Wheels & Heels

E-mail news from MoDOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator Caryn Giarratano

Greetings, Windbenders!

Lance Armstrong is scheduled to speak in St. Louis Wed., Oct. 15 from noon to about 12:05 at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park to promote cancer research. He will occasionally join a team of 26 bicyclists planning to pedal hard across the nation. The map on the website indicates the bike route just barely crosses the southeast corner of Missouri. The Division of Tourism has offered to promote this event and suggested I contact the ride promoter to volunteer as the Missouri communication hub. Whatever I learn, I’ll pass on to you! For more information, see www.tourofhope.org.

Last year, I was elected to represent Missouri on the AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Joint Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation. The mission statement for this group is to advance the state of the practice in bicycle and pedestrian planning, design, traffic engineering, construction, operation, maintenance and safety within the AASHTO member departments and nationally. Its eight objectives include creating a bike/ped, working closely with Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), promoting research and communicating bike/ped needs and concerns to other groups. The group met the first week of September. An exciting proposal from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) regarding Liability Aspects of Bicycle Facilities was shared at the meeting. I hope to encourage the same sort of study for pedestrian facilities since liability is an issue that keeps surfacing during discussions of a MoDOT sidewalk policy.

The AASHTO committee meeting was combined with the annual meeting of the state bicycle and pedestrian coordinators. Both meetings were well worth my time. Discussion included updating the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (1999), Context Sensitive Design and guidance for submitting bicycle and pedestrian issues to the Transportation Research Board for consideration. Meeting other state coordinators, federal movers and shakers and representatives from national bike/ped organizations is helping me be more productive. I learned that Missouri is middle-of-the-road on some issues and back of the pack on others.

For example, there are only two of the 10 states through which the Adventure Cycling TransAmerica Trail goes that are not signed. Yes, you guessed it -- Missouri is one of them.

Work continues on the share the road bumper sticker. It was discovered that the graphics depicting a bicycle next to a car was not communicating the correct message. A collection of people who did not know what message was being promoted guessed that the message was to promote road construction worker safety. They thought the bicyclist was a guy operating a jack hammer! Back to the drawing board!

The rumble strip proposal has been forwarded to MoDOT senior management. The grate policy has been assigned to the Hydraulics Committee to address the inlet concerns that go with the curved vane grates.

So far the A to Z by Bike booklet has proven to be popular with teachers, police officers and health/fitness folks. This booklet is free to the public thanks to the book’s sponsors (MoDOT, Division of Highway Safety, Highway Patrol, St. Joseph MPO, St. Louis Trailnet, Missouri Bicycle Federation, MARC, AAA-Auto Club and the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation). Another source of safety information, including bicycle and pedestrian, is AAA (800-222-7623).

The Missouri Bicycle Federation (see www.mobikefed.org) has posted various MoDOT maps and is taking public feedback on the proposed cross-state routes.

Kansas City and the Army Corps of Engineers are taking public feedback on a greenway plan for the lower Blue River in eastern Kansas City, Missouri. The $280 million project began as a flood control plan. However, it is being considered as a greenway project that will include a multi-use path along the river, mountain biking and hiking trails and interconnections with many planned and existing area trails. The email address for the project contact person is BRCmanager@nwk02.usace.army.mil. For more information, see the web site at www.nwk.usace.army.mil/projects/blueriver/additionalinfo.htm.

The Missouri Bicycle Federation reports that MoDOT has proven to be responsive to citizen feedback in the Kansas City area. On a re-paving project on 350 Highway between Raytown and Lee's Summit, engineers re-examined the need for rumble strips on the newly re-paved shoulders and checked all drain grates for bicycle compatibility. The result is a road with a wide shoulder for great riding! In at least two other cases in the Kansas City area, workers have replaced parallel bar drain grates after receiving cyclist feedback. In most cases, MoDOT is installing bike friendly drain grates in the area, though installation of several has been delayed because the bike friendly grates didn't arrive in time to be installed when other work was completed. Tell MoDOT about its work with the online feedback form at http://www.modot.org/asp/request_information.asp?comments.

I have gathered a jogging stroller full of material to include on the new bike/ped page of the reconstructed MoDOT web site. The webmaster and I are trying to coordinate our schedules in order to meet. My suggestions include: maps of paved shoulders, traffic count maps, Mississippi River Trail maps, MoDOT bike/ped policy, bike and pedestrian state statutes, Wheels and Heels email newsletters, minutes from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and a list of the state’s multi-use paths. If you can think of anything else that should be on the website, let me know.

I’ve been asked to sit on the planning committee for a bicycle and pedestrian conference called Connecting Communities Through Better Design. The conference will be held in mid-March 2004 in Kansas City. Sessions over three days will offer something for professional planners and engineers, as well as bike/ped advocates. The focus will be bicycle and pedestrian facility design. MoDOT is helping to communicate design information internally by scheduling the National Highway Institute Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Design classes for MoDOT and FHWA folks next month.

MoDOT news releases regarding bridges in two parts of the state have announced plans to hold grand opening ceremonies in December that include bicycling and running/walking events. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge dedication ceremony, scheduled for December 13 in Cape Girardeau, features a 5K run, a two-mile walk and a 14-mile bike event. For more information, contact Steve Girard with Velo Bicycle Club at 573-335-7366 or Terry McDowell with Cape Roadrunners at 573-334-0587. The second bridge celebration will be in St. Louis to open the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge on Page Avenue. For more information on this event, contact Larry Welty with MoDOT District 6 at 314-340-4116.

One day a reporter from the Jefferson City News Tribune asked if he could interview me for the Statesman (a small news magazine that highlights state government). I couldn’t understand why he picked me, but I cooperated and my entire life story was published the first week of September. The best part is that I have a great digital photo of me on my bike.

I am offering beginner rides on two Mondays in October (6 and 20). We will ride out and back on the Katy Trail for a total of an hour from the North Jefferson City Pavilion on Route W. Join us!

Please forward this newsletter to anyone you feel may be interested. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be added, please email me your address information.

Tailwinds, Caryn

giarrc1 @ mail.modot.state.mo.us, 573-522-9297, POB 270, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0270

Related:

News: First ever Kansas City bicycling map available now

News: Hermann MO River Bridge to include bike/ped

permanent link to article: "Wheels and Heels – September 2003"
posted by Brent Hugh at 10/06/2003 11:41:00 AM |comment on this article