The April meeting of the Walk Bike Council of Addison County was held on April 15, 2019 at the ACRPC. Continue below for full notes.
Agenda
- Updates on the Triangle bike loop project
- 2020 Walk/Bike Summit
- Safe Routes to School Conference
- Lincoln Safety Discussions
- Upcoming Events
- Vergennes 22A Update
- Bristol Paving Update
- Next Meeting
Present: Bethany Yon, Mary Yates, Larry Buck, Michelle Butler, Carrie Macfarlane, Laura Asermily, Mike Winslow, Nate Burt
Nate chaired the meeting in Adam’s absence.
Updates on the Triangle bike loop project
ACRPC received four responses to the request for proposals. A sub-committee met and selected the SE Group, working with Stantec, to conduct the work. A draft contract has been signed by the SE Group and is awaiting a signature from an official New Haven representative before work can begin.
2020 Walk/Bike Summit
Planning has begun for the 2020 Walk/Bike Summit scheduled for May 8, 2020 in Middlebury. The Town Hall Theater will be the principal venue for the event. Volunteers to assist in planning the event are welcome. Mike shared ideas that have been gathered so far for programming and the committee structure. The groups brainstormed additional programming ideas which Mike will add to the existing list. At the meeting Nate volunteered for the Marketing Committee, Michelle volunteered for the Programming Committee, and Carrie volunteered for the Sponsorship/Finance Committee. Laura offered ideas for supplementary venues.
Safe Routes to School Conference
Mary reported on the Safe Routes to School Conference hosted by Local Motion in Barre on April 11, 2019. The keynote speaker was Fionnuala Quinn, Director of the Bureau of Good Roads and founder of Discover Traffic Gardens. Ms. Quinn spoke of her experience using public transit in Ireland as a young child and how it empowered her. She lamented how children today don’t have such freedom. The Discover Traffic Gardens program works with elementary schools to turn paved areas into miniature traffic centers where students can learn to use roads and have a hand in transportation design.
Other programs included:
- A presentation from students at Christ the King Elementary School in Rutland on their pop-up project the slowed traffic and led to reconfiguration of a parking lot at their school.
- An Ebikes presentation by Local Motion, who loans the bikes and does demonstrations. The presentation showed the spectrum of electric assist vehicles.
- AARP presented on Walk Audits, local assessments of infrastructure and local behaviors to facilitate walkers of all abilities.
- The Shelburne Community School talked about their experience trying to get a pedestrian bridge over the Laplatte River.
Lincoln Safety Discussions
The Town of Lincoln held a meeting about how to make their roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Lincoln is the only town in Addison County with out a dedicated police force that does not contract with the county sheriff. Ellie Bryant, a new Selectboard member, has been tasked with identifying options. Already the town has purchased speed signs that can gather data on number of vehicles and their speeds.
Upcoming Events
Laura shared flyers for the Kelly Boe Memorial Ride/Ride of Silence, the Human Powered Parade, and for the up-coming Bike Swap in Middlebury
Vergennes 22A Update
The final recommendations for the managing the truck traffic issue along Route 22A in Vergennes was released to the public on April 2. Over 100 people attended and most expressed support for building an alternate truck route around the city. In addition, there are many pedestrian-friendly changes planned as part of a paving project scheduled for 2020.
Bristol Paving Update
Bristol downtown is also scheduled for paving in 2020. The contractors hired to work on the project have shared engineering drawings with the RPC. Mike has shared those with the infrastructure committee. Comments should be sent to Mike by April 19.
Next Meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for June 4th at 5:15 PM at the ACRPC office.