Onalaska City Council Meeting to Consider Complete Streets
Greetings All,
This Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 7:00 PM should be the capstone event for the Complete Streets Policy adoption with the city of Onalaska. The city council will make their vote. There is always a possibility of : need for edits, disagreements over certain provisions, or????, but for the most part we expect a close to unanimous passage of the policy. Currently, the Planning Commission has passed it and the policy was sent to the city lawyer for application of any necessary legalese.
It would be great to see as many faces as possible in the audience showing the Onalaska city council the support for this policy. Your support has and is greatly appreciated. Onalaska city council meets at Onalaska City Hall,415 Main Street, Onalaska.
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Matthew Christen
OnaBike
Complete Streets Ordinance in Onalaska
A message from Rick Diermeier:
Greetings,
The City of Onalaska Plan Commission will be considering the topic of “Complete Streets” during their monthly meeting (agenda is attached) to be held at 7:00pm on Tuesday July 24 at the Onalaska City Hall on Main St. I pulled the information below from the Complete Streets website (http://www.completestreets.com) to provide some information on what this is all about. Adoption of a Complete Streets ordinance will simply require that pedestrian, bicycle and public transportation users be considered in the design of streets, roads and other transportation infrastructure projects. An ordinance can be worded in such a way as to prevent significant cost increase resulting from this requirement. If you are interested in improving the quality of our city and in making it more accessible for all modes of transportation, please attend to show your support. I often use the example of the path adjacent to Green Coulee Road in discussing Complete Streets. If you live in this area, you know that this path is a very nice walking, biking, jogging facility and that it is heavily used. If we build nice facilities, people will use them and receive all of the benefits that come from increased physical activity and reduced vehicle use. Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone else that you feel may be interested in attending.
What are Complete Streets?
Complete Streets are streets for everyone. They are designed & operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, & public transportation users of all ages & abilities are able to safely move along & across a complete street. Complete Streets make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, & bicycle to work. They allow buses to run on time & make it safe for people to walk to & from bus stations. What do Complete Streets policies do? Creating complete streets means transportation agencies change their approach to community roads. By adopting a Complete Streets policy, communities direct their transportation planners & engineers to routinely design & operate the entire right of way to enable safe access for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation.
Why do we need Complete Streets policies? Incomplete streets – those designed with only cars in mind – limit transportation choices by making walking, bicycling, & taking public transportation inconvenient, unattractive, &, too often, dangerous. Changing policy so that our transportation system routinely includes the needs of people on foot, public transportation, & bicycles means that walking, riding bikes, & riding buses & trains will be safer & easier. People of all ages & abilities will have more options when traveling to work, to school, to the grocery store, & to visit family.
Best regards,
Rick Diermeier
President L. B. White Company, Inc.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
THE BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN STEERING COMMITTEE INVITES YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE PREPARATION OF LA CROSSE’S “Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan”.
Public Participation Meeting
All Bicyclists and Pedestrians are Welcome
Radisson Ballroom
200 2nd Street S in La Crosse’s Downtown
Monday, June 4th from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Valet Bicycle Parking will be Available
Come see the Preliminary Concept Plan and help provide your input. Open House: 5pm to 6pm. Presentation at 6:00 with questions and discussion.
Additional Information about the Bike/Ped Plan is available at http://www.cityoflacrosse.org/index.aspx?NID=2553
Download flyer here: Bike Ped Master Plan meeting
ACTION ALERT: La Crosse Bicycle Pedestrian Plan 2012
We are in need of 2-3 DRBC members to attend the Bike and Ped workshops on April 14th and 15th, respectively. Check out the City’s website for more details here. If you are able to attend, please send an email to info@driftlessbicycle.org.
APRIL 14, 2012 BIKE WORKSHOP AGENDA
9:00 am – Presentation on Bicycle Design Issues
- Bicycling principles
- Basics of bikeway design
- Intersection design
- Shared use paths
10:00 am – Bicycle Tour of City
Noon – Discussion of Bike Tour over a Box Lunch
12:30 pm – Small Group Bike Workshop
- Destination mapping
- Good cycling route mapping
- Fill in the gaps mapping
- Identify issue locations
3:00 pm – Adjourn
APRIL 16, 2012 PED WORKSHOP AGENDA
Noon – Presentation on Pedestrian Issues over Lunch
- Ped safety parameters
- Basic ADA requirements
- Need for connectivity
- Access to transit
12:30 pm – Pedestrian Plan Workshop
- Identify walking hotspots
- Confirm sidewalk gap map
- Discuss routes/gaps for runners
- Identify transit access issues
2:00 pm – City-wide Walk Accessibility Plan
- Introduce Chris Seegar (Iowa State University)
- Describe proposed GIS inventory
- Present data collection form/process
- Short field exercise using form/process
- Plan to organize volunteer force
- Data submittal deadline: Monday, May 7, 2012
4:00 pm – Adjourn
2012 Benchmarking Report
Bicycling and walking make up 12 percent of all trips and 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and yet receive only 1.6 percent of federal transportation funding. What more do you need to make the case for investments in bicycling and walking? Well, if you think of something it is probably covered in Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report released today by the Alliance for Biking and Walking.
Here are some of the highlights
- In 2009, 40% of trips in the United States were shorter than 2 miles, yet 87% of these trips are by car. Twenty-seven percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile. Still, Americans use their cars for 62% of these trips.
- While bicycling and walking fell 66% between 1960 and 2009, obesity levels increased 156%.
- Seniors are the most vulnerable bicyclists and pedestrians. Adults over 65 make up 10% of walking trips, yet comprise 19% of pedestrian fatalities. This age group accounts for 6% of bicycling trips, yet 10% of bicyclist fatalities.
- Bicycling and walking projects create 11-14 jobs per $1 million spent, compared to just 7 jobs created per $1 million spent on highway projects. Cost benefit analysis show that up to $11.80 in benefits can be gained for every $1 invested in bicycling and walking.
- On average, the largest 51 U.S. cities show a 29% increase in bicycle facilities since the 2010 report. Cities report that 20,908 miles of bicycle facilities and 7,079 miles of pedestrian facilities are planned for the coming years (much of this contingent upon funding).
Welcome to the DRBC
The DRBC work to getting more people on bikes, more often by advocating for bicycling infrastructure and a dynamic bicycling culture.
The DRBC currently seeking organizations and individuals who support the idea of complete streets in our community.
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