Minutes for Bicycle-Pedestrian Subcommittee of Urban Transportation Commission Thu., January 31, 2003, at 6:30 p.m. One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Rd. 8th Floor Conference Room UTC members present: Tommy Eden, chair Mike Dahmus Others present: Lorraine Atherton Preston Tyree Michael Heffernan Robin McKeever Richard Gravois Stuart Werbner Debby Kalk Neil Nuwash 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. 3. REQUEST TO REMOVE SIGNS WHICH PROHIBIT PEDESTRIANS FROM CROSSING TXDOT HIGHWAYS Preston Tyree explained that the City of Austin has posted signs on TxDOT highways prohibiting pedestrians from crossing the roads. He pointed out that a TxDOT representative had said that TxDOT did not want the signs posted. In some cases, a sign prohibited pedestrians from crossing a highway in the same place where a WALK signal suggested that crossing the highway was lawful. Preston Tyree suspects that a liability issue is involved. Tommy Eden agreed to ask that this item be placed on the UTC agenda for March. [It has since been posted for February.] Preston Tyree agreed to write up a formal proposal. 4. PROPOSAL FOR PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS ON SOUTH LAMAR BLVD. Tommy Eden explained that this proposal had come from Celia Kemp who was absent. The subcommittee had modified it to include a bicycle lane only on the west (uphill) side of S. Lamar due to right of way constraints. The proposal to add a sidewalk on the west side of Lamar would be challenging, but it was seriously needed for safety reasons. The Urban Transportation Commission had considered the issue in November and returned it to subcommittee in order to get staff and neighborhood input. Lorraine Atherton said that the Zilker Neighborhood Association would meet during February and during March. She suggested that S. Lamar should be considered for funding as the next Corridor Planning project. Robin McKeever said that the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association would meet early in April. The neighborhood association could not vote to make a recommendation until then, although the executive committee would be meeting before then. The executive committee may be able to provide suggestions which will later be considered by the entire neighborhood association. Several suggestions were discussed. Among them: Lorraine Atherton asked that the proposal include a crosswalk on the north side of the intersection with Oltorf, even if this proposal would be opposed by the traffic engineers. She suggested a crosswalk to get across the free right turn from northbound Lamar onto Oltorf. She suggested some improvements which were already in the proposal, such as a crosswalk at Dickson. She also suggested a midblock crosswalk somewhere south of Kinney Ave. This proposal prompted a brief discussion about the warrants for crosswalks. There was some discussion about the interchange at Lamar and Ben White Blvd. Debby Kalk discussed the neighborhood's interest in traffic calming on Barton Skyway, and she suggested curb extensions at the intersection of Lamar Blvd. and Barton Skyway. Because Celia Kemp was not present, only two copies of the proposal were available, and they had not been updated with modifications. Tommy Eden agreed to get an updated version of the proposal and send it to Lorraine Atherton for further distribution to the neighborhood associations. In addition, the issue would be placed on the UTC agenda for April. This issue is likely to be discussed during the candidate forums for the May election. 2. PROPOSAL FOR BICYCLE LANES ON BURLESON ROAD Stuart Werbner had asked the city staff to extend the bicycle lanes on Burleson Rd. beyond Ben White Blvd. He had been told that the engineers had determined that bicycle lanes would not be appropriate for that part of Burleson Rd. due to heavy truck traffic through the industrial area. Tommy Eden pointed out that the right lane was about 15 feet wide. Stuart Werbner agreed to find out from a traffic engineer exactly how wide the right lane of Burleson Rd. is. Someone (probably Mike Dahmus) suggested that the street width was not much different from a recently-built section of Metric Blvd. That section of Metric Blvd. has heavy truck traffic, but it was built with bicycle lanes. Stuart Werbner read a proposed resolution, which the subcommittee approved. He agreed to email the resolution to Tommy Eden, who would place the item on the March agenda of the UTC. 5. PROPOSAL TO REQUIRE THAT CROSSWALKS BE REPAINTED WHENEVER LANE STRIPES ARE REPAINTED This issue had already been considered at the previous UTC meeting. 6. STATUS REPORT ON PROPOSAL FOR BICYCLE LANES ON GUADALUPE AND LAVACA STREETS DOWNTOWN Tommy Eden reported that he had delivered a petition with over 1800 signatures in support of bicycle lanes on Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets to the City Manager's office. He explained that he planned to continue collecting signatures until the issue was on a City Council agenda. He would then deliver the remaining signatures to the Mayor during that Council meeting. 7. DISCUSSION ABOUT SETTING PRIORITIES FOR NEW BICYCLE LANES The subcommittee had worked on this issue long ago and had prepared a spreadsheet for public input. Mike Dahmus agreed to find the spreadsheet and post a message to the austin-bikes email list, in order to solicit further input from the bicycling community.