Access Alaska/Tourism Business Owner

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1 FMATS Conference Room, 800 Cushman Street 5:00-7:00PM 1. Call to Order Mr. van den Berg, Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. 2. Introduction of Members and Attendees Name David van den Berg, Chair Eric Brunner for Pam Golden, Vice Chair Sarah Schacher Alan Skinner Jackson Fox Bud Kuenzli Randy Motsko Doug Toelle Alicia Stevens Mindy O Neall Nathan Belz Peter Stern Representing Downtown Association Traffic Safety Engineer FMATS Fairbanks Cycle Club Access Alaska/Tourism Business Owner FMATS Transportation Planner FNSB Planning Commission UAF Pedestrian There were not enough members present for a quorum so it was decided that they would wait for additional committee members to show up before starting the meeting. Mr. Kuenzli asked Ms. Stevens if they could provide a trifold brochure for public outreach containing bike safety tips that could be distributed to businesses in town that sold bikes and handed out with each bike sold. Ms. Stevens stated that she thought that was a good idea and could be included in the public outreach. Ms. Stevens stated that they had discussed putting out some public service announcements about bike safety in the Spring and had an intern who would do the graphics on that. Erik Brunner was designated to sit in for Pam Golden who was unable to attend the meeting. 3. Approval of the Agenda Motion: To approve the Agenda. (Toelle/Kuenzli). Discussion: No further discussion. 4. Approval of the December 14, 2017 Meeting Minutes Motion: To approve the December 14, 2017 Meeting Minutes (Toelle/Kuenzli). Discussion: No further discussion. 5. Working Group Reports/Chair Reports/Staff Reports Staff Report: Ms. Stevens stated that she held a small work group meeting with Mr. Kuenzli and Ms. Golden about the bike maps that would be discussed later in Agenda Item 8e. Ms. Stevens explained that she added a column to the Work Plan so that they could keep track

2 of what had been done to make it easier to follow. Ms. Stevens stated that the Roles and Responsibilities were presented to and approved by the Technical Committee and included in the meeting packet. Ms. Stevens that she also included a calendar containing the BPAC meeting dates that they had decided on. Ms. Stevens stated that they would be having a field trip and taking along Technical Committee and BPAC members of the 5 th Avenue in the spring. Ms. Stevens stated that she had also included an exchange with Jeff Jacobsen of City of Fairbanks Public Works explaining the priorities for sidewalk clearing and basically there were none and it was based on available resources at Public Works which were very limited. Ms. Stevens explained that they had a road priority list and it was not the same as the sidewalks. Ms. O Neall asked if the sidewalks on the bus routes were higher priority since they were more used. Ms. Stevens stated that Mr. Jacobsen sent her a list containing bike routes but was not sure if they were prioritized, but she would find out if Mr. Jacobsen could come to a meeting and explain those priorities. There was discussion about aligning DOT and the Borough with the City of Fairbanks to assist with the sidewalk maintenance especially with berms near bus stops. Ms. Stevens suggested inviting City Public Works Director and the Director of Transportation from Borough to the next meeting to clarify their priorities for sidewalk clearing, especially near bus stops. Chair Report: Mr. van den Berg stated that he met with Ms. Stevens and also with Teal Soden, the Public Information Officer for the City of Fairbanks and Ms. Soden posted a clarification on the City Facebook page about property owners being responsible for clearing the sidewalks in front of their driveways. 6. Public Comment Period Mr. Stern stated that he had tried to bring up the Seasonal Mobility Task Force goals with Mr. Jacobsen and he had not seemed to know anything about it. Mr. Stern stated that the fact that they had not set priorities for clearing sidewalks, especially with bus routes, seemed to him to be a problem. Mr. Stern stated that he had participated in the Charette for the MTP Analysis and found it very interesting. Mr. Stern commented that he was the only member of the public to attend and would encourage all the BPAC members to attend that meeting and provide their input. 7. Old Business a. Yankovich/Miller Hill Road and Multi-Use Path Update Ms. Schacher and Mr. Skinner of DOT provided an overview of the Yankovich/Miller Hill Road project options that were being considered and comments that had been received from the public to date. Ms. Schacher stated that it was the DOT recommendation to have a 6-ft. shoulder but even though Yankovich was DOT s road it was an FMATS project so they needed to have FMATS direction on it. Mr. Fox stated that he intended to take this information about how the BPAC felt about the project to the Policy Board meeting on February 28 to assist them with making their decision on which option they wanted. It was discussed whether they would provide any type of signing on the shoulder and Mr. Skinner stated that they were not going to be signing those facilities with the project. 2

3 Motion: To recommend to the Policy Board that FMATS support the 6 ft. shoulder option for the Multi-Use Path on Yankovich Road. (Kuenzli/Toelle). Discussion: Mr. Fox stated that the Borough had provided Local Planning Approval for the separated path option, so if the shoulder were chosen, DOT would have to go back to the Borough for Local Planning Approval which was an extra step. Ms. Schacher stated that UAF was willing to partner with DOT to provide maintenance since DOT did not plow separated bike paths in the winter because they took care of sidewalks, not bike paths. Ms. O Neall stated that although she was in favor of the shoulder because she thought it would cost less, she was concerned about the maintenance of a multi-use path although she believed that it seemed intuitively safer. Ms. O Neall stated that she was concerned with the crossing of Ballaine and that intersection with people turning in, which was dangerous already and this seemed like the best choice given what they had. Ms. O Neall stated that it concerned her that DOT did not clear the bike paths and if they put one there, they should commit to maintain it. Mr. Kuenzli stated that if the separated multi-use paths were cleared in the winter and maintained, he would be in favor of that although he still would not use them but with fat bikes and having the shoulder maintained throughout the year, they would be able to use that. Mr. Toelle stated that he drove on Murphy Dome Road and having a path through there did not look as good but agreed that from a safety standpoint, a shoulder would be less safe, but a lot safer than it was now. b. Work Plan Overview Ms. Stevens provided an overview of the status for the MTP Update-Needs Analysis, Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, Safety Performance Measures, Statewide Bike and Ped Plan, and the Bike Ways Map. Mr. Kuenzli explained that the public outreach and thought that doing a tri-fold brochure was helpful and if they needed any help with that he was available. Mr. Kuenzli stated that last year he had done a talk at Beaver Sports about how to ride a bicycle in the winter safely so he thought that he could put together another one for riding safely in the summer. Ms. Stevens stated that historically they had done a Bike to Work Week and in the past FMATS had been involved with collecting prizes for that, so it was not out of the realm of possibility for FMATS to help him with it. Ms. Stevens stated that there was also Bike to Work Day and Bike to School Day. Mr. Kuenzli asked Ms. Stevens who she had spoken with to coordinate with the School District for the Bike to School Day. Ms. Stevens stated that she would try to find that name for him Mr. Kuenzli stated that he had contacted Dr. John Monahan at UAF about distributing the tri-fold bike safety brochures and thought he would be involved with that. There was discussion about what was involved in being a bike/pedestrian counter and whether it required special training to do it. Ms. Stevens stated that she had a contact list and sent out s to those people annually when it was time to do the counts. 3

4 8. New Business a. Mobile and Permanent Bike/Ped Counters Ms. Stevens explained that Mr. Ackerman with City of Fairbanks was unable to attend the meeting and gave his presentation. Ms. Stevens stated that Mr. Ackerman was looking for guidance and input on possible locations to place the mobile and permanent bike/pedestrian counters. Several locations were discussed including 5 th Avenue. There was discussion about the parameters for locating the counters including buildings that might block it, sight distance, space needed around them, and direction they faced. Mr. Fox stated that Barnette Street was a possible project that might be good for placement of counters. b. Chena River Walk Stage III Mr. Fox gave a presentation of the Chena River Walk Stage III project and provided a brief history of the project, a description of the segments that were previously completed, and the options that were being proposed. c. Trauma Data for Bike/Ped Crashes Ms. Stevens stated that Corlis Taylor and Pam Golden were unable to attend the meeting. Mr. Belz passed out and explained some data that he had gathered for bike and pedestrian traumas that were reported in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. d. Metropolitan Transportation Plan Needs Analysis Ms. Stevens stated that the information for the MTP Needs Analysis was included in the meeting packet and if they wanted to provide comments they should send them to her and she would forward them to Kittelson. Mr. Toelle stated that the paratransit system should be incorporated into the Plan as there were more people that using it. Ms. Stevens stated that he should include his comment in an and she would forward that information to Kittelson. e. FMATS Bikeways Map Update Ms. Stevens stated the Bike Map comments included one about putting an inch of tire width restriction for people placing bicycles on the front of the bus and adding a list about what to bring with you or pack. Ms. Stevens stated that this updated included projects that were constructed this year. Ms. Stevens stated that they could suggest changes they wanted incorporated into the map and send them to her. 9. Other Issues Mr. van den Berg asked if Airport Way project should be on the BPAC Work Plan. Ms. Stevens stated that she had included it on the first version of the Work Plan. Mr. Fox stated that they could put it on the agenda for the next meeting and he would get someone from DOT to come and provide a presentation on it. 10. Committee Member Comments Ms. O Neall stated that she appreciated the presentation from DOT and Mr. Fox and wanted to thank them both Mr. Belz stated that he taught until 5:10 p.m. in the Spring so he would be coming in late if that was okay with everyone. 4

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