Fort Collins Bicycle Advisory Committee Seeks Citizen Input on Share the Road Signs

The Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), a subcommittee of the City’s Transportation Board, seeks input from the community on the use of "Share the Road" signs in Fort Collins. The committee is reviewing current signs and the possibility of recommending the placement of additional signs and, possibly, the removal of some existing signs.
Your input into this process is invited by way of this announcement.
Please send comments to BAC@FCGov.com with the subject header: Share the Road.
Please note that any decision regarding the placlement or use of "Share the Road Signs" resides solely with the City's Traffic Engineer.  The role of the BAC is simply to advise City Staff, the Transportation Board and, through that Board, City Council.  The criteria that the City Traffic Engineer will apply in his decisions for placing Share the Road signs include the guidelines presented below.  Please keep these criteria in mind as you consider your own personal suggestions.


1) We are using the 2009 Draft Manual on Uniform Traffic Code Devices (MUTCD) as our guide in formulating our recommendations. If you would like to consult the MUTCD you may do so here: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/html_index.htm. Section 9, found here is most germane to this project. But the basic rules are as presented below.
2) "Share the Road" signs are considered "warning signs." To quote from the MUTCD "Warning signs call attention to unexpected conditions on or adjacent to a highway, street, or private roads open to public travel and to situations that might not be readily apparent to road users. Warning signs alert road users to conditions that might call for a reduction of speed or an action in the interest of safety and efficient traffic operations."
3) "The use of warning signs should be kept to a minimum as the unnecessary use of warning signs tends to breed disrespect for all signs."
4) "In situations where there is a need to warn drivers to watch for other slower forms of transportation traveling along the highway, such as bicycles, golf carts, horse-drawn vehicles, or farm machinery, a SHARE THE ROAD (W16-1P) plaque (see Figure 2C-12) may be used." (MUTCD Section 2C.60 SHARE THE ROAD Plaque (W16-1P)
5) The Bicycles May Use Full Lane (R4-11) sign (see Figure 9B-2) may be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.
Fort Collins currently has Share the Road Signs on a variety of streets. A map of those signs is available from the City's Bike Coordinator.  Write to him at DAKemp@fcgov.com. 
An example of an appropriate location for signs would be College Avenue in Old Town where conditions described in number 4 prevail.
Other locations include Laurel Street and Horsetooth Road where they each cross College Avenue. Signs were put up there because bike lanes disappear near College and create a situation where motorists encounter "unexpected conditions" (number 2) that include "slower forms of transportation" (number 4) when bicycles take the full lane.
Streets where Share the Road signs may not be appropriate include Prospect Street east and west of College or Shields Street north of Laurel. In these areas Share the Road signs may inappropriately suggest to cyclists that these are bike-friendly roads when they may not be.
The BAC will consider any and all of your suggestions as they prepare a comprehensive recommendation, so please don’t hold back!
We look forward to hearing from you. Again, please send your comments to BAC@FCGov.com by July 20, 2010.  Include "Share the Road" in the subject line of your message.
If you have questions about this please contact Dave "DK" Kemp, the City Bike Coordinator: DaKemp@FCGov.com.
Please note, also, that the Bicycle Advisory Committee always welcomes public input on any topic of concern to or about cyclists.  Feel free to send comments at any time to BAC@FCGov.com.

Bike Co-op to Hold Bike Town Meeting to Wrap up Community Listening Sessions

When: Wednesday, May 5 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Where: New Belgium Brewing, 500 Linden St. Fort Collins

In order to provide input into the Plan Fort Collins process the Bike Co-op has completed a series of eight community “listening sessions.” About fifty citizens, including cyclists, hikers/pedestrians and motorists came out to express their concerns and visions for a better bicycling community.

Among the concerns expressed for the near-term was a desire for better connections in the existing trail and bike lane system and more and better educational outreach to cyclists in order to reduce conflicts with other users, especially on sidewalks and trails in parks and natural areas.

For the long term the wish list includes increasing the numbers of over- and under-passes along trails like the Mason Trail and the Powerline Trail, including over or under Harmony Road. It was pointed out that grade separated crossings benefit both cyclists and motorists as it eliminates wait times at street crossings for both.

A consistent theme at several of the meetings was the idea of reducing speed limits throughout the City to 35 miles per hour or less. The point was made that if we really want to encourage biking and walking, speed limits should be reduced.

Other ideas brought forward include the concept of “bicycle boulevards” that give cyclists preference to use some neighborhood streets as thoroughfares. Streets nominated for such use included Swallow, Columbia, Stover, Canyon, Oak and Loomis. Bicycle Boulevards encourage cyclists to use through neighborhood streets while motorists might be discouraged through the use of traffic calming devices, signage, and other traffic control features. Stop lights, for example, might default to green for through cyclists while requiring motor vehicles to trigger lights through actuation devices, the opposite of how most City intersections now operate.

A community bike town meeting will be held Wednesday, May 5 from 7 – 9 p.m. at New Belgium Brewing to finalize citizens’ input from these listening sessions. Everyone is encouraged to attend, whether you ride a bicycle, drive a car, or limit your movements to walking. The goal of the meeting will be to review all the suggestions presented and vote on priority actions for the short and long term. A similar bike town meeting was held in November 2007 and resulted in the placement of 35 “share the road” signs throughout the community. Organizers of this meeting hope that new innovative ideas will emerge to present to City planners and to City Council through the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Transportation Board.

For information about the meeting call 310-5238. Or visit the Bike Co-op web site.

Fort Collins Needs a Few Scramble Crossings

If you have ever watched students rushing to class at Elizabeth and Shields or Laurel and College you've seen that those intersections might benefit from scramble crossings. They would be most beneficial for bicycles but pedestrians would use them as well. In a scramble crossing (also called a diagonal crossing or crosswalk) motor traffic from all directions stops at once and pedestrians and bikes can cross any of four crosswalks or diagonally in the middle of the intersection. Next time you are at College and Laurel or Elizabeth and Shields before classes stop and watch. Imagine a scene like the one shown in the video here.

And then think about a diagonal bike and pedestrian crossing like the one shown here.

Bike Co-op Sponsors Bike Town Meetings

To provide input for Plan Fort Collins the Bike Co-op will hold a “listening sessions” or “Bike Town Meetings” to identify issues and opportunities for the future of bicycling in the city.    

Since Plan Fort Collins includes major updates to both City Plan and to the Master Transportation Plan this is an opportunity for cyclists to share their thoughts on what will it be like to ride a bicycle in Fort Collins twenty years from now.

The Co-op will hold nine public meetings over the next seven weeks.  The meetings are open to the public and everyone - cyclists and non-cyclists - are encouraged to attend. 

Meetings this week are:

Tuesday, March 30^th;  12 – 1:30 p.m.

Home State Bank Community Room

303 East Mountain Avenue

Topic:  Planning for the Future of Bicycling in Fort Collins

A general discussion and introduction to Plan Fort Collins from the bike seat.  

Thursday, April 1^st: 12 – 1:30 p.m.

REI

4025 South College Avenue

Topic :  Bicycling in Mid-Town Fort Collins: Prospect to Harmony:  Mason Trail, Foothills Fashion Mall, and back and forth across College Avenue

This will be a very interesting discussion about issues and opportunities along the Mason Corridor, College Avenue and the area of the Foothills Fashion Mall.

For a complete list of meetings through May 5th click here. 

Fort Collins City Council Asks for a Bike Safety Education Plan

City of Fort Collins resolution 2010-019, reproduced below, calls for City Manager Darin Atteberry to "pursue the writing" of a bicycle safety education plan.  The need for the plan has come up again and again over the past year and came to a head with the approval of the 2010-2011 FCBikes Program which was approved at Council meeting March 16th along with this resolution. 

The City's 1997 Bike Plan called for the creation of a city-wide bicycle safety education plan but the plan was never written and the 2008 plan failed to address an education plan.  Hopefully this resolution will get us back on track to create a City bike safety plan.  

RESOLUTION 2010-019

OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS

DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO PURSUE THE CONCEPT

OF A “MASTER CYCLIST” PROGRAM AND A “BIKE SAFETY TOWN”

IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BIKE SAFETY EDUCATION PLAN

            WHEREAS, at the March 2, 2010 meeting of the City Council, the Council requested that the Congestion Management and Air Quality Grant (“CMAQ”) for the City’s FC Bikes Program be amended to utilize $15,000 to $20,000 for the issuance of a request for proposals (“RFP”) for the purpose of hiring a coordinator to assist with the development of the Bike Safety Education Plan, among other things; and

            WHEREAS, the proposal of engaging through an RFP process a coordinator for that purpose has met with concerns on the part of the North Front Range MPO and the Colorado Department of Transportation and would, at the least, cause delay in the City’s ability to obtain the CMAQ grant; and

            WHEREAS, the City Bicycle Advisory Committee has recommended that the CMAQ grant be executed without the proposed amendment for the issuance of an RFP but that the City Manager pursue the work suggested by the Council, as a part of a future project of the staff of the City; and

            WHEREAS, the Council has determined that the approach recommended by the Bicycle Advisory Committee is in the best interests of the City and that the City Manager should be directed accordingly.

            NOW, THEREFORE,  BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS that the City Manager is hereby directed to pursue the writing of the Bike Safety Education Plan, and in connection therewith to develop the concept of a “Master Cyclist” program and to also explore the use of annual “Building on Basics” revenues to potentially assist in the construction of a “Bike Safety Town” in one of the City’s parks and, finally, to coordinate the Bike Safety Education Plan Project closely with the Safe Routes to School program.

           

            Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 16th day of March A.D. 2010.

Should Bikes And Cars Be Treated Equally?

Lisa Caruso, writing in the National Journal Transportation Blog asks the above question relative to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's pronouncements two weeks ago at the National Bike Summit.  Writes Caruso:

" With all the attention last week focused on extending the surface transportation law and Federal Aviation Administration programs, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's announcement of a major policy change regarding the way bicyclists' needs are treated in the transportation planning seems to have received little notice.
"People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning," LaHood wrote on his Fast Lane blog March 15. "This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized. We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects." LaHood's blog post includes recommendations for how states and communities can accomplish this, such as "treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes" and "set a mode share target for walking and bicycling."
LaHood called the new policy a "sea change," but is it a good one? Should non-motorized modes of transportation be treated as equal to other modes, particularly when modes like driving and mass transit are at least partially, if not primarily, self-funded? Or is it the essence of DOT's evolving 21st-century mission to give people more mobility options that, according to LaHood, are relatively fast and inexpensive to build, are environmentally sustainable, reduce travel costs, improve safety and public health, and "reconnect citizens with their communities"?"

Read the article and comments that follow here.

Great News for Fort Collins Cyclists - Google Unveils Bicycle Map Option

If you happen to be a geographer, a map junkie, a traveler, cyclist and a Google fan, get ready to celebrate.  Google has finally unveiled a long awaited bike route finder on Google maps.  Type in two addresses and ask Google to draw you a route for you and your bike and, voila' - there you have it.  This was worth waiting for!  

Google will announce the innovation at the National Bike Summit today in Washington, D.C.  Read the press release about the announcement and follow news and updates about Google Maps' bike features on the League of American Bicyclists' blog by clicking here.  

This is great, not just for the directionally challenged, but for bicycling in general.  Give it a test ride yourself right now by clicking here to go to Google maps .  


Or, check out the YouTube video that introduces the new mapping feature here.  

Or, give the map a try right now with the gadget on the left.