BIKE: [Very long post] E-mail Travis Co. Commissioners Court about CAMPO 2025 Plan

[Tommy Eden]

The Travis County Commissioners Court will discuss its
recommendations for CAMPO's 2025 Mobility Plan on Tuesday,
April 26.  The most important recommendations will directly address
the proposed policies for bicycle and pedestrian facilities with road
construction and reconstruction projects.  To contact County Judge
Sam Biscoe and the commissioners, go to www.co.travis.tx.us
Please address our county officials courteously when you write to them.

In June, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
(CAMPO) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) will decide on important
policies which will determine how many bicycle facilities and
sidewalks are constructed in the five-county area.  During 2004, the
CAMPO staff developed a set of recommendations which would
expedite the completion of an integrated system of transportation
for non-motorized roadway users throughout the region.

The language which the CAMPO staff recommended contained
stringent requirements for all Austin area jurisdictions to build sidewalks
and bicycle facilities with road construction projects whenever the
sidewalk or the bicycle facility would add no more than 20% to the cost
of the road construction project.  This proposed policy was very similar
to a policy from the Federal Highway Administration design guidance
and a policy which the City of Austin has adopted.  The proposed
policy would dramatically improve the process for developing a
bikeway system and for connecting sidewalks throughout the region.

In March, the CAMPO Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Travis
County staff offered amendments which would dilute the proposals and
virtually eliminate the requirements for building sidewalks and bicycle
facilities.  The amendments would allow the jurisdiction responsible for
each project to determine, based upon no criteria at all, whether sidewalks
and bicycle facilities would be too costly to build.  These amendments
would allow all jurisdictions, including TxDOT, to continue building streets
and highways the same way they have in the past, often without bikeways
and sometimes without any safe routes for bicyclists or pedestrians at all.

Your action could help to determine whether the CAMPO board
adopts the stringent CAMPO staff recommendations or the weakened
policies from the TAC and Travis County staff.  If the CAMPO staff
recommendations are adopted, we could see major improvements
in facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians.  If these new policies are
weakened, it could take many years for the Austin area to complete
its bikeway and sidewalk systems.  If the CAMPO staff proposals are
adopted, we are more likely to see improvements in the near future.

Send an email message to the Travis County Commissioners Court.  You
can send e-mail to them at the Travis County website: www.co.travis.tx.us
Tell them you support stringent requirements for construction
of bikeways and sidewalks, as in the CAMPO staff
recommendations for the 2025 Transportation Plan.  Urge them
not to delete the requirements for bikeways and sidewalks which
cost up to 20% of the cost of roadway construction projects.

I have already sent two e-mail messages to Judge Biscoe
and the Travis County Commissioners Court.  Here they are:

Dear Judge Biscoe and Commissioners:

Please reconsider your recommendations regarding the
proposed CAMPO policies for bicycle and pedestrian
facilities in the 2030 CAMPO Transportation Plan.
CAMPO staff based their recommendations on federal
design guidance.  The changes which Travis County
is recommending would eviscerate the proposed policies.

The original proposal was based on the design guidance
of the Federal Highway Administration.  See "Policy
Statement," paragraph 1, under the following link:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/design.htm
Adoption of the 20% rule would bring Central Texas up to standard
with the rest of the United States.  Failure to adopt these policies
will cause our region to continue to lag behind other regions.

The changes which Travis County has proposed could give TxDOT
a veto over pedestrian and bicycle facilities on state highways
throughout Central Texas.  TxDOT's track record on construction
of such improvements is abysmal.  According to Travis County's
proposal, pedestrian facilities and bicycle accommodations would
not be required if "the jurisdiction constructing the project has
demonstrated that providing the [facility] is not feasible due to
excessive cost."  Thus, if TxDOT unilaterally determines that building
sidewalks is too expensive, as they have determined on many
occasions in the past, then TxDOT may simply decree that building
the sidewalk is too expensive to build, regardless of the cost.

Please approve the bicycle policies which CAMPO staff has
proposed.  Help to bring Central Texas up to the standards of
the rest of the country.  Help to provide quality transportation
for the people of Travis County who do not drive cars.

Thank you,

Tommy Eden


Dear Judge Biscoe and Commissioners:

The e-mail message I sent you last week was in reference to an issue which 
will
be on your agenda at next week's Commissioners Court meeting.  Specifically, 
I
was responding to a letter signed by Judge Biscoe, initialed by Joe 
Gieselman,
and sent to CAMPO by fax from the Transportation and Natural Resources
Department.  The letter is titled, "Comments on the CAMPO Mobility 2030
Plan."  It is dated April 5, 2005, and it contains the following 
recommendations:



          Recommended changes:
          Reword BP-2 as follows: 'Provide pedestrian facilities with all 
new construction
          and reconstruction of roadways [begin insert] in this plan within 
urban and
          suburban areas [end insert] unless: pedestrians are prohibited by 
law from
          using the roadway, [begin strikeout] the cost of constructing the 
pedestrian
          facility would exceed 20 percent of the cost of the project, or 
the area served by
          the project is sparsely populated, [end strikeout] [begin insert] 
or the jurisdiction
          constructing the project has demonstrated that providing the 
pedestrian
          facility is not feasible due to excessive cost. [end insert]  
Pedestrian facilities
          may include sidewalks within the right of way or separate pathways
          adjacent to [begin insert] and/or in the vicinity [end insert] of 
the roadway.'

          Reword BP-3 as follows:
          'Provide bicycle accommodations with all new construction and 
reconstruction
          of roadways [begin insert] in this plan within urban and suburban 
areas
          [end insert] unless bicycles are prohibited by law from using the 
roadway,
          [begin strikeout] the cost of constructing the pedestrian facility 
would
          exceed 20 percent of the cost of the project, [end strikeout] 
[begin insert] or
          the jurisdiction constructing the project has demonstrated that 
providing the
          bicycle accommodation is not feasible due to excessive cost. [end 
insert]
          Depending upon the characteristics of the roadway, bicycle 
accommodations
          may include bike lanes, shoulders, or wide outer lanes within the 
right
          of way, or shared use paths within the vicinity of the roadway.  
[begin
          insert] This policy may also be met by demonstrating that future 
demand
          will be addressed through local implementation of a comprehensive
          interconnected system of off-road bicycle facilities. [end 
insert]'



A  similar re-write was offered for proposed policy BP-4.

The changes proposed in this letter would remove all the substance from the 
policies
as they were originally proposed.  The original wording which CAMPO staff 
proposed
for the bicycle and pedestrian policies would help everyone in our region 
who does
not use motor vehicles for transportation.  The requirement that sidewalks 
and bicycle
facilities be provided with construction projects must have some definition 
which states
exactly what is meant by excessive cost.  If the words "excessive cost" are 
not defined
in these policies, you can be sure that TxDOT will find ways to avoid 
building the
facilities we need.  If each jurisdiction is allowed to define "excessive 
cost" in its own
way, the construction of sidewalks cannot be guaranteed in any of our 
lifetimes.  Please
support the CAMPO staff in their efforts to improve conditions for walking 
and bicycling
in Central Texas, and resist the temptation to dilute the new policies for 
our region.

Thank you,

Tommy Eden