Lexington Friends of the Bikeway website.
We were also told that Lexington has does bicycle training, especially for women, but has had a
weak response for the on road rides. They also had a breakfast on the Bikeway during Bike
Week. The Bikeway signage master plan for Lexington is being done by Toole design and will
soon be complete. In addition, the Bikeway in Lexington will be repaved this summer. They did
not know whether the entire path will be repaved or just worst sections. This means there will be
sectional closings of the Bikeway this summer. Lexington wants to install traffic lights on Mass.
Ave. at the intersection of streets that access the Bikeway. They will also be building another
Bikeway access point at Maple St. There is some controversy about installing the traffic lights so
it is not yet a settled matter.
Winter 2014-15 snow and ice (and communicating about Bikeway conditions). There was a
miscommunication about the plowing of the Bikeway in Arlington last winter. The problem was
eventually corrected although there was then a problem with ice. Because Arlington is unable to
use salt on most of the length of the Bikeway, there is a perennial problem with ice in shady
areas. Hopefully there will be better communication in future winters and the Bikeway will be
plowed shortly after snowfalls. We discussed the problem of snow being dumped on the
Bikeway from parking lots along the right-of-way. Even snow near the Bikeway causes a
problem when it melts. We concluded that the Bikeway should be plowed shortly after every
snowfall and scraped very close to the pavement.
We next discussed implementing a system of notification for conditions along the Bikeway. We
concluded that Twitter provides the quickest communication and that these notifications should
use #Minuteman Bikeway. There is currently an account named @bikeminuteman that can be
accessed if necessary.
Bikeway counts past and future. Arlington has been doing Bikeway counts for about five years.
They are taken three times a year in May, July and September. Joey told us that the increase in
the number of Bicycles using the Bikeway has tapered off but the number of pedestrians and
joggers continues to increase. This use tends to drive the cyclists off the path.
We were told that there is also a need for roadway counts. Currently, the roadway counts can be
done electronically. At some point in the future we should discuss how to do roadway counts
over long periods of time. We discussed the idea that the predominant mode of transportation
should have the right of way at an intersection as the Federal Guidelines imply. We suspected
that, at some intersections on the Bikeway, bicycle traffic predominates. We concluded that a
presentation by someone knowledgeable about the technology of counting traffic would be
instructive.
Wayfinding and etiquette signage on the Bikeway. Toole Design was hired by Lexington to do a
Signage Master Plan to be completed by the next Town Meeting. The plan will be implemented
in the next year. Bedford and Arlington chose not to participate. We discussed mile marker signs
to facilitate emergency response which were requested by the Arlington Police. Lexington would
like to see Toole work this into their plan. Arlington has just approved the CPA so they are just
beginning to form the apparatus to deal with planning community innovations. We were told that
projects that cut across multiple towns will facilitate the competition for CPA funds. Lastly,
Lexington is planning on putting multiple Burma Shave type signs along the Bikeway to
encourage empathic behavior.
Communication: Websites, email lists and social media. It was the general consensus that the
website needs to be modernized so that information is easier to locate. There is also a need for
direct links to the social media sites that have information about the Bikeway. We decided that
we must have a longer discussion about communications in general. There was also the
suggestion that we meet with more local bike committees to coordinate regional bicycle facilities
and activities. We could for instance, contact the Bike to the Sea organization for information on
their activities.
Future meetings and topics. We decided that eBikes is a topic that needs an informed discussion.
We than decided to have another meeting in January, date to be determined at a later time.
The meeting was adjourned 11:05 am
Minutes submitted by Stephan Miller