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Home My WebLink About02-4-15 BABAB meeting minutesBozeman Area Bicycle Advisory Board (BABAB) Meeting Minutes, Wed, February 4, 2015 6-8 pm, Commissioner’s Room, City Hall Board members present: Bill Cochran, Daniel Davis, Dillon Warn, Jenna Fallaw, Jen Petersen, Juliana Olliff, Rebecca Gleason, Sam Haraldson, Steven Blair Board members absent: Jason Delmue, Mike Davis, Zachary Steffl Other attendees: John Van Delinder: City Streets Superintendent, I-Ho Pomeroy: City commission, Dan Ritchie: MSU engineering class student, Jessie May Campbell A. Called meeting to Order B. Public Comment: Dan Ritchie is part of a 5 week MSU engineering class research project on bicycling accessibility and advocacy on campus. He asked a series of questions to the board which led to the following discussions: 1) What are the main problems with biking around the city? A lot of infrastructure is disconnected and there are gaps in pathways. Bike safety and road rules education at MSU is very important. MSU has quite a few bikers who do commute. Safe routes for students to get there should be made a priority. Involve a GIS analysis? 2) Are there safety and traffic flow issues, awareness of laws concerning bikers, walkers and motor vehicles around campus? Current complaints: the MSU mall. Are bikes getting in the way of pedestrians? Should bikes be separated? Could there be parking added for bikes before they get to the mall? A bike count for MSU students could be implemented so that data can be analyzed to find out which routes people are taking in order to design pedestrian routes people will use. Again, there is a huge need for education. The task force is in the process of developing a program. More efforts can be made to change state and local laws related to biking. They need to be reviewed, compared and updated. 3) What are some things the city is currently working on? The city is currently working connecting the pathway on 19th. They are in the process of obtaining easements from property owners. Regulations state that all new city developments must have bike lanes. The City Transportation Plan is ready to be bid with suggestions. 4) Are the designated bike route signs working? Bike lanes/routes get swept once a month. Can prioritized routes get plowed? C. December and January minutes were approved. D. City updates- Transportation Plan, Striping Plan: Transportation plan is close to bid. The plan is 5 years old and is in need of an update. The county planning board wants to get involved. BABAB should prioritize the list that we have already provided. There will be public meetings where the board can get involved with providing input. Bill will sit on the planning/advisory committee before the public meetings for overseeing the transportation plan. E. Discuss updating bike maps for spring 2015: Kagy, Rouse, College are changes that will happen in the next year. Other suggested changes: Sharrows added for bike routes, update bike lane indicators on S.23rd , extend bike path lanes on College from 11th to Main Street, add connector S. Cottonwood to Resort, connections on Huffine, bike lane on Cottonwood from Town pump to Fallon, shared use path along Oak and the new hospital trails. John Van Delinder will check into what the city already has updated and Bill will look into changes for the maps. F. Discuss Transportation Secretary’s Challenge for Mayors to improve safety (bike/pedestrian): A challenge put out by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx calls for mayors and local officials to take significant action to improve safety for bicycle riders and pedestrians of all ages and abilities over the next year. http://www.dot.gov/mayors-challenge Can we get local officials in Bozeman more involved? Should we write a letter to mayor/commission encouraging them to make a public statement about the importance of bicycle and pedestrian safety? G. Bike Safety Outreach/Education • Subcommittee on Safety Outreach/Education- Mike and Sam: none • High School Drivers Education- Jen: none • High School Bike Week Involvement- Juliana: She wants to start a bike club to get more kids involved in biking. Safety is a priority: getting kids safely to school, proper equipment (lights) & signals, increasing bike education, bike parking facilities-locks and safe places to park. The principal approved the club pending a faculty advisor. Juliana is talking to faculty right now and is drawing up a proposal. She will contact Tom Keck to help with bike safety and awareness. BABAB can assist with safe route strategies. It would be great to coordinate bike to school week for high school to coincide with BABAB’s bike to work week. She would also like to work with driver’s education and encourage the teachers to bike more. The parent advisory committee might be able to help with money for prizes. • MSU Bike activities: no updates H. Bike Week 2015 –planning– Jessie May. Recap: Change bike week to be more in alignment with BABAB goals: safety & education. Downsize to 5 stops. One stop per day could be held in different locations in town. Can we have an ambassador to lead safe bike routes to the routes? Instead of the usual raffle prizes, we could get bike lights, reflectors, etc. instead. Can we team up with the schools to make it a bigger bike event for 2016? Instead of a subcommittee, board members can take on individual tasks. Poster: QR code leading to website & 5 stops. The t-shirts should state “Bozeman Bike to Work Week”. 1) Direct people to the website: bikewalkbozeman.org: Sam 2) Draft a letter to the businesses to become a bike friendly business through the league of American bicyclists: Rebecca 3) Draft a letter to businesses that have helped in the past & GVBC for $: Jessie May 4) Ask Costco for money for food: Jen 5) Securing alcohol for the party at Beall: Mike. Sam & Jessie May will be official servers. 6) Design the First Security Bank window and Bangtail: Juliana 7) Commuter convoy coordinator-research appropriate times, routes: Steven 8) Create map with safe routes to each location: Daniel 9) Media coordinator: liaison with newspaper, radio to advertise: Dillon 10) Coordinating with bike clubs, bikes shops, bike teams & people to lead convoys: Bill 11) Find music for party at Beall: Jason 12) Invite city commissioners and other officials to invite them to come: Jenna will draft letter. I. Old business • Bozeman bike code revision: none • Mendenhall sharrow outreach (spring 2015). Closer to June would be a good time to make the sharrows permanent. This will give us time for outreach during bike week. Rebecca will send something to Sun Creative for a marketing plan for bike week. J. New business: March 2nd & 3rd. Bike/Walk Montana Summit in Helena. This is a great opportunity to learn about statewide projects. www.bikewalkmontana.org K. Meeting adjourned.