May 30, 2001, minutes for Bicycle-Pedestrian Subcommittee of UTC

UTC members in attendance:
Tommy Eden, chair
Patrick Goetz
Mike Dahmus

UTC members present during part of the subcommittee meeting:
Michelle Brinkman
Carl Tepper

Staff members in attendance:
Eric Ziegler

Citizens in attendance:
Carol Kent

Note: The Bicycle-Pedestrian Subcommittee meeting immediately
followed a meeting of the CIP Subcommittee meeting.  Thus,
some UTC members were present for part of the meeting.

1. Bicycle and Pedestrian facilities on street reconstruction,
   street improvement, and Build Greater Austin projects

The committee agreed that we need to try a different approach to
define exactly which projects should have sidewalks and which
ones should have bicycle facilities, based upon the extra cost of
including such facilities in the projects.  Mike Dahmus will work on
wording for a new resolution.  Eric Ziegler will gather information
about the cost of such facilities as a percentage of the total
project cost.  The committee will consider this issue again in June.

2. Status of sidewalks on Lamar Bridge

Eric Ziegler raised no objection from the staff to the idea
of keeping the sidewalks on the historic Lamar Bridge open
permanently.  The committee is sending this issue to the
full UTC with a recommendation to keep both sidewalks open.

3. Barton Springs Rd. between Loop 1 and Robert E. Lee

At a joint meeting of this committee with the Land and Facilities
Committee of the Parks and Recreation Board, we all agreed to
request three pedestrian crosswalks with flashing runway lights,
pedestrian refuges in the middle of the road, signs reading,
"Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk--State Law," and textured
surfaces.  The joint subcommittee recommended such crossings at
the Botanical Garden, at Stratford Rd., and at Andrew Zilker Rd.

Other issues are still in contention.  Because the issue of widening the 
road to accommodate bicycle lanes and the issue of constructing
pedestrian facilities require the taking of parkland, these issues
may need to go to a public hearing before the City Council,
according to state law.  There are still some differences of opinion
between the staff members in the two departments on how to proceed.

The committee decided to send these issues to the UTC for action.

4. Recommendation to hire a consultant to study the need
   for bicycle and pedestrian facilities on Interstate 35

The committee discussed whether it would really be worthwhile to
have a consultant tell us that people are getting killed trying to cross 
Interstate 35, which we already know.  A consultant would
be able to offer reasonable recommendations and generate a cost
estimate for implementation of improvements.  TxDOT is conducting a
major investment study to do a complete rebuild of some sections of
the highway, which would cost millions of dollars.  It would make
sense to provide safe facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians
whenever that project reaches the construction phase.  In addition,
some safety projects can get 90% federal funding with a 10% match,
if they are on interstate highways.  The committee decided to send
to the UTC a recommendation to direct the City Manager to hire
a consultant to conduct a study and offer recommendations for
improving pedestrian and bicycle access and safety on Interstate 35,
to estimate the cost of such improvements, and to offer
recommendations for funding them.  Tommy Eden has prepared a
resolution to that effect, which is ready for UTC consideration.

6. Report on City Council action regarding enhancement proposals

The City Council approved three enhancement proposals at their
meeting on May 24, 2001, after the Mayor announced that there
would be no public input, because the Council had accepted
public input at their meeting the previous week.  The Council
proceeded to approve the staff proposals for the Walnut Creek
Trail, the Upper Boggy Creek Trail, and the Congress Avenue bat
viewing platforms.  The completion of the Lamar Blvd. Bicycle/
Pedestrian Bridge was not included in the staff proposals.

7. Criteria for selecting new bicycle lanes

Based upon input from the previous subcommittee meeting, Tommy Eden
had prepared a draft of a list of proposed bike lanes with possible
scores for each of the criteria.  Committee members will consider
what kinds of improvements we can make to fine tune the matrix,
such as weighting of some criteria or additional categories.
This process will continue at the subcommittee meeting in June.