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APPROVED MEETING MINUTES
Committee Name Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee
Date, Time and Location of Meeting Sept 10, 2015, Cary Library, 7 00 p m
Members Present. Peggy Enders, (Chair), Manta Hartshorn, Bob Hausslein (FoLB
Chair), Laurel Carpenter, Bob Dangel, John Frey, George Gagliardi, Carolyn Levi,
Sandra Shaw (Recreation Liaison), Richard Canale (Planning Board Liaison)
Member Absent. Mike Tabaczynski,
Others Present: Jennifer Melot, Luis Melendez, Elaine Ashton
The July Meeting Minutes were approved as submitted
Should Lexington have a Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee? The Committee
discussed the pros and cons of replacing the Bicycle and Sidewalk committees with a
Bicycle/Pedestrian group Richard Canale suggested instead a "mobility committee,"
another member worried about "diluting the agenda" of a bicycle-focused committee
Others members said it is not the right time to restructure transportation groups, since
town staffing is in flux The committee agreed that if a Bicycle/Pedestrian advisory
committee is established, then a staff person should be identified who has responsibility
for attending the LBAC meetings, working with the committee and coordinating town-
wide bicycle and pedestrian issues (e g , bike/ped advocacy, safety and education
programs, bicycle parking inventory and standards, data analysis and sharing of bike
and ped accidents, town-wide ped and bike counts, etc ) Peggy will meet with
Selectman Barry and David Kucharsky to find out more about what is being considered
and to convey the position of the Bicycle Committee
Bikeway Paving, Closures, and Detours Peggy, Jennifer, Bob Dangel, and Carolyn
met with Dave Cannon to discuss detours while the bikeway is being paved The work
is slated to begin on September 21
In a discussion about bicycle accommodations on town arterials, Richard stated that
Wood Street was not slated to be improved until sometime between 2021 and 2025
Given the heavy bicycle traffic on that street, the committee agreed to ask for the DPW
to budget for sharrows in the immediate future Peggy said that the group that worked
with Bob Dangel to produce "bicycle network" recommendations for John Livsey would
meet with John soon to review the status of bike accommodations on newly-paved
arterials For instance, Concord Avenue has been recently repaved, the spreadsheet
prepared by Bob Dangel for the Town recommends sharrows Similarly, the bridge
repairs over Route 128 at Mass Ave should be followed by painted sharrows to continue
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the sharrows already there Laurel commented that such a document, and one
similarly prepared by the Sidewalk Committee, ought to be public, or at least available
on the web to all Town staff as part of the Town's transportation plan
Summer Signage on the Bikeway Thanks to George, Jennifer, and Peggy the "Burma
Shave" signs are now in place and in most cases very well received The committee
has even gotten suggestions for future sayings The messages should be replaced
often so that they do not become stale to the readers Peggy mentioned that Toole
Design has signed a contract with the town and soon will begin their work on the master
plans for permanent Bikeway signage Richard Canale reported that the Battle Road
Committee has developed their signage, there should be some coordination with the
Toole plan
Center Streetscape and the 3-Intersection Corridor Project Luis Melendez,
representing himself, Tom Fortmann, and others on the Battle Road Friends group, said
he felt that the early hearings on both the Woburn Street intersection and the Mass
Ave Corridor project were "not a welcoming and open process " He described his
bicycle commute from Boston to Lexington as a "decompression," saying that he does
not think the proposal to provide bike lanes on the Mass Ave corridor is a good idea
They are concerned that there is not enough space for parking spaces and bike lanes,
the space allocated to the proposed bike lane risks the cyclist getting doored Richard
responded to their concerns about crash data and the intersection designs, stating there
was much misinformation being distributed He said that the Woburn Street
intersection is considered one of the most dangerous in the state according to
MassDOT data He would challenge them to propose a safer project than the one
before the town at the present; the status quo is not safe Peggy said that the Bicycle
Advisory Committee should focus its opinion and endorsements on the need for bike
lanes and other bicycle accommodations to improve safety and hopes to continue this
discussion at upcoming meetings She encouraged all members to attend the October
14 meeting at Clarke School about the Corridor Project.
Annual Report The deadline is the end of October for the committee's annual report.
Liaison Reports Richard said he just returned from Copenhagen, there is an entirely
different bike culture there that favors bikes over cars The bike ways are plowed first
and bikes have the right of way
Other business Laurel announced the New England Bike-Walk summit on October
24th at the DCU in Worcester Peggy said that Waltham has developed guidelines and
standards for bicycle parking that are overseen by their traffic commission, the
committee should continue to recommend that Lexington adopt similar standards for all
bicycle parking, public and private
Record of the Discussion of the Friends of Lexington Bikeways
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The Treasurer's Report was given
Bikeway Counting for CTPS Peggy is organizing the counts on Sept. 15th and 19th
Please respond to her email
Farmers' Market Bike Corrals We parked bikes and distributed coupons to roughly 25
people last Tuesday on a very not day The next corral is Oct. 13th
Bikeway access at Munroe Cemetery Bob is working with Karen Mullins to improve a
pedestrian connection between the Bikeway and Monroe Cemetery with access to
Mass Ave
Upcoming Dates
CTPS Bikeway Counts Tuesday, September 15, Saturday, September 19
LBAC/FoLB meeting October 8, 7 pm, Learning Center, Cary Library
Farmers' Market Bike Corral Tuesday, October 13, 2 — 6 30 PM
Public Hearing on the 3-Intersection Project Wednesday, October 14, 7 pm
Lexington High School auditorium
2015 Moving Together Conference Wednesday, November 4 "Healthy
Transportation, Healthy Communities"
Manta Hartshorn, Recorder
Peggy Enders, Editor
Items Distributed
• Excerpt from NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide ("Buffered Bike Lanes")
• Memo from David Kucharsky to Carl Valente, June 24, 2015
• Charge to Lexington Bicycle Advisory Committee, 2001