Bike Lane NEWS and Need Your Comments Thursday

Thanks for Wheeliing with us
Aloha, all!  Thanks again to all of our members and all of our other great friends in Savannah for joining us on the third annual Earth Day Wheelie!  It was a huge success again, and we were pleased to be joined this year by Tybee city councilman Paul Wolff and Tybee City Manager Diane Schleicher along with a host of other exceptionally fine bicycle folk. Those who stayed for the Post Wheelie Dealie enjoyed some sumptuous vittles from Blowin’ Smoke and a few walked away with some shiny prizes courtesy of our excellent sponsors Quality Bike and Bicycle Link.

Washington Avenue and Price Street Bike Lanes at City Council
In the wake of that success, more lies on the horizon. Engineering is complete and public comment has been issued on bike lane striping on Washington Avenue between Waters and Bull.  As noted in the WSAV story from last night including our own Frank McIntosh and City of Savannah Parking and Mobility Director Sean Brandon, Washington Avenue would be the first new bike lanes installed in 10 years.

The project awaits only a resolution at City Council this Thursday.  SBC will be there to say thank you to the city for the fine work they are doing to live up to the commitment they made in their first Bicycle Friendly Community application and following up on the recommendations there, including addition of East-West bicycle facilities and, potentially given the will and favorable neighborhood approval, a southbound bike lane on Price Street in the coming months!

Next up, every other street!
The process of updating the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Long Range Transportation Plan has begun, and they are soliciting comments on bicycle and pedestrian projects in the county. They specifically want to know where people are currently walking and bicycling and where they might if given the appropriate facilities. Mapping exercise is this Thursday April 22 at 5pm at the MPC building (see below), and an online version should be available soon.

Development of the Non-Motorized Plan element of the Total Mobility Plan MPO staff encourages public participation through the any of the methods listed below. With the
exception of the online survey, these mostly are multiple ways to do the same thing; it is not necessary to participate in more than one mapping option unless you want to. The online survey will include some questions that are not as location-focused as the mapping options.

Mapping exercises at the CORE MPO Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) meetings
o Apr. 22, 2010, 6:15pm, in the MPC Hearing Room, 112 E. State Street, Savannah, GA. CAC meeting begins at 5pm and will include additional information between 5 and 6:15pm which may be of interest but will not be directly related to this process.
Mapping exercise at the CORE MPO Advisory Committee on Accessible Transportation (ACAT) meeting
o Apr. 26, 2010, 1pm. Meeting begins at 1pm and mapping exercise will be at the end of the meeting, some time before 3pm.
MPO staff will announce the availability of an online survey and an online, interactive map soon.

Contact staff directly anytime:
Jane Love, Transportation Planner
912-651-1443
lovej@thempc.org

Where would you go? Everywhere? Us too — that is why we will be pushing again for adoption of Complete Streets policies for the MPO and all its included governmental entities. That’s why we will stress the importance of developing safe bike access on bridges that are the only points of access to the islands in particular. That’s why we’ll be there and that’s why you should too (or at least fill out the survey when we let y’all know about it).