Walk-Bike Council of Addison County

The September meeting of the Walk Bike Council of Addison County was held on September s7st 2018 at the ACRPC. See below for full notes.

Agenda

1. Updates from Adam Lougee, ACRPC executive director
   1. Road foremen
   2. Route 17 repaving
   3. Route 22A truck study
2. Triangle Loop
3. Helmets
4. Walk-bike summit 2020
5. Updates from Working groups
6. Ebike policy

Notes

Attending: Adam, Adam, Megan, Bethany, Mary, Erik, Carrie (note-taker), Doug, Larry, Laura

1. Updates from Adam Lougee, ACRPC executive director
   1. Route 17 will be repaved in 2020, between route 7 and Bristol
      1. Interested in making suggestions? The engineering company (VHB) and VTrans probably will listen, within the scope of the project (repaving -- rerouting would be more difficult to accommodate at this stage)
         • Eg, ,part of Triangle Loop includes route 17 and there’s a dip in the road
         • When to provide feedback? VHB wanted it this month. Adam Lougee will ask them to give us another month. Carrie and Adam (Infrastructure) will discuss.
           1. Carrie heard from VTrans that plans will be available in November and we can comment then. What Adam is referring to is earlier; with VHB, we have an opportunity to shape the plans that will be made available in November.
   2. Addison County road foreman meet every month. Next meeting is October 3 at 10am, Addison Firehouse. We’re invited to speak with them. Adam L will contact Adam F and Doug for planning.
   3. Public meeting on Route 22A truck study on Wednesday Sept 26 at 7pm, Vergennes Opera House. Options include bypass. Want to be sure that the recommendations are viable. (Adam L thinks class one portion of 22A will be repaved in Vergennes in the next few years.)
   4. Also, Middlebury rail meeting is on Sept 27.
      
      
2.  Triangle Bike Loop
   
   
   1. Larry, Doug have met with New Haven and VTrans representatives; bike-ped grant didn’t seem like a strong possibility at this stage.
      
      
   2. Municipal Planning Grant does seem like a possibility, especially as consortium grant.
      1. New Haven and Vergennes have been approached.
      2. Requires 10% match. Proposal is to have New Haven contribute $2,000, Vergennes $1,500.
      3. New Haven Planning Commission approved after much discussion; their biggest concern was that center of New Haven isn’t on the proposed route. Next, on to New Haven selectboard on 9/18.
      4. Vergennes Planning Commission approved without dollar amount attached. Next, on to Vergennes City Council. Vergennes City Council was introduced to the idea on 9/11 and they’ll make a decision on 9/25.
      5. Deadline is Oct 1.
         • One next step after that should include reaching out to the other towns on the route.
           
3.  Helmets
   1. Bethany has 2 boxes of helmets from Mary Claire. They should be split among towns and distributed. (Mary, Laura, Tim.)
   2. Mary Claire would like photos!
      
      
4.  Walk-bike summit 2020
   1. Middlebury will host it!
   2. Bethany was on the committee that hosted the Rutland summit. Suggests planning begins by November. First step is to pick a date.
   3. ACRPC transportation planner must be involved.
   4. 2018 summit was one day only (earlier years was longer). Our proposal was for one day only.
   5. Expect ~200 attendees.
   6. Who on the Council is involved in planning? Not sure yet!
   7. Next steps:
      1. Find the final version of the proposal! (Bethany)
      2. Discuss at next Council meeting (find a planning group).
      3. Check calendars and consider whether other walk/bike events can be tied in.
         
         
5.  Updates from Working groups
   1. Safe Routes Bristol:  
      1. Bristol Elementary School PTO is new partner! (funding, advocacy)
      2. In the process of creating a Task Force that will include others in Bristol
      3. Seems like more cyclists and pedestrians are using route 17 since repaving project.
         
         
   2. Safe Routes Middlebury:
      1. Eric has come on board
      2. “Walking school bus” concept has become less popular.
      3. Eric recommends an app to count road users and share the data. Good way to have multiple volunteers collaborate on user studies.
      4. Laura has been working with Dana on identifying need for more/better/relocated bike racks around town. The bikeped wikimap invited people to note where there were needs for bike racks.
      5. Discussion about Exchange Street shared use path.
         
         
   3. Agency outreach
      1. Bethany needs to look at the survey
         
         
   4. Infrastructure
      1. Per [email protected], a beta version of a volunteer-created interactive portal showing VTrans projects should be ready for feedback in September. Carrie will follow up.
         
      2. Does Walk-Bike Council want to submit a statement regarding proposed location for rail platform? Adam to follow up with Laura..
         
         
6.  Ebike policy
   • Laura will share via midd bikeped listserv [fill in the blank]
     
     
7.  Next meeting: Monday October 29, 5:15pm. (Adam will confirm meeting space.)

Tasks

1. Route 17 will be repaved in 2020, between route 7 and Bristol. When to provide feedback? VHB wanted it this month. Adam Lougee will ask them to give us another month. Carrie and Adam (Infrastructure) will discuss.
2. Addison County road foreman meet every month. Next meeting is October 3 at 10am, Addison Firehouse. We’re invited to speak with them. Adam L will contact Adam F and Doug for planning.
3. Bethany has 2 boxes of helmets from Mary Claire. They should be split among towns and distributed via Mary, Laura, Tim.
4. Next steps for walk-bike summit 2020: Find the proposal! (Bethany to do.) No one is sure who has the final version. Discuss at next Council meeting (find a planning group).
5. Agency outreach: Bethany needs to look at the survey, see how many have responded
6. Infrastructure: Per [email protected], a beta version of a volunteer-created interactive portal showing VTrans projects should be ready for feedback in September. Carrie will follow up.
7. Does Walk-Bike Council want to submit a statement regarding proposed location for rail platform? Adam to follow up with Laura.