BIKE: Community Meeting on Rails with Trails

[Eric Anderson]

Dear bike folks:

Now putting in my two cents worth re: Rails-with-Trails...,

Please make every attempt to attend Thursday, 8/19, 6:00 PM meeting at
Nuevo Leon restaurant, 1501 East 6th Street, overlooking Plaza Saltillo.

All advocates for a bike-friendly Austin should attend, so as to help
build momentum for this unprecedented opportunity:

Combining the four rail corridors currently under consideration for future
commuter-rail (Cap Metro/ Mokan/ UP/ UP Bergstrom spur), a potential
Rails-with-Trails (RwT) network of 100 linear miles emerges, linking all
corners of the Austin metropolitan area.

I have found the willingness of the Cap Metro organization to embrace RwT
facilities as impressive. From Board Chairman Lee Walker to Sam Archer,
Cap Metro seems ready to incorporate RwT into their transit-vision.

RwT may add yet another bankable element to planned and proposed Transit
Oriented Developments (TODs), a building block of the transit vision and
Envision Central Texas. To begin with, imagine building out the -red-line-
commuter rail WITH trails (RwT): On day one linking the Saltillo District,
the Featherlite tract and Mueller TODs (by then each likely under
development).

My favorite is the proposal from COA parks planner Butch Smith: a RwT
extension of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway to east of 183, then turning
north on the TXDOT-owned Mokan R.O.W. to Samsung, then turning west as the
Walnut Creek Bikeway all the way to MOPAC and Balcones Ridge Park.

Most notable to this LAB extension/ Mokan RwT/ Walnut Creek Bikeway, is
the near-wilderness respite just miles from downtown, including:
Boggy Creek Farm, Govalle Park, Boggy Creek and tributaries, Boggy Creek
Parklands, Oasis Gardens, Colorado River Greenbelt, Robinson Park, Walnut
Creek, Northeast District Park, Walnut Creek Nature Preserve, Walnut Creek
Greenbelt, Jordan Buchanen Farm, Walnut Creek District Park, and Balcones
Ridge Park.

Please join this Rails-with-Trails effort. Come to Thursdays meeting to
learn more and get involved.

Eric Anderson <bikeeric>
(512) 476-7304

--- David Foster <david-k1971-foster> wrote:

> In my view, this meeting is not to be missed. Mia Birk is an expert on 
> Rails with Trails who wrote most of the report for the US Dept. of 
> Transportation on this topic: "Rails With Trails: Lessons Learned", 
> available on the Alta Planning web page. The document runs over 150
> pages 
> and offers an overview of what is being done around the US, and to some 
> extent abroad, with RwT, and includes critical commentary from an 
> engineering point of view. She will be able to respond to any 
> questions/concerns/criticisms we may have, referencing on-the-ground 
> examples from other places.
> 
> A while back we had a short discussion on this forum around the value of
> 
> including RwT in Cap Metro's commuter rail proposal. I continue to
> maintain 
> that it is a great opportunity not to be missed. We need to think of all
> 
> three rail corridors included in Cap Metro's (evolving) transit plan as 
> corridors to move people--on foot and by bike as well as rail. Cap
> Metro's 
> ROW passes beneath IH 35, 183, MoPac and other major barriers to
> continuous 
> bicycle travel, and links several neighborhoods and key 
> destinations.  Running as it does on a roughly 45 degree angle from
> Leander 
> southeast to East Austin before turning west into downtown, the ROW
> crosses 
> or comes very near major Austin bike routes such as Ohlen Road (Rt 18), 
> Woodrow (Rt 41), Guadalupe (Rt 47), Duval (Rt 49) and Red River (Rt.
> 51), 
> and a RwT would in effect extend and connect all of them. And of course 
> east of IH 35, it merges with the Boggy Creek Trail, and would be easy
> to 
> connect to the Lance Armstrong Bikeway via Pedernales. A network of RwT 
> would no doubt increase ridership on the trains and make bike-train 
> commutes easier on both ends of the trip.
> 
> The opportunity for RwT this November is even more important because of
> the 
> potential to run passenger rail down the Union Pacific ROW and the old 
> MoKan ROW in the future. As Eric Anderson has argued so well, the MoKan
> ROW 
> can connect the Lance Armstrong Bikeway to the Walnut Creek Trail, parts
> of 
> which the City of Austin is already building. The UP ROW passes beneath
> 183 
> near the Pickle Center and (future) Domain development before passing 
> beneath MoPac farther north.
> 
> Part of our conversation centered around whether commuter rail lines can
> be 
> double-tracked and still leave sufficient space for a paved trail. I 
> believe the answer is 'yes' at least for most of Cap Metro's ROW, which
> is 
> never less than 50' and usually more. The MoKan corridor is 100' wide,
> and 
> more. However, there are clearly pinch points (such as in the 
> Wooten-Crestview neighborhood) and I defer to experts like Mia Birk to 
> offer guidance on feasibility. Along certain sections, we may have to
> take 
> the bike route out of the rail corridor and onto nearby streets, then
> back 
> to the rail corridor again.
> 
> To repeat what Jeb Boyt said in his original posting, the event is from
> 6-8 
> PM this coming Thursday at Nuevo Leon, 1501 East 6th Street. Thanks to
> Eric 
> Anderson for suggesting the location. I plan to come early and buy
> dinner 
> there to express gratitude to the hosting restaurant (and to eat well!)
> and 
> would love to get an early start chatting with cyclists about the issues
> 
> around RwT. Finally, I would like to add that Cap Metro and Colly
> Kreidler 
> with the City's bike program have been very open to exploring RwT.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> David Foster
> 
> 
> At 05:51 PM 8/14/04, Jeb Boyt wrote:
> >Austin Metro Trails & Greenways is hosting a community meeting on rails
> 
> >with trails Thursday, August 19th, from 6-8 p.m. at Nuevo Leon
> restaurant, 
> >1501 E. 6th.  The meeting will consider the bicycle and pedestrian
> trail 
> >proposed as part of Capital Metro's Commuter Rail Urban Service that
> would 
> >run from Leander to the Downtown Austin convention center.
> >
> >The meeting will feature a discussion with Mia Burke of Alta Planning +
> 
> >Design on the development of rails with trails nationally and 
> >opportunities in the Austin area.  Ms. Burke has developed numerous 
> >bicycle, pedestrian, trail, and corridor plans and has managed the
> public 
> >process, design and implementation of over 200 miles of new bikeways, 
> >thousands of bicycle parking spaces, and a bikeway maintenance program.
> >
> >Jeb Boyt
> >Austin Metro Trails & Greenways
> >http://www.austintrails.org
> >680-1644
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Get on or off this list here:  http://BicycleAustin.info/list
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Get on or off this list here:  http://BicycleAustin.info/list
> 




		
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