Walk-Bike Council of Addison County

The May meeting of the Walk Bike Council of Addison County was held on May 28, 2020 via Zoom.

Agenda:

• Ask group for permission to make a Facebook page for Walk-Bike of Addison County (Tim)
• discuss setting up a bike and pedestrian data collection plan for the county (Mike)
• Middlebury Paving Project status update. (Adam)
• use of public and open spaces this summer

(Notes from the: January Meeting, October Meeting)

Continue below for full notes.

Attendance: Adam, Doug, Nate, Bethany, Amy, Mike, Bud, Tim, Erik, Laura, Carl, Mary

Ask group for permission to make a Facebook page for Walk-Bike of Addison County (Tim)

Previously discussed.  Who would care for it?  Posting of events to Facebook in addition to website.  Midd Bike-Ped discussions to post as well.  Use logo (linked to website).  Feature LocalMotion, V-Bike posts.  Open discussion.  Posts by individuals, as well as “Walk-Bike Council” - determine which posts should be done as organization.  Use as catalyst for conversation.

Groups?  Or Pages?

Walk-Bike Council logo

Tim researching options and will get back to group.

Midd Bike-Ped list - it’s future?  Conversation encouraged.

Discuss setting up a bike and pedestrian data collection plan for the county (Mike)

Here is some background information for my requested agenda item about a bike and ped. data collection program. I am seeking guidance from the councils on any locations or times where data should be collected.

I am required to identify the following types of locations for regular data collection:

• A downtown or village sidewalk,
• A shared use path, and
• An area where the pedestrian/bike usage level is expected to be lower than average (e.g. less densely populated or where the bike/pedestrian transportation network is relatively sparse).
• An on-road location (Note that VTrans has tube counters for these counts that are available for load to RPCs

 Ideally, the sites selected for data collection would be revisited year after year. For historic perspective, here are the collection points I am aware of from the past few years:

• 2012 (manual counts)
  • Middlebury – Mary Hogan Dr. and Court Square – 6AM-12PM August 8
  • Middlebury – Mary Hogan Dr. and Court Square – 10:45AM-4:45PM August 7
  • College St. – New One Way – New Parking Spot – 7AM-1PM August 8
  • College St. – New One Way – New Parking Spot – 11AM-5PM August 7
  • Near Shop Ctr-Court St/US7 – 5AM-11AM August 8
  • Near Shop Ctr-Court St/US7 – 10:15AM-4:15PM August 7
  • Park at Municipal Lot – 5AM-11AM August 8
  • Park at Municipal Lot – 10:30AM-4:15PM August 7
• 2014
  • Middlebury Pulp Mill Bridge – 5PM Friday June 20 to 6PM Monday June 23
    • Spreadsheet shows an EcoCounter was borrowed from CVRPC
• 2016
  • Bristol West School - 5PM Wed. June 8 to 1PM Wed. June 15
  • Middlebury 11 Court – 4PM Friday April 29 to 12PM Tuesday May 10
  • Middlebury Court_Mary Hogan – 3PM Tuesday May 10 to 1PM Wednesday May 18
• 2019 – Bike tube count along Morgan Horse Farm Rd. in Weybridge

Some thoughts about potential  sites:

• Are there any previously surveyed sites that should be retained or discarded?
• Any particular sites along the Triangle Bike Loop that should be added?
• Exchange Street, where Middlebury has proposed extending sidewalks?
• Do council members have particular ideas about how data from the counts might be used?

High usage: Dunkin Donuts, Coop, 

Near Mary Hogan - school-bound

Triangle Loop

Horse Farm Road/Hamilton Road/Sheep Farm/Weybridge - running loop & includes with Triangle Loop

23/Hamilton 

Strong interest in Horse Farm Road monitoring

Green Street in Vergennes - shared use path, Triangle Loop

Monkton Road - between Rt. 7 and Rt. 22

Maple Street in Vergennes - even out as far as Route 66

Washington Street Extension (Bushey’s Corner) at top of hill w/ tight turn - Triangle Loop

New sidewalk - Weybridge/Middlebury

Middle Seymour/Maple - entry into MarbleWorks

Crossings by Greg’s; Randy’s

Exchange Street - before/after sidewalk & extension of path (south of VFW to catch through traffic as well as Farmer’s Market, Catamount Park)
(Shared use path planned north of RK Miles; sidewalk and sharrows from there south to Elm)

Middlebury Paving Project status update. (Adam)

VTrans Class 1 paving project in 2021 - all state highways in downtown Middlebury

Comments by Adam, Doug, Erik & others were forwarded to Jon Kaplan & VTrans

Feedback (Google Doc, PDF)  ‘Share the road’ > ‘Bikes may use full lane’; public works on drainage grates with ½” depression; Charles Ave. as example of what is supported by Public Works

Pop-up project proposal - bike lane on route 30 (but lacking parking spaces, which are heavily used); bridge project will also take out route 30 parking - opportunity to get a sense of public response?  Interest in making one happen when things are busy, in order to measure public interest/impact. Bevelling into storm drains.

Use of public and open spaces this summer (Bethany)

PDF - Interim Guidelines for Use of Public Highways for Outdoor Eating, Retail, and Public Gathering Spaces from Jon Kaplan - demonstration of changing roadways, and thus of interest to bike/ped groups

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2020 AT 12 PM – 1 PM Streets For Success Outdoor Spaces Workshop 

Additional things to advocate for in our communities (Laura):  

Street sweeping (Middlebury’s machine broken); more sharrows (Washington Street; Route 30; refresh crossing flags (new intersection at Maplefields)

Vermont Walk-Bike Summit 2020 - rescheduled in October

New bike racks?  Mike may have update by Monday.

COVID-19 pop-up testings on Fridays in Middlebury for next month or so.  Healthvermont.gov website for scheduling.

Ride about to check out spots discussed in meeting.

Name for Triangle Loop?  Not yet...

Determine Next meeting

Propose discussion on route naming (Laura)

About a month out. Adam will send a Doodle poll.